TV news producer says all “news” is driven by ratings
A national TV news producer says all news is basically driven by ratings – not importance or value to the viewer. Most news is intentionally devoid of context and facts.
False: Full-time low income wage earners cannot afford a 2 bedroom rental anywhere in the U.S.
This claim comes out every year, from the same activist lobbying organization. They use misleading language and obfuscated definitions to imply a conclusion that is not true – a conclusion that the media laps up like good little puppies and uses to make false conclusions. This blog has covered this item twice previously. Nothing has changed.
Journalism: USA Today misreports on Oregon, even miscounts the number of Counties
Just about all of the numbers in this USA Today “news report” are wrong, and easily cross checked for the correct numbers. This. Is. Journalism. Where facts are strictly optional.
Revisiting an old topic: “How White Supremacists incited panic and fear using social media propaganda at the University of Missouri – Social Panic”
Back in 2016, fake social media posts from fake social media accounts were used to incite fear and hysteria, with attempts to start riots. I documented this in detail back in 2016.
Today we again have fake social media posts being used to incite violence, looting, arson and anarchy – none of which leads to productive solutions to bona fide injustices and societal problems. Social media is playing a central role in this non-productive destruction of our society – and is not providing a platform for problem resolution.
Public health messaging has been a mess
Public health’s messaging about all things corona virus has been a fiasco of inconsistent, contradictory, incoherent and unclear communications. Every aspect has been a disaster. Experts in risk communication say the same thing – it just been one big mess.
Business: “Fake Diversity” used to fool consumers
Rather than hire actual diverse workforces, or recruit actual diverse student bodies, businesses and universities are using AI generated fake images of people in order to show their diversity. Seriously.
Journalism: CNN settles lawsuit with Nick Sandmann
CNN and many media outlets falsely reported on a confrontation that occurred in Washington DC in January 2019. The media had the story backwards, reversed from what actually occurred, with many media outlets falsely accusing students of racism. Today, CNN has settled the lawsuit filed against them. Several related lawsuits remain pending.
Social media: Social media meme asserts U.S. corn belt yields 40% more oxygen than the Amazon
This poster is a persuasive bit of propaganda. Most of it is not true. The parts that are true are that the Corn belt is a very productive region, and about 80 million acres (close to 100 million in the poster?) are growing corn. This item had been shared into my Facebook news feed.
Business: Everything about a restaurant menu is designed to trick you into spending more money.
Lengthy descriptions, flowery wording, made up names of farms of origin, the type font used, the order that items appear, the weight of the menu paper, the binding, the colors, the photographs – every aspect of a restaurant menu is working to manipulate your decision.
Climate communications: “The Trouble With Climate Emergency Journalism | Issues in Science and Technology”
A paper in a journal published by the National Academy of Sciences faults journalists for focusing on dystopian, catastrophic, fear inducing dramatization of future climate projections – while failing to present the likelihood (or lack of likelihood) of such scenarios and the uncertainty presented in the science papers and conferences. It is gratifying to see others at a higher pay grade than I are also seeing that stories designed to create emotional outrage and responses are a turn off and counter productive to effective climate communications.