Modern News: “Juicy narratives”,”terrifying yarn”
Today’s “news” is “storytelling” and “juicy narratives”. In other words, news is so last century. The NY Times finds severe questions about the work of a star reporter.
BGR is a fake news site? “Stock up on these 5 things while you can – experts say more grocery hoarding is coming – BGR”
BGR cites an old news story from mid July, about grocery item shortages in June and July (now being overcome), and throws in a made up assertion that “experts say” a huge second wave of Covid-19 is coming and you should stock up on essential items. This report uses FEAR to get you to take action, and click on their links to buy stuff – for which BGR appears to receive an affiliate marketing payment.
Is using out of date data “fake news?
Today is August 17, 2020. Why is CNBC using a chart whose data ends at July 21st – especially since data up through yesterday is readily available?
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.
Journalism: I don’t think that word means what you think it means
“27 police officers injured during largely peaceful” protests. Or something. Several examples of creative reporting, including the MSNBC reporting saying protests are not unruly as a building burns behind him. Words used to have common meanings but apparently not any more. This post is not about the protests about the reporting.
Is this reporter on drugs?
Reporter standing in front of burning buildings says in live broadcast “I want to be clear on how I characterize this. This is mostly a protest. It is not generally speaking unruly.”. Setting fire to buildings is not unruly. Got it.
News media is just an act: Reporter feigns outrage about people not wearing masks while his own crew is not wearing masks
A national TV reporter hyperventilates on a live broadcast about people not wearing masks as someone walks by and points out his own crew isn’t wearing masks either. Because this is faked news intended to get your emotions going one way or another. Television news is just a big act now days. I may not be a real TV reporter but I play one on TV …
Winner of best fake news headline award: “UK researchers warn of only ’50 percent’ success for COVID vaccine trial | Fox News”
Headline makes it sound like there is only a 50% chance the Oxford vaccine will work against Covid-19. But that is not what this is about – at all. The real world incidence of Covid-19 is falling rapidly and might be so low that they are unable to see how the vaccine effects individuals contracting Covid-19 – because you can’t get the disease if the disease has largely vanished.
The researchers think that because of this, there is a 50% chance they will have insufficient data by September to say the vaccine meets requirements by then – and the tests may take longer. The headline is intended to lead you astray and emotionally thinking “Oh no! Vaccines won’t work”, which has been a mainstay of speculative scary reporting for the past 2 months.
Journalism: Story refutes its own headline
Time Magazine ran with the headline “Accidental Poisonings Rise After Trump Disinfectant Comments”; the headline, however, is refuted by the story’s own text. In fact, the rise in accidental poisoning began six weeks before Trump’s bizarre comments, and was part of a longer term trend in an increase in accidental poisoning. The sharp increase that began in February was due to many people acquiring and misusing (and making accessible to children) alcohol-based sanitizers and bleach.
Journalism: Anyone they want to call an expert is an expert
CNN says Greta Thunberg is an expert on corona virus. Face plant. This. Is. Journalism. What. A. Joke.