Social media: Facebook automatically fact checking online posts
Facebook now automatically fact checks online posts from selected sources or on selected topics.
Journalism: Good news is always bad news
City’s median household income jumps up to new record, but this is bad news, because not everyone saw higher wages or something. “Seattle median household income soars to $93,500 — but wealth doesn’t reach everyone, census data shows”, as if that is a profound observation. Always twist a positive into a negative!
Journalism: We must take positive stories and ALWAYS twist them to negativity
Young man in his 20s raises $1 million for charity. Local paper then exposes him for having made two – yes two – offensive tweets when he was 16, shutting down his charitable fund raising for the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital. Meanwhile, the reporter who wrote the story made far more offensive comments on Twitter. But that’s okay, because he’s an important holier-than-thou reporter. Or something. The larger question: Why did the Des Moines Register feel compelled to turn a positive story into a negative story? Because negativity is the main focus of today’s media.
Journalism: “The No. 1 reason millennials are struggling to save for retirement”
Some one thought this was profound: “About one-fifth (21%) of millennials say that student debt is holding them back from saving for their future. This is a much more common answer among young people: Only 12% of Gen Xers and 5% of boomers feel this way.”
In other words, people just out of college are more likely to have student debt than those who did not go to college (almost 40% more millennials have a college degree than the baby boom generation) or who went to college decades ago.
That is profound, isn’t it? /sarcasm
This illustrates how statistical reporting devoid of context leads you to an incorrect conclusion.
Climate communications: Rasmussen poll: 51% Of Young Voters Believe Humanity Could Be Wiped Out Within 10 Years
51% of voters under 35 believe human life may be wiped out on earth with in 10 years. This assertion is not supported by any scientific evidence but is a fear created out of thin air by lying, exaggeration, hyperbole by politicians, activists and media propagandists. The result is an induced epidemic of mass anxiety with many now requiring medical care.