Except the US media usually skips the first part. When was the last time anyone saw someone with a PhD related to what they were talking about being asked something in the media? No they start with something Elon Musk tweeted about H1B visas and then cover what Laura Loomer said in response. The expert on H1B visas is nowhere to be found.

TBH I almost never see relevant experts in the hegemonic news. For example, NPR never interviews palestinians about their experience under the ongoing genocide. Or with AI there’s almost never a respectable computer scientist but just con artists. You’ll never see/hear an expert on marxism, etc. Etc.

This cartoon gives wayyyy too much credit to these corrupt propaganda outlets.

And that’s how the bOtH pArTiEs ArE tHe SaMe LoL aMiRiTe narrative gets pushed and stoked and permeates weak minds everywhere, through sheer repetition.

You don’t have report “both sides” of an argument if one side of that argument is blithering bullshit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKZN-hBTBUE

A must watch on this topic

I heard it explained like this. If one person says it’s raining outside, and another person says it’s not. The job of the reporter is to look outside to see if it’s raining or not. Their job is not putting them in the same room asking them to debate each other about whether or not it’s raining.

One of the biggest reasons nobody trusts the media is because of this stupid standard of objectivity. Not the journalists fault, might as well insist reporters can fly as be “objective”.

Pretending to be objective is dishonest; making it an editorial standard guarantees you’re lying to the audience.

So they just pretend to be objective, we all see though it; and nobody likes being bullshited.

The US used to have laws that required balanced reporting. Once they were removed, all reporting became 0 effort opinion-based.

There was some value in making them work to lie.

Maybe this is more an issue with my regional news… but my issue is less about the idiots - it’s when the news does a story where they interview some well-meaning but not media trained person (like a progressive activist at a protest), but then for “balance”, they bring in the fucking CEO of Orphan Crushing Inc. to eloquently say why having morals is evil and why the oppressors are actually the victims here. And then give him 90% of the screen time because he’s the “expert”

If that’s how they introduced their guests, I’m okay with that.

I’ve always tried to explain it just like that too, but it’s always like leading a horse to water, you can’t make it drink.

Also can’t make that horse understand that people who have opinions about niche subjects that have advanced degrees and study said subject for a living are worth listening to over reactionary angry idiots, but no. Folks would rather be addicted to rage than apply critical thinking.

I lost my dad to conservative media for this very reason. Started with that sack of shit Rush Limbaugh everyday on the radio and god knows what it is captivating his attention now. Can’t even have a normal conversation with him, he finds a way to always steer conversation to political rage.

How tf do we even come back from this?

In reality, they only talk to the idiot

Podcasts for “bros” in a nutshell.

Except they sometimes leave out the expert.

Every story needs an Arthur Dent to ask dumb questions for the audience. It gives the author an excuse to worldbuild without pontificating. So, on the bright side, maybe our crumbling civilization has a lot of authors collaborating with mind-bogglingly panoply audiences, each of which needs their own lovable idiot hero to be a character in our world.