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Post by aj2hall on Feb 17, 2023 14:45:28 GMT
When a politician says something blatantly false and potentially harmful, are media organizations obligated to report on it? If they report on it, how do they report it without giving it validity or giving the false claims a broader audience? Are media organizations held to journalistic standards or is it OK for them to be motivated by viewership numbers and money? www.nytimes.com/2023/02/16/business/media/fox-dominion-lawsuit.htmlFox argued that by covering Mr. Trump’s fraud claims, the network was doing what any media organization would: reporting and commenting on a matter of undeniable newsworthiness.This is a huge problem. A "news" organization abandoned facts and truthful news to tell viewers what they wanted to know. What happened to journalistic standards? heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/february-16-2023?r=1f0orz&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=emailThe filing today shows that those same personalities didn’t believe what they were telling their viewers, and suggests that they made those groundless accusations because they worried their viewers were abandoning them to go to channels that told them what they wanted to hear: that Trump had won the election.
The filing claims that FNC peddled a false narrative of election fraud to its viewers because its pro-Trump audience had jumped ship after the network had been the first to call Arizona for Biden, and its ratings were plummeting as Trump loyalists jumped to Newsmax. “I’ve never seen a reaction like this, to any media company,” Carlson wrote to Suzanne Scott, chief executive officer of Fox News, on November 9. “Kills me to watch it.” On November 12, Hannity told Carlson and Ingraham, “In one week and one debate they destroyed a brand that took 25 years to build and the damage is incalculable.”
They went to “war footing” to “protect the brand.” For example, when FNC reporter Jacqui Heinrich accurately fact checked a Trump tweet, correcting him by saying that “top election infrastructure officials” said that “[t]here is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised,” Carlson told Hannity: “Please get her fired. Seriously…. What the f*ck? I’m actually shocked…. It needs to stop immediately, like tonight. It’s measurably hurting the company. The stock price is down. Not a joke.”
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Post by Merge on Feb 17, 2023 14:52:38 GMT
We’ve seen here that if they don’t tell viewers what they want to hear, those viewers will seek out “independent journalists” on Rumble or other places who will feed their conspiracy monster.
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Post by aj2hall on Feb 17, 2023 15:02:36 GMT
I don't know how Democrats or we as a society or country combat disinformation. Alex Jones lost. Maybe if Fox loses, too, that will help?
I also think Trump and other conservatives undermining the credibility of mainstream media is a major problem.
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purplebee
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,726
Jun 27, 2014 20:37:34 GMT
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Post by purplebee on Feb 17, 2023 15:16:39 GMT
The main stream media - and especially its extreme offshoots - are not the media of yesterday. At present, since trump became involved with politics, the goal is no longer truth/honesty in reporting (remember Walter Cronkite and that generation of journalists?).
The goal is now clicks, followers, sound bites, whatever it takes to gain viewers and followers, because that means money. Yes, there are still a few reputable sources out there, but it is sooooo disheartening to see how news is reported. Not longer do we hear a segment on the facts of an actual story or situation, but it always seems to be flavored with someone’s opinion, telling you how process the information. Oh yeah, Fox is not news, it’s “entertainment.” Even when the “entertainment” contributes to a hate-filled division in this country.
Yeah, I am old, but never could I ever have imagined that this incredible torrent of disinformation could not only be tolerated, but actually gleefully received by a very large segment of society. THEY KNOW IT IS LIES, but choose to believe it and run with it and use it to do harm to anyone standing in their way. I blame trump and his sycophants for a lot of it.
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Just T
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,541
Jun 26, 2014 1:20:09 GMT
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Post by Just T on Feb 17, 2023 15:23:10 GMT
This pisses me off so much. Most of the people I know who think the election was rigged are avid Fox News watchers who think only Fox News is trustworthy. I can only imagine how different things might be today if we wouldn't have had the whole "The election was rigged" fiasco. And sadly, even though Fox says now that they knew the election wasn't rigged, it's too late. No one at this point is going to change their mind and all of the sudden think it was a fair election.
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Post by mollycoddle on Feb 17, 2023 15:29:37 GMT
I agree with everything said so far. In a related story, I was just reading about how some conservatives-DeSantis among them-want the SC to revisit the NYT vs. Sullivan. From the NYT:
“ When Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida convened a round-table discussion about the news media this week, he spared no effort to play the part, perching at a faux anchor’s desk in front of a wall of video screens while firing questions to his guests like a seasoned cable TV host.
But the panel’s message was as notable as its slick presentation: Over the course of an hour, Mr. DeSantis and his guests laid out a detailed case for revisiting a landmark Supreme Court decision protecting the press from defamation lawsuits.
Mr. DeSantis is the latest figure, and among the most influential, to join a growing list of Republicans calling on the court to revisit the 1964 ruling, known as The New York Times Company v. Sullivan.
