Maher agrees with Fake News Narrative

[GMDino]

(01-31-2024, 02:58 PM)HarleyDog Wrote: The way I perceive the point is you can print lies and then a week later do a retraction stating you made an error. However, by then, many people have already formed an opinion and a retraction will either not be read, or not convinceable. Seriously, most articles written, readers don't know there is a retraction unless a big deal is made of it. They surely don't advertise their intent to mislead you. I feel this happens more than people realize.

I would say I'm an average to below-average reader when it comes to articles. First, the headline needs to grab my attention (although wild headlines which appear too clickbaity I avoid). Second, If the article doesn't keep me interested by the end of paragraphs 2-3, I'm out. Thirdly, when I read an article, I may skim through updates on the same topic as other articles come out, but once I've read about a topic once, my interest rapidly declines when other articles are written. 

There is a difference between printing "lies" and needing to issue a retraction.  Most legitimate news sources don't print lies even if they are wrong some times.

Retractions can be about minor details.  If the entire story is wrong a new story will be written usually.

I see two problems at work here:

1) People do not trust the media...especially when it conflicts with their pre-conceived notions.

2) Like you most people don't read whole articles unless they are interested in them.

We have entire swaths of "media" pretending to be "news".  We need a more educated viewer/reader to tell the difference between them and actual news sources.

There are plenty of issues with "be first" and 24/7 news needing to fill time, but that doesn't mean everyone is lying.  Or that only the OTHER side is lying.  Hell, I don't know if MOST are lying or just presenting the facts in a way to fit their narrative.