As Covid-19 has been unfolding, I’ve spent significant time and energy trying to understand it, as I tend to do with threats in general. In so doing, I’ve developed some insight on how to tune media consumption patterns towards more truthful content and less misinformation.
People, for the most part, want entertainment. Mainstream news outlets cater to lowest-common-denominator tastes. Homogeneity in stories is rampant in nightly local news. Incendiary shit gets...
People, for the most part, want entertainment. Mainstream news outlets cater to lowest-common-denominator tastes. Homogeneity in stories is rampant in nightly local news. Incendiary shit gets views, views lead to revenue. Crap goes in, crap comes out. Don't read The News®.
This is a good, reasonable post. Though, I imagine most people stumbling upon it are already pretty good at separating the wheat from the chaff. The vast majority don't have the patience or understanding to engage in slow news. Hell, I'd be surprised if the majority even reads articles these days. People want to consume and react to headlines on Facebook, squabbling with distant family members while re-runs of Law & Order: SVU auto-play on their smart TVs in the background and their children scroll through questionable content on Youtube (lord help us if they're engaging in some way on TikTok).
I respect journalism. Or, the idea of it, anyway. Not enough of it is boring, though.
Well..this was a thoroughly cynical take.
I've found certain podcasts that do a pretty good job. The Truth of the Matter is a pretty good one. Since this post discusses Covid-19 quite a bit, I'd recommend the interview with John Barry.Open Source is another good one.
People, for the most part, want entertainment. Mainstream news outlets cater to lowest-common-denominator tastes. Homogeneity in stories is rampant in nightly local news. Incendiary shit gets views, views lead to revenue. Crap goes in, crap comes out. Don't read The News®.
This is a good, reasonable post. Though, I imagine most people stumbling upon it are already pretty good at separating the wheat from the chaff. The vast majority don't have the patience or understanding to engage in slow news. Hell, I'd be surprised if the majority even reads articles these days. People want to consume and react to headlines on Facebook, squabbling with distant family members while re-runs of Law & Order: SVU auto-play on their smart TVs in the background and their children scroll through questionable content on Youtube (lord help us if they're engaging in some way on TikTok).
I respect journalism. Or, the idea of it, anyway. Not enough of it is boring, though.
Well..this was a thoroughly cynical take.
I've found certain podcasts that do a pretty good job. The Truth of the Matter is a pretty good one. Since this post discusses Covid-19 quite a bit, I'd recommend the interview with John Barry.Open Source is another good one.