Should the media be held accountable for misinformation?

Journalists are always stirring up drama in order to trigger emotions in their audience. People are addicted to their feelings and hearing stories of human interest can placate to the emotionally triggered. It works, and since people these days have more time on their hands to watch crappy tv it’ll continue. Those who lead productive lives will avoid cable news, unless they have a few spare moments to be amused by the drama. Even business news channels are in on the act of reporting drama spin headlines instead of presenting the story and letting us decide what to think. Keep your head down and ignore the noise, but laugh at it when you see and hear it.

“All time low” is more hyperbole than misinformation but I take your point. There’s a pretty high bar to hold the media accountable for when they get things wrong. It pretty much has to be intentional, like Fox reporting on election fraud without evidence. It’s rare and if they retract it once they know the truth that’s about the best you can hope for. The justification for such a high bar is that you don’t want a policy that stifles the media. I get it, but I do sympathize with the original point that the media puts a lot of stuff out there that is crap.

News should be reported without adjectives or afverbs

So, first define "misinformation" because you need look no further than this website to realize that one person's hard truth is another person's propaganda based on their own personal and political bias.

And then define "held accountable," because how do you measure the severity of misinformation when no real measure can be applied? And when does holding journalism accountable cross the line into suppression of free speech?

Personally, I wish that media consumers would hold media companies accountable by watching neither Fox News or MSNBC (among others). But people prove over and over again that their genuine love is for confirmation bias and sensationalism, and not boring old impartiality.

Terms such as all-time-low, most travelers on holiday weekend ever, largest crowd ever, etc., get thrown around all the time, and in many contexts. It's just part of the drama.

I agree, though, that Erica Hill belongs in Hall of Fame of News Babes.

I’ve reached a point where I don’t believe any self identified broadcast or print journalists. I get my news from individuals who I’ve learned to trust based on their reporting over the years. These days, most of them post on Twitter.

A sober discussion on tuscl, nice! Hyperbole is rampant in news today. Opinions are reported as news. Talking heads (e.g. Maddow, Tucker) show us the world through the narrowest lens they think we will be entertained by, and everyone involved pretends that it's news. A flaw in our generally pretty good system is that the most popular news venue has the most money and power, and if what people want is sensationalistic baloney, that's the news. Better than Russian news: a competition for who can lick Putin's seam the hardest, or Chinese news: whatever the communist party news machine calculates will get the most people to get in line. But still not great.

I think the best policy is to seek out a variety of sources, think critically, and question your own bias confirmation seeking tendencies. I read nbc, nyt, seattle times every day, but I also read fox. Cnn is too silly even for me.

drew wrote "I think the best policy is to seek out a variety of sources, think critically, and question your own bias confirmation seeking tendencies".

Excellent point, and it's why I read past the headline, and watch/read stories of the same topics on both CNN and FOX, so that I can get to what REALLY happened. In reality, the truth lies somewhere between what is reported by CNN and Fox.

Before we chastise media, perhaps we should first hold the WH Press Secretary accountable for facts. How many times did Hunter's magical baggie move between rooms/wings of the White House?

We do not have News shows anymore. They are all opinion shows. Gone are the days that the facts are reported only after exhaustive research for accuracy. We are in a generation of who is first to report rather than waiting to get supporting facts. Just like being in the strip club....we believe she is going to give that BJ and go to VIP before getting solid, reliable confirmation.

Who’s going to hold them accountable? The folks whom the news is talking about, that should be fun.

Should the media be held accountable for misinformation? When the media is being fed lies and disinformation by the government, and those lies are used to persuade the population to do as the government wants them to do, who is the villain? Stay home. Wear a mask. Get vaccinated. The president is a closet Muslim. The president is a Russian puppet. Hillary is innocent. Hillary is guilty. The end result? Bitter partisanship and hatred of our countrymen not seen since the Civil War. The media is obligated to report the facts as they know them, but the narrative has overtaken the fact-checking.

Who would determine what misinformation is and what the penalty would be? Biden already tried to create a Ministry of Truth. It was not really necessary since the Deep State already weaponized out national intelligence agencies, federal law enforcement, social media, and news media. It is, as it always has been, up to the people to form their own educated opinion.

When a news source proves untrustworthy or deceitful, people stop consuming that news source and it either course corrects or withers away into history. Unfortunately, the bitter partisan divide causes people to seek out an echo chamber of news sources which only confirm their pre-existing bias. When those news sources ignore the truth or put out misinformation which is consumed by that population as the truth, people begin making decisions based on faulty information which are not in the best interest of themselves or their community.

What happens after that is never good. In other parts of the world it leads to unrest, dissolution, revolution, civil war, and internal strife. For it to happen in a country with the size. strength, and global interconnectedness of the United States would be an unprecedented event. I feel it already is happening, and we are in an uncorrectable tailspin with no possible way to forecast what happens next.

Should 2 bits be allowed to spew his same old mantra daily on this site, even though we all know he’s a fat ass waddling penguin fucker?? Lmfao Rotflmfao ☝️

^ One letter makes you invisible
Rotflmfao

Apparently "all time low" at CNN is similar to "ATF" at TUSCL. Some guys have half a dozen ATFs.

25IQ, unfortunately, has the same right to freedom of speech as us. However, like all other commie scum, he only believes that people who agree with him should be allowed freedom of speech. To paraphrase Churchill: freedom ain't perfect, but it's the best system we can get.

Yes, if by "held accountable' you mean viewers complaining, writing letters, etc. or simply no longer watching/clicking. If by 'held accountable' you mean government action then no. We live in America. The government has no business involving itself into what people say, unless it reaches to the level of libel. And I say this as someone who thinks most of the media is useless partisan trash.

That line you quoted, imo is too opinionated. You can have stupid opinions like that but it falls under belief or opinion. They shouldnt be allowed to make any claims they want about anything. But unfortunately the only time they can really be held accountable for something is if it involves defamation of some kind which they would have to make false claims on an individual or a company. If its just like X thing happened in X country, they can use all kinds of excuses for why they got it wrong.

Hell yes

It is one thing to be opinionated. It is quite another to tell lies that they know are lies to raise ratings or further a personal agenda. All news agencies have a bias. However, only one has been proven in court to be liars.

And if other agencies use their influence to promote lies and falsehoods for personal gain, they should/must be held accountable.

I don't find a lot of misinformation in the media, it's more bias. Where it gets to clear misinformation is in some of these conspiracy theories, which the right wing often push.

CNN is my main go-to for reliable information.

"News should be reported without adjectives or afverbs"

That shit don't sell advertising.

PBS?

CNN is my go-to for reliable information. Leave it to a fucking moron to believe the one source that is sliding downhill in viewership because no one with a brain believes anything they report.

^

Lol