No, It's Fake News

[Flopper]

Although there is fake news where the entire story is fabricated, most of what we call fake news is slanted stores and exaggerations. "Obama Admits He's Working to Overthrow Trump." The actual facts in the article is he will be working to put a Democrat in the White House. The headline carries a far different message.

The need to make news entertaining and eye catching is the primary reason for media bias, slants, and exaggerations and it's not limited to politics.

How many times do see a breaking news story about a tornado that devastates a small town? We see a brick building in rubble, a business owner of a local business crying over the devastation and the family searching for their beloved pet. Oh, the horror and devastation. What the media doesn't show you is the rest of town with little damage, no deaths and minor injuries. The same type of reporting is applied to hot button issues such immigration, abortion, and racial incidents.

So when did we stop reporting news? Over 50 years ago, TV networks decided news had to be made entertaining. It had to be dramatic and it had to appeal to everyone. In the 1950's, typically Dad watched the news while Mom fixed dinner and the kids did what kids do. All too often, the TV didn't get turned on till the evening entertainment started. TV and then cable and then the internet did whatever it took to attract viewers or increase website hits, exaggerations, slanting, and ignoring facts. If it was an interesting story, it was good story.

The big problem is the public does not see these presentations for what they really are. They consider it factual news, not entertainment. People really believe Obama is Muslim and was born Kenya. They believe Trump is a reincarnation of Adolph Hitler. They think legal immigration is destroying America and free college education and healthcare are realist possibilities today.

The bottom line is the media is inflaming racism, xenophobia, hatred, and painting an unrealistic picture of American. Worse yet, politicians are pandering to those warped beliefs.

 

[whitehall]

Every political news story (including Fox) is an editorial. The problem for democrats is that they assume most Americans are as dumb as their hard core political base. Americans have alternate sources of information today even though democrats are still using their 60's tired old playbook that pretends that Cronkite is king.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

News became a profit machine like any other business. It's those greedy CEO's and love for money that makes them report news be it real news or not. You can't sell advertising without being sensational.

A few years back, a police officer here was shot and killed. Yes, it was the media headline for about one day. The next day, the headline was about some dog that was abused by it's owner. the follow up story about the officer was secondary.

Is a dog story more important than a fallen police officer in the opinion of the news? No, not really. But when they run the dog stories, people write to the news agency, they crowd the blogs with discussions. Facebook and Twitter are loaded with discussions.

Unfortunately, you don't get that kind of excitement about a police officers killed in the line of duty.

 

[Flopper]

News became a profit machine like any other business. It's those greedy CEO's and love for money that makes them report news be it real news or not. You can't sell advertising without being sensational.

A few years back, a police officer here was shot and killed. Yes, it was the media headline for about one day. The next day, the headline was about some dog that was abused by it's owner. the follow up story about the officer was secondary.

Is a dog story more important than a fallen police officer in the opinion of the news? No, not really. But when they run the dog stories, people write to the news agency, they crowd the blogs with discussions. Facebook and Twitter are loaded with discussions.

Unfortunately, you don't get that kind of excitement about a police officers killed in the line of duty.

I believe the biggest problem is making mountains out of mole hills and vice versa. Creating the story is of course the goal. Factual reporting is secondary. Back when you just had newspapers and TV that was not a problem because the stories just didn't have legs like they do now. Today with the Internet repeating stories, embellishing them, and blogs endlessly discussing them, various versions are accepted as common beliefs by large segments of the population. Politicians take positions on these shadows of the truth, create policies and legislation. This is the real danger.

To answer my own question, it all started with the news moving from a public service to a media money maker and the primary creator of public opinion.

 

[oreo]

Although there is fake news where the entire story is fabricated, most of what we call fake news is slanted stores and exaggerations. "Obama Admits He's Working to Overthrow Trump." The actual facts in the article is he will be working to put a Democrat in the White House. The headline carries a far different message.

The need to make news entertaining and eye catching is the primary reason for media bias, slants, and exaggerations and it's not limited to politics.

How many times do see a breaking news story about a tornado that devastates a small town? We see a brick building in rubble, a business owner of a local business crying over the devastation and the family searching for their beloved pet. Oh, the horror and devastation. What the media doesn't show you is the rest of town with little damage, no deaths and minor injuries. The same type of reporting is applied to hot button issues such immigration, abortion, and racial incidents.

