Robert Graham1. it was a Grimes stalker, not an Elon stalker
2. near Grime's house
3. 26 miles from the last location of Elon's jet
4. 23 hours after his jet landed
SloanLA@ErrataRob Don't believe liars like Elon. Ever. When will the media take their job to verify seriously?
Ray Ryan (he/him)@SloanLA @ErrataRob The Washington Post broke this. Prior to that, most of the coverage I've seen has been very careful to phrase things like "Musk claimed, but offered no proof."
@rjrjr @ErrataRob When it first broke Dec 14, all I saw was repeating Elon’s story, without any caveats. E.g., Newsweek https://www.newsweek.com/elon-musk-claims-stalker-targeted-car-young-son-inside-1767293
MSN/The Street https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/technologyinvesting/elon-musk-launches-a-manhunt-after-alarming-incident/ar-AA15jQ47
Of course Fox, OAN, NYPost, etc. Many updated their stories since then, but what we see time and again is a rush for clicks and no checks.
MSN/The Street https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/technologyinvesting/elon-musk-launches-a-manhunt-after-alarming-incident/ar-AA15jQ47
Of course Fox, OAN, NYPost, etc. Many updated their stories since then, but what we see time and again is a rush for clicks and no checks.
@SloanLA @ErrataRob It says "claims" right in the headline of the Newsweek example. The article is similarly responsible. Like it or not, his attention seeking is news, unlike yours or mine. The reader had a responsibility to read.
@rjrjr @ErrataRob And they did nothing to check his claim, as I said. We know from study after study repeating lies and claims, even with a disclaimer or stating it is a lie, helps misinformation spread and cements it in our brains as familiar and therefor more believable the next time we hear it. Meanwhile Hot Air and other right wingers even claimed it was Antifa. This is the Age of Information, news media needs a better baseline for their work.
@SloanLA @ErrataRob The Washington Post checked his claims, and the reporter got banned for the effort. It takes time to dig things up, days, especially to do so responsibly.
In the meantime, news is happening. Should Musk's incredibly visible tweets stand there unchallenged in the meantime, with the besmirched ElonsJet guy unable to respond effectively?
@SloanLA @ErrataRob
I don't normally keep going on with threads like this, but the whole "lamestream media" tilt to the general conversation is really bothering me. It's Elon's main talking point, and it's damaging.
I don't normally keep going on with threads like this, but the whole "lamestream media" tilt to the general conversation is really bothering me. It's Elon's main talking point, and it's damaging.
@SloanLA @ErrataRob This is a good take on the whole mess. Journalists and journals are in a terrible position.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/17/elon-musk-twitter-overkill/
@rjrjr @ErrataRob They are in a bad position partly due to bad actors. But they’ve done little to battle it. Is this a breaking story with zero verification? Not even a police check? Label it UNVERIFIED clearly at the top at the very least. I’m not anti media. But I see a higher level of responsibility from only a few versus running for clicks. Don’t absolve them of their complicity either.
@rjrjr @ErrataRob it went unchallenged and unchecked. That’s my point. When 99.99% of your article is repeating his potential lies, you are doing a bad job.
Cosmic Cleric@rjrjr @SloanLA @ErrataRob I long for the days when the news media would wait to have two verified sources before publishing an article.
Trying to clean up messes after the fact doesn't work, because people have moved on, but they have the initial story in their minds, not the latter updates.
@CosmicCleric @rjrjr @ErrataRob Exactly, the old saying about a lie traveling the world before the truth can put on its pants is even worse with the internet. There are so many ways news agencies could label, inform, and discern... but they don't. Most have the exact same clickbait headlines repeating the lie and then copy and paste their article from a single source. It is increasingly dangerous.