With Mickey Kaus on the LAT screwups and Taranto on the Sacramento Bee's running of a story that was discredited 5 days ago we can continue to have confidence in the MSM's "layers of checks and balances." The NPR hourly lead-in this AM mentioned the LAT's gaffe but basically had the reporter justifying the error as "it sounded like something Governor Kilgore would say" thereby employing the fake but accurate defense once again.
Folks: you just can't make this stuff up; either editors are incompetent, reporters incompetent, or most likely both at the same time. Our great northwest Salmon deserve better fishwrap!!!!!!
6 comments:
I think the underlying problem is that the journalists don't actually know anything. Thus they fall for ludicrous April-Fool's press releases, listen to polls with massive selection bias, and think Barbra Streisand's opinion on anything except music is significant.
It's not just that reporters by-and-large know far too little about their topics, it's that far too few people know what a ridiculous mess the agenda actually is. As chuck was saying elsewhere, from an engineering POV, crappy info just can't sustain. Yet, the farms and factories continue to hum, so whatever it is that isn't sustaining must be metaphysical.
I keep wondering about this sudden national epidemic of overweight...now said to be 2 of 3 Americans.
Are we trying to fill an empty spot?
Buddy--I think you have an issue that none of really address: maybe--just maybe the public is a great ass. We get what put up with and clearly a whole lot of people are willing to put up with shoddy journalism just as they are with triple whoppers with 1500 calories and 300 grams of fat. Who knew? Oh yeah: PT Barnum knew.
Roger, a running blog theme--the effects of political distortion--shows clearly in your post. First, the left so distorts Americans that the right has little choice but to mount a rah-rah jingo defense.
So we join the chorus of celebrating the good side of 'the American' and ignoring that weak side--that too-comfy, undisciplined, self-indulgent side that arises in wealthy, unchallenged entities.
Because if we mention the not-so-good side, than the inch-deep folks on the Left side will feel all confirmed (the bastids). Can't give 'em an inch, they'll take a mile.
I think the underlying problem is that the journalists don't actually know anything.
I think it goes further. Journalists have gone unchallenged for so long that they don't even try. How much trouble would it have been to do a google search on the topic? But I bet the need to verify the quote never even occured to the writer, she just remembered it from somewhere and that was enough, or maybe it was in the files. What is most striking to me about most stories in the MSM is simply the shoddy research. These folks are paid to get stuff right and they almost never do.
Maybe the politics causes the shoddy research. A problem, when on the wrong side of an issue--and when that is the lesser concern.
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