I found that one of the main points of this documentary was to explore how fabricated stories and conspiracies spread online, revealing the real-world harm that these theories can do to individuals, politics, and public trust in general. It traces major cases of misinformation and shows how digital platforms can amplify falsehoods faster than it shows the truth. An example of this was "pizzagate", and I found this interesting since I had never heard of it before. #so315
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@lilpoundcake1 I also agree with this; I had never heard about "pizzagate" before, and it really did show how fast misinformation and conspiracies can spread. #so315
American journalism operates as a rigid system. This system forces journalists to be seen as agents in the system, but they're really just limited to which stories and perspectives they can cover(these limiting forces are either the professional norms or the elite viewpoints of those running the organization). Market pressures can also further these challenges to media coverage, with the result being a media system that appears balanced, but in reality is in a power imbalance. #so315
@ccaruso34 I also agree with this. Each side of the media spectrum believes that media contains too much bias from the opposite side of the spectrum. Pointing fingers in the media can get easy, but there definitely are ways that bias can be lessened. #so315
@eggysandwich I also thought something similar. Journalism can tend to cater to what their audience wants to hear, rather than what they should hear. #so315
Just because someone's presenting two sides of an argument/issue doesn't make it accurate or "fair". This kind of media coverage can often exaggerate a certain viewpoint and reinforce bias. The public wants to be able to evaluate all news sources and points of view, and when some viewpoints are more covered, this kind of critical thinking can't happen. #so315
To me, this chapter really highlighted how much of a "battlefield" journalism is. The chapter really emphasized how much journalists and journalism organizations compete against each other, fighting for the most capital. Also with the US Press becoming less and less free, it makes journalism much more complicated and difficult to navigate. #so315
@k8tie I also found this rather interesting. The idea of thier slogan being "Truth" is rather ironic, since there is such an inherent bias in the news that they're releasing. Not to say that media bias only exists in right-wing news, but putting "truth" in the name does make this bias more overt, #so315
This Trump-era administration is doing what could've only bee dreamt of during the Nixon Era. The current administration is weakening traditional media through modern channels, making it impossible to tell what's true due to the presence of so much biased news. This podcast episode highlights how Trump is able to get his narrative out there and keep it out there, despite present dissent about how his presidency is being conducted. #so315