The decision set a higher bar for defamation lawsuits involving public figures, and for years it was viewed as sacrosanct. That standard has empowered journalists to investigate and criticize public figures without fear that an unintentional error will result in crippling financial penalties.”
I find this ironic. Has it occurred to conservatives that if the standards are lowered, this could also be used against right wing media? I am surprised that they would come up with such a dumb idea. Do they really think that Dems wouldn’t sue Breitbart, or Powerline, or The Daily Caller?
This does, however, provide further confirmation that DeSantis is an authoritarian who wants to squash all dissent.
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caangel
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,442
Location: So Cal
Jun 26, 2014 16:42:12 GMT
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Post by caangel on Feb 17, 2023 15:36:41 GMT
The main stream media - and especially its extreme offshoots - are not the media of yesterday. At present, since trump became involved with politics, the goal is no longer truth/honesty in reporting (remember Walter Cronkite and that generation of journalists?). As much as I detest TFG the person who I think is really responsible is Regan. The reason there is not longer truth and honesty in reporting is be because they are no longer required to by law thanks to Regan.
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Post by revirdsuba99 on Feb 17, 2023 15:38:15 GMT
I remember 'commentary' appearing across the screen when someone started 'chatting' on a news program.
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Post by aj2hall on Feb 17, 2023 23:34:34 GMT
Even a Fox executive acknowledged this www.nytimes.com/2023/02/17/opinion/fox-news-dominion.html“It’s remarkable how weak ratings make good journalists do bad things,”
Fox News is unique in its bad faith. “Respecting this audience whether we agree or not is critical,” Hannity texted on Nov. 24. It’s a version of respect indistinguishable from contempt.
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Post by iamkristinl16 on Feb 18, 2023 14:57:14 GMT
Aren’t some of the fox entertainers still saying the election was stolen? Unfortunately, this is just another example of the lies they tell their base. And the fans don’t care and probably won’t even know the proof because they aren’t talking about this on right wing media.
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Post by peano on Feb 18, 2023 23:31:15 GMT
Aren’t some of the fox entertainers still saying the election was stolen? Unfortunately, this is just another example of the lies they tell their base. And the fans don’t care and probably won’t even know the proof because they aren’t talking about this on right wing media. Newly disclosed testimony in the form of texts between Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham in the Dominion lawsuit indicate they knew claims of election fraud were false. In fact Rupert Murdoch also knew they were false. The Fox personalities (notice I didn't say newspersons) all called Trump's attorney Sidney Powell various versions of "crazy", and were most concerned about how Fox's falling stock prices and potential departure of loyal Trumpsters to Newsmax would affect their own personal bottom lines if the truth came out. When Dominion wins this lawsuit, I don't know if it will penetrate the atmosphere on Earth 2.
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Post by aj2hall on Feb 19, 2023 1:40:33 GMT
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Post by peasapie on Feb 19, 2023 12:28:34 GMT
And it’s not just Fox News. Even the most liberal media cannot stop themselves from talking about Donald Trump. They love to talk about every little thing he does. And DeSantis is moving up in the free publicity scale. Most of the media sources swarm to the feeding frenzy they create.
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pinklady
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,505
Nov 14, 2016 23:47:03 GMT
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Post by pinklady on Feb 19, 2023 15:47:19 GMT
All this does is prove what I and countless others have been saying for years. Republican voters are the stupidest people on the planet. The lack all critical thinking skills known to man. They are worthless gullible morons.
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pyccku
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,817
Jun 27, 2014 23:12:07 GMT
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Post by pyccku on Feb 19, 2023 15:54:19 GMT
All this does is prove what I and countless others have been saying for years. Republican voters are the stupidest people on the planet. The lack all critical thinking skills known to man. They are worthless gullible morons. Or, they don’t care. They are hearing what they want to hear and it gives them Permission to do horrible things. Some people don’t want the truth, they just want their own beliefs confirmed.
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Post by peano on Feb 19, 2023 16:08:22 GMT
And it’s not just Fox News. Even the most liberal media cannot stop themselves from talking about Donald Trump. They love to talk about every little thing he does. And DeSantis is moving up in the free publicity scale. Most of the media sources swarm to the feeding frenzy they create. But what Fox does and other respectable news outlets do is completely different. They are governed by journalistic standards that demand corrections/retractions for misinformation. I was listening to Nick Confessore, a NY Times reporter, talk about the Fox Dominion lawsuit and the fact that all the Fox top brass knew about the lie. He said he lives in fear of the slightest amount of misinformation in his stories and that Fox's position was anathema to the way he looks at journalism. The liberal media cannot stop themselves from talking about Trump because if his avalanche of crime went unreported, he would run roughshod over the country...oh wait. They are not talking about his tan suit. They are talking about the seeming unending series of crimes he committed while in office...and continues to commit. This is the purpose of journalism. Don't like a free press? Move to Russia.
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