2 min readDec 7, 2017
- ) When the tax “reform” bill passed I received notifications from various news organizations letting me know. As if I weren’t glued to CSPAN. Anyway, every one of them put an opinion in the headline. They called it a “big win for the president.” Only one said something a long the lines of Sweeping Tax Bill Passes. I want more of that. More of just what happened and let me editorialize for myself. Or let me know that your editorial board is now writing for the news section.
- The potential trade-offs I see would be possible cries of censorship. I’m not sure that’s a bad thing, however. If Facebook claims they aren’t a news source and doesn’t want to vet stories the way actual newsrooms typically vet them, then they need to be held responsible for the garbage they let circulate. Once they start paying the price, either through tougher regulation or a drop in revenue, they’ll clean up their platform. Same with Twitter.
- I ask my fifth grader to look at the source. Is it a name/publication he knows? Then I ask him to read for facts and try to remove opinions. Everything is written with a bias, but if we’re diligent we should be able to find the facts and let go of the biases and opinions. Once we have the facts we can form our own opinions and act accordingly.
- I subscribe to the online publications I read. Even the Denver Post. I subscribe simply to pay for the reporting I’m reading. If no one does it will go away.
- Unless we can use AI to root out the falsehoods and lies, I’m not sure it can be used for good in terms of media consumption.