Journalism is very important part of how our country works yet there is no accountability, no checks and balances, no requirement of transparency. There isn’t even a mechanism to disagree with them. most of the time they have the only voice. We don’t even know what they’re trying to do, what their goals are.#
No more lies in news. We've had to live with journalism that tries to give lies equal stature to actual news, but the two just don't mix. What happens if your news is half lies, the users don't believe anything you carry. This was predicted, in 2016 when it was clear that Putin's Russia was heavily influencing American journalism. They had developed their techniques in Ukraine in previous years, and the Ukraine press and government came to the same conclusion we're now arriving at -- stop at the first lie, turn the microphone off. That's the main rule, main change that has to take place now, in advance of the November election. They may not do it, but at least now we all understand that what they're doing is stupid, wrong, even corrupt. No matter what they don't get to keep their rep if they are laundering lies.#I would almost add a rule that journalists should have respect for critics, we'll save that for the rules of 2030 if there is any journalism left.#
Watch out when reporters say something said on their air or in their pub is "misleading." What they really mean is someone just lied in their space. Heard it just now on NPR after a Republican was using "talking points" that were "misleading." Of course lies are misleading, but they are also lies. What these reporters hope to do (I guess) is convince you that the lies they just broadcast don't reflect poorly on them. If they said "that guy just lied five times" you'd have to wonder why they included it. What's wrong with them. But if they just were "misleading" oh I guess that's okay. Same thing happened in an otherwise pretty honorable piece by Jennifer Rubin in the Washington Post. "When not one but multiple rants call 'into question not only his fitness for office but his basic cognitive abilities,' the media’s refusal to convey Trump’s unfitness amounts to misleading the public." No. It's not just misleading, it's deadly -- to the reputation of the publication that didn't convey what they saw clearly with their own two eyes. The rest of the Rubin piece is worth reading. I expect she softened her criticism because she has to work with the editors at the Post who decided to keep cutting Trump slack. You and I don't have that problem. The news industry in the US must be scrapped and replaced with one that tells the truth, otherwise what's the point.#