**** About the Press ****
Greetings. I'm going to risk more obscene replies by noting the following, that I think is extremely important. I frequently see people on #Mastodon dissing the mainstream press and media. "Go back to #Twitter!" "We don't need you here!" "You're useless and evil." -- and other voluminous words to that effect.
You may personally feel that the press/media are evil incarnate (I don't. Mostly -- with some notable exceptions -- they're just trying to do their jobs amidst a disinformation maelstrom.) But I still cannot emphasize how utterly SELF-DESTRUCTIVE it is to ignore or otherwise dis mainstream press/media.
Even when you disagree with them. ESPECIALLY when you disagree with them!
I started being asked to give press/media (hereafter I'll just say "press") interviews many years ago in early ARPANET days. Since then I've done innumerable interviews of all kinds -- print media, web media, radio, recorded TV news interviews (e.g. "soundbites"), live satellite news interviews, live and recorded TV shows, etc. -- and I've been doing a (currently weekly) tech/tech policy segment on network radio to over a million listeners for many, many years.
I could write a book about all this and what I've learned about the process and how to make it work in the best possible ways, but I'll just say this right now:
**** If people who know the truth don't work with the press to get the true stories out, then bad actors -- evil people -- will happily fill the vacuum that you've left and spread their own disinformation and propaganda that will not only hurt you, but society at large. ****
So you do the interviews -- and that's a learned skill, you do learn over time for example how to maximize the probability of your statements being intact and featured in recorded "soundbite" interviews for example.
You learn not to squirm when they feed the mic cable up under your shirt to the wireless pack they put on your belt.
You let them do the damned makeup before you go on camera (and yes as a guy I *hate* that), because if you don't you'll end up looking like a corpse on air under the lights.
And you do this and much more because you're willing to put out the effort to get accurate information out there, and not cede the battlefield to evil.
If you aren't willing to make such an effort when the press comes calling, as far as I'm concerned you shouldn't be complaining about the press. Period.
Best, -L
@lauren «If people who know the truth don't work with the press to get the true stories out, then bad actors -- evil people -- will happily fill the vacuum that you've left and spread their own disinformation and propaganda».
are you saying the «press people» don't give a musk about what they «spread» and will happily go ahead to propagate whatever some «bad actors» shovel their way while «good people» look away?
omg, this is worse than i feared =( not sure i need that kind of press at all.
@tivasyk @lauren It's easy to overestimate the spare cognitive capacity that reporters have when covering stories. Those of us who don't have to research a new (to us) topic and write intelligently about it may think that disinformation trolls are obvious. But in many situations, they aren't. A lot of reporters don't know what they don't know, and that's where bad faith actors get in and do damage.
@bezoar @tivasyk @lauren And a key part of this situation is that reporters specialize in reporting. That's a talent of summarization, focusing on key facts, crafting disjoint information into narrative, and getting all of that in front of people.
There's nothing in the minimum qualifications for the job that require them to know anything about the fields they're talking about and, in general, they are not held accountable for passing along information that is later found to be false (empirically speaking; few people cancel a newspaper subscription because any given story is full of bullshit, though they may cancel for an *unpopular* story).
It's their job to report on a field, not to be masters of it.
@lucybeahere @mtomczak @bezoar @tivasyk That's what it's always been. That's what it is *supposed to be*. Reporters report the info they can obtain. That's why they're called reporters.
@lauren @mtomczak @bezoar @tivasyk I’m old enough to remember when journalists published lies, they lost their jobs for it. Some still believe in journalistic standards necessary for democracy to thrive, such as @froomkin, @markjacob, and @jayrosen_nyu. Check them out. You’ve convinced me that journalistic criticism is essential to help those searching for reliable sources.
@lucybeahere @mtomczak @tivasyk @lauren We need not be doomed if enough of us who have useful knowledge get in front of the bullshit, which is what Lauren advocated in his original post. (Of course, "enough" probably looks like way more than we see now, but I choose to believe that it's achievable.)
Teaching media literacy would help quite a lot too, to help audiences think better/more critically.
@lucybeahere @bezoar @mtomczak @tivasyk They make that choice via what news sources they choose to read and view. Again, as it always has been (except in fascist and communist countries, for example).
@lauren @bezoar @mtomczak @tivasyk Looking at media critically is how consumers choose. Telling people not to be critical of media is impossible and quite ridiculous, and in direct opposition to the critical thinking skills they attempt to teach in choosing sources at school. It’s the only hope we have against disinformation. I can not believe we even have to have this discussion. What truly depressing times we live in.
@lucybeahere @bezoar @mtomczak @tivasyk Study after study shows that there is very little critical viewing going on, because almost everyone naturally migrates to the news sources that they like. How often have you heard people here say they'd never watch FOX News? I watch it, because I want to know what they're saying over there, in addition to multiple other sources. It's like people here saying they now ignore what's happening on Twitter, they feel happy here and want to pretend Twitter doesn't exist. These are the same sorts of behaviors, just different shades. Misinformation can only be effectively controlled by preventing it from being disseminated in the first place, but court decisions are likely going in the opposite direction (in the U.S.). That's just the reality.
@lauren @bezoar @mtomczak @tivasyk Then I guess you’re wasting your time going on talk radio, because misinformation is already out there and people have already picked their sides and believe what they want to believe. I will continue to be critical of the media and search for reliable sources, and I’m grateful to those who share that information with me. Truth matters, otherwise we fall. We can already see proof of that.
@lucybeahere @bezoar @mtomczak @tivasyk Ah, but you may be missing the point! The reason one goes on those shows is that this is where an unfamiliar view will be heard when it normally wouldn't be! And that is one of the few ways to see some changes. It's almost impossible to get people to switch shows, but if you turn down opportunities to be on them, you miss the chance to (however briefly) get inside the filter bubbles. And by being invited on those shows, you get credibility with listeners who ordinarily would ignore you. This is one of the few ways to actually change some minds in this context. And it works.
@lauren You’re missing my point, which is: what you are doing matters because (I assume) you are trying to open people’s eyes to the truth. Truth still matters to people, and they are looking for it (maybe in the wrong places!) If there is no belief in truth, they disengage. It becomes about survival, not a functional society. That is why the GOP is trying to eliminate the concept of truth. That is why having high quality, pro democracy journalism matters.
@mtomczak @bezoar @tivasyk @lauren If this is truly what reporting is now, then we are doomed. This is the opposite of what we should aspire to. This is Russia level nihilism where truth is meaningless and all that matters is who has the megaphone.