Hacker News Reader

Comment by threatofrain | Hacker News Reader

Media's credibility comes not from what it gets wrong, but rather that it may have any uncanny ability to say what is right.

The problem is that media is often right and wrong about things that are very far away from me, so I don't really see the win in "getting the scoop" on anything. For example, the NYT is really good at predicting when there's going to be a high-profile WH resignation or firing come up. It's not like I was going to get that information from original research or critical thinking. But again, unless you're a big player, what are you going to do with the inside scoop on world events?

Arguably, if you did really care about these things, then the degree to which any source provides signal is the degree to which you will tolerate noise.

View on HN

Media's role is not to provide the truth. Their primary role is to make governments and corporations trustworthy and hold them accountable to the world. Nobody holds "the truth", but bits, pieces, opinions may be reported.

Also, authority routinely lie and exhaggerate. If not held accountable, they get away with it too!

The only thing more powerful than speaking Truth, is love.

There are laws the media must follow. There is a truth they must tell, legally and also the stuff that gets clicks and views is true for it's audience in a salient way.

Authority has the power to control, it's part of the job description and politics resolves the truth of that domain.

Why do you want something 'more powerful' than truth? You just excised yourself from philosophy, religion, god, law, ect in dismissing truth.

We all want 'true' love anyway so the distinction is poor.

I didn't give up on truth, but it's an honest pursuit, not something you find with a click or even pay a dollar for. The people have sole responsibility for truth and love.

That’s a sort of idealized version of what most people will think the media is supposed to do at least. But it’s not even close to what they actually do in practice. When it comes to powerful institutions or people, nearly all media outlets are terrible at taking sides. They have one side they will slander ruthlessly on every issue, and another they will fawn over and cover up for. Furthermore, any mission they have to scrutinize will often end up taking a backseat to generating advertising revenue.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com