The poor fact-checking, cherry-picking, and purposeful bias of modern journalism is especially pernicious now as it bolsters Trump’s fascist cries of “fake news”. We need better, more responsible journalists and properly researched articles to fight these attacks.
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Replying to @mojombo
1/ Trump's fascist attack exploits this sentiment. By lying constantly and indiscriminately he dilutes journalism's power to mediate. Yes, forced errors do bolster the worst of his supporters' beliefs. But, its grossly asymmetric -- that's the vulnerability.
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Replying to @generativist @mojombo
2/ One error provides cover for ten delusions. But, the cost of preventing one error rises in concert with the number of lies. And, Trump controls the number of self-serving lies.
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Replying to @generativist @mojombo
3/ Yes, journalism does need to do a better job. But, the over-emphasis on fact checking and sterile-objectivity commits journalism to a defensive posture that doesn't patch the vulnerability.
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Replying to @generativist @mojombo
4/ What journalism really needs to do is stop granting Trump agenda control. Over and over and over. They need to allocate attention better, and with respect to a coherent, democratic agenda. That doesn't mean less bias. It demands a loss function that isn't Trump-centric.pic.twitter.com/fIqsnCLM2k
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Replying to @generativist @mojombo
5/ Just realized this was hand-wavy abstract. The best example to make it more concrete: the Russia shit. Journalism could commit zero errors while pumping out the most beautifully researched "objective" information possible, and it would be still be an own goal.
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Replying to @generativist @mojombo
6/ The subset of people who would *change* their minds or support of Trump given irrefutable proof of incompetence or willful treason is vanishingly small. It's an issue defined with Trump at its relational center. It's a bad attentional allocation.
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7/ No, journalism can't remove him from the equation. But, they can move him to the periphery by ignoring his words (and fucking tweets) and focusing coverage (and attention) on the ongoing, realized, catastrophic damage he does to people and our society.
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