So when did we stop reporting news? Over 50 years ago, TV networks decided news had to be made entertaining. It had to be dramatic and it had to appeal to everyone. In the 1950's, typically Dad watched the news while Mom fixed dinner and the kids did what kids do. All too often, the TV didn't get turned on till the evening entertainment started. TV and then cable and then the internet did whatever it took to attract viewers or increase website hits, exaggerations, slanting, and ignoring facts. If it was an interesting story, it was good story.

The big problem is the public does not see these presentations for what they really are. They consider it factual news, not entertainment. People really believe Obama is Muslim and was born Kenya. They believe Trump is a reincarnation of Adolph Hitler. They think legal immigration is destroying America and free college education and healthcare are realist possibilities today.

The bottom line is the media is inflaming racism, xenophobia, hatred, and painting an unrealistic picture of American. Worse yet, politicians are pandering to those warped beliefs.

This is the problem with 24 hour cable news. The days of Walter Cronkite are long gone. Just the news please, no commentary. Really PBS news hour, and I also like Vice news which is a new program on the premium channel anymore. They offer this and let their viewers make up their own minds about what they just heard, plus they add other very interesting world stories that you're never get out of main stream media or right and left media outlets.

The news is also the reason for this great political divide and hate of the opposite side of the isle in this country. You have FOX NEWS, right wing talk radio on the right, and the MSN's on the left and of course their radio talk show hosts, who do it for ratings and profits. Their news is going to be developed according to their audiences with a strong twist to the right or the left, (with a lot of critical information left out) to suit their audiences. I call it dumbing down America.

It's gotten so bad that right wingers refuse to read articles that don't have the right wing gold stamp of approval on it. They believe that it's all FAKE news especially if it's negative against Trump so they refuse to read it. Which not only makes them stupid as to what is going on, but it's much worse. They have this stubbornness to believe anything that didn't come out of a right wing talk show hosts mouth, which makes them (stubborn stupid) and very difficult to rationalize with. As we see Trump is cheered on by these same people, with him banning media outlets that he believes are more critical of him from attending White House daily briefings. And often times, they're just repeating his own words. Here is a good article on this.
The GOP must do something about the conservative media industrial complex if it wants to survive

To be knowledgeable, you have to be able to listen to everything and read everything regardless of which side of the isle it's coming from. And once you do that it's NOT hard at all to decipher what is fake news and what isn't.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

Although there is fake news where the entire story is fabricated, most of what we call fake news is slanted stores and exaggerations. "Obama Admits He's Working to Overthrow Trump." The actual facts in the article is he will be working to put a Democrat in the White House. The headline carries a far different message.

The need to make news entertaining and eye catching is the primary reason for media bias, slants, and exaggerations and it's not limited to politics.

How many times do see a breaking news story about a tornado that devastates a small town? We see a brick building in rubble, a business owner of a local business crying over the devastation and the family searching for their beloved pet. Oh, the horror and devastation. What the media doesn't show you is the rest of town with little damage, no deaths and minor injuries. The same type of reporting is applied to hot button issues such immigration, abortion, and racial incidents.

So when did we stop reporting news? Over 50 years ago, TV networks decided news had to be made entertaining. It had to be dramatic and it had to appeal to everyone. In the 1950's, typically Dad watched the news while Mom fixed dinner and the kids did what kids do. All too often, the TV didn't get turned on till the evening entertainment started. TV and then cable and then the internet did whatever it took to attract viewers or increase website hits, exaggerations, slanting, and ignoring facts. If it was an interesting story, it was good story.

The big problem is the public does not see these presentations for what they really are. They consider it factual news, not entertainment. People really believe Obama is Muslim and was born Kenya. They believe Trump is a reincarnation of Adolph Hitler. They think legal immigration is destroying America and free college education and healthcare are realist possibilities today.

The bottom line is the media is inflaming racism, xenophobia, hatred, and painting an unrealistic picture of American. Worse yet, politicians are pandering to those warped beliefs.

This is the problem with 24 hour cable news. The days of Walter Cronkite are long gone. Just the news please, no commentary. Really PBS news hour, and I also like Vice news which is a new program on the premium channel anymore. They offer this and let their viewers make up their own minds about what they just heard, plus they add other very interesting world stories that you're never get out of main stream media or right and left media outlets.

The news is also the reason for this great political divide and hate of the opposite side of the isle in this country. You have FOX NEWS, right wing talk radio on the right, and the MSN's on the left and of course their radio talk show hosts, who do it for ratings and profits. Their news is going to be developed according to their audiences with a strong twist to the right or the left, (with a lot of critical information left out) to suit their audiences. I call it dumbing down America.

