Journalism is propaganda
Adam Curry notes that all journalism is wrong, and adds a more
credible picture of Pim Fortuyn than was seen anywhere in the
Big Media. Why does journalism always contain errors?
Is it because it has to be so oversimplified, to fit in
between the ads?
Is it because it has to be so overdramatized, to attract
readers and viewers?
Is it because it has to be so polarizing, to stir up
controversy, to attract attention?
Is it because it is so full of false dichotomies -- either-or claims
that should really be gray-scale?
Mark Pilgrim mentions local news with a similar
amount of respect.
My take on it:
All journalism is propaganda.
The online Merriam-Webster Dictionary
defines propaganda thusly:
- (2): the spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the
purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause,
or a person
- (3): ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to
further one's cause [...]
The institution or cause in question here is The Bottom Line ...
of the corporation paying the journalist.
At the end of Curry's piece, he mentions
the Zen TV experiment.
Well worth reading.
Today's tangents:
- oversimplifications, like the
political classification of left-vs-right, and
like the absurd notion of squeezing the multi-dimensional
concept of intelligence into a single number.
- Marek's
new vaporware book "De Dollarutionibus", inspired by
Nicolas Copernicus' "De Revolutionibus".
Copernicus says "earth rotates on its axis once daily and
travels around the sun once yearly".
Marek says "The money rotates daily and travels straight
into the designated bank account. "
- Fishrush. A new etymology for the word
"blogging"
- Bloggeur.
11:24:57 AM
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