This is how fake news service Newsweek reported on the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize today. Seriously. They did not write a single headline report on the actual winner of the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize. Perhaps this is because Thunberg is white and Prime Minister Ahmed is black and Newsweek is racist?
On the anxiety inducements of social media and smart phones: “We must be cursed, one would think, to spend so much of our day walking around with our eyes glued to a device that provokes bad feelings.” Ironically, the essay writer ends with two lengthy paragraphs of doom, gloom and negativity and wonders why everyone is gloomy?
We live among the best of times in world history yet even positive economic news, as in this article, are all translated into negatives. Journalism focuses on negativity, causing anxiety and a culture of outrage where everyone is upset all the time. The linked article is an amazing example showing how the news was deliberately spun into negatives; each item listed is then rewritten in the positive, dramatically improving the emotions of the reader.
With some businesses suing online review authors, even for completely factual reviews, should we even write online reviews? Further, many online reviews are “fake”, using paid authors and even competitors writing negative reviews on their competition.
The media continues to drum beat a meme that wildfires are growing every year but the data shows otherwise. Always remember to practice “factfulness”. What we think we know, especially that which we learn from the media and social media, is often incorrect.