It's gotten so bad that right wingers refuse to read articles that don't have the right wing gold stamp of approval on it. They believe that it's all FAKE news especially if it's negative against Trump so they refuse to read it. Which not only makes them stupid as to what is going on, but it's much worse. They have this stubbornness to believe anything that didn't come out of a right wing talk show hosts mouth, which makes them (stubborn stupid) and very difficult to rationalize with. Here is a good article on this.
The GOP must do something about the conservative media industrial complex if it wants to survive

To be knowledgeable, you have to be able to listen to everything and read everything regardless of which side of the isle it's coming from. And once you do that it's NOT hard at all to decipher what is fake news and what isn't.

The days of Walter Cronkite are long gone.

Yeah, I miss that old leftist windbag.

 

[oreo]

Although there is fake news where the entire story is fabricated, most of what we call fake news is slanted stores and exaggerations. "Obama Admits He's Working to Overthrow Trump." The actual facts in the article is he will be working to put a Democrat in the White House. The headline carries a far different message.

The need to make news entertaining and eye catching is the primary reason for media bias, slants, and exaggerations and it's not limited to politics.

How many times do see a breaking news story about a tornado that devastates a small town? We see a brick building in rubble, a business owner of a local business crying over the devastation and the family searching for their beloved pet. Oh, the horror and devastation. What the media doesn't show you is the rest of town with little damage, no deaths and minor injuries. The same type of reporting is applied to hot button issues such immigration, abortion, and racial incidents.

So when did we stop reporting news? Over 50 years ago, TV networks decided news had to be made entertaining. It had to be dramatic and it had to appeal to everyone. In the 1950's, typically Dad watched the news while Mom fixed dinner and the kids did what kids do. All too often, the TV didn't get turned on till the evening entertainment started. TV and then cable and then the internet did whatever it took to attract viewers or increase website hits, exaggerations, slanting, and ignoring facts. If it was an interesting story, it was good story.

The big problem is the public does not see these presentations for what they really are. They consider it factual news, not entertainment. People really believe Obama is Muslim and was born Kenya. They believe Trump is a reincarnation of Adolph Hitler. They think legal immigration is destroying America and free college education and healthcare are realist possibilities today.

The bottom line is the media is inflaming racism, xenophobia, hatred, and painting an unrealistic picture of American. Worse yet, politicians are pandering to those warped beliefs.

This is the problem with 24 hour cable news. The days of Walter Cronkite are long gone. Just the news please, no commentary. Really PBS news hour, and I also like Vice news which is a new program on the premium channel anymore. They offer this and let their viewers make up their own minds about what they just heard, plus they add other very interesting world stories that you're never get out of main stream media or right and left media outlets.

The news is also the reason for this great political divide and hate of the opposite side of the isle in this country. You have FOX NEWS, right wing talk radio on the right, and the MSN's on the left and of course their radio talk show hosts, who do it for ratings and profits. Their news is going to be developed according to their audiences with a strong twist to the right or the left, (with a lot of critical information left out) to suit their audiences. I call it dumbing down America.

It's gotten so bad that right wingers refuse to read articles that don't have the right wing gold stamp of approval on it. They believe that it's all FAKE news especially if it's negative against Trump so they refuse to read it. Which not only makes them stupid as to what is going on, but it's much worse. They have this stubbornness to believe anything that didn't come out of a right wing talk show hosts mouth, which makes them (stubborn stupid) and very difficult to rationalize with. Here is a good article on this.
The GOP must do something about the conservative media industrial complex if it wants to survive

To be knowledgeable, you have to be able to listen to everything and read everything regardless of which side of the isle it's coming from. And once you do that it's NOT hard at all to decipher what is fake news and what isn't.

The days of Walter Cronkite are long gone.

Yeah, I miss that old leftist windbag.

I doubt you were even alive during his time. You didn't get the bias coming out of him, just the NEWS.

 

[Camp]

The public and the system can handle lousy news reporting even if that lousy news reporting includes occasional inaccurate stories. The whining and bitching about fake news in the media is a cover and deflection from the real problem, a President that relied on fake news to get elected and continues to purposely try to use fake news to influence and control a base of support.

 

[Meane]

You just used the same technique in your post.

"They really believe Obama is Muslim and born in Kenya" etc.

Not that it matters, but you see reporting news "factually" is impossible to these poor human beings.

Believing news as factual is up to the reader, but you can't expect such brain work from those poor human minds.

I agree, the news are shit. But what are you going to do? It is in the end on the reader's responsibility to evaluate the offered information.

There is also a great advantage in that there are stories with variations and more sources because what if that one paper or that one version, is wrong. Now we have the capability, the possibility, to choose what we believe.

 

[Flopper]

Although there is fake news where the entire story is fabricated, most of what we call fake news is slanted stores and exaggerations. "Obama Admits He's Working to Overthrow Trump." The actual facts in the article is he will be working to put a Democrat in the White House. The headline carries a far different message.

The need to make news entertaining and eye catching is the primary reason for media bias, slants, and exaggerations and it's not limited to politics.

How many times do see a breaking news story about a tornado that devastates a small town? We see a brick building in rubble, a business owner of a local business crying over the devastation and the family searching for their beloved pet. Oh, the horror and devastation. What the media doesn't show you is the rest of town with little damage, no deaths and minor injuries. The same type of reporting is applied to hot button issues such immigration, abortion, and racial incidents.

So when did we stop reporting news? Over 50 years ago, TV networks decided news had to be made entertaining. It had to be dramatic and it had to appeal to everyone. In the 1950's, typically Dad watched the news while Mom fixed dinner and the kids did what kids do. All too often, the TV didn't get turned on till the evening entertainment started. TV and then cable and then the internet did whatever it took to attract viewers or increase website hits, exaggerations, slanting, and ignoring facts. If it was an interesting story, it was good story.

The big problem is the public does not see these presentations for what they really are. They consider it factual news, not entertainment. People really believe Obama is Muslim and was born Kenya. They believe Trump is a reincarnation of Adolph Hitler. They think legal immigration is destroying America and free college education and healthcare are realist possibilities today.

The bottom line is the media is inflaming racism, xenophobia, hatred, and painting an unrealistic picture of American. Worse yet, politicians are pandering to those warped beliefs.

This is the problem with 24 hour cable news. The days of Walter Cronkite are long gone. Just the news please, no commentary. Really PBS news hour, and I also like Vice news which is a new program on the premium channel anymore. They offer this and let their viewers make up their own minds about what they just heard, plus they add other very interesting world stories that you're never get out of main stream media or right and left media outlets.

The news is also the reason for this great political divide and hate of the opposite side of the isle in this country. You have FOX NEWS, right wing talk radio on the right, and the MSN's on the left and of course their radio talk show hosts, who do it for ratings and profits. Their news is going to be developed according to their audiences with a strong twist to the right or the left, (with a lot of critical information left out) to suit their audiences. I call it dumbing down America.

It's gotten so bad that right wingers refuse to read articles that don't have the right wing gold stamp of approval on it. They believe that it's all FAKE news especially if it's negative against Trump so they refuse to read it. Which not only makes them stupid as to what is going on, but it's much worse. They have this stubbornness to believe anything that didn't come out of a right wing talk show hosts mouth, which makes them (stubborn stupid) and very difficult to rationalize with. As we see Trump is cheered on by these same people, with him banning media outlets that he believes are more critical of him from attending White House daily briefings. And often times, they're just repeating his own words. Here is a good article on this.
The GOP must do something about the conservative media industrial complex if it wants to survive

To be knowledgeable, you have to be able to listen to everything and read everything regardless of which side of the isle it's coming from. And once you do that it's NOT hard at all to decipher what is fake news and what isn't.

I agree.
I think most people don't realize just how damaging this type of news reporting is to the country. In the minds of the public, it turns rumors into facts and allegations into guilt.

Only 1% of Americans are political active; that is there political involvement goes well beyond just reading or watching the news once a day and voting in major elections. Most people just scan the news on their computer or watch the evening news and accept what they are told as the truth without further research particularly if the story is repeated over and over.
Only One Percent of Americans Are Really Politically Active

 

[oreo]

Although there is fake news where the entire story is fabricated, most of what we call fake news is slanted stores and exaggerations. "Obama Admits He's Working to Overthrow Trump." The actual facts in the article is he will be working to put a Democrat in the White House. The headline carries a far different message.

The need to make news entertaining and eye catching is the primary reason for media bias, slants, and exaggerations and it's not limited to politics.

How many times do see a breaking news story about a tornado that devastates a small town? We see a brick building in rubble, a business owner of a local business crying over the devastation and the family searching for their beloved pet. Oh, the horror and devastation. What the media doesn't show you is the rest of town with little damage, no deaths and minor injuries. The same type of reporting is applied to hot button issues such immigration, abortion, and racial incidents.

So when did we stop reporting news? Over 50 years ago, TV networks decided news had to be made entertaining. It had to be dramatic and it had to appeal to everyone. In the 1950's, typically Dad watched the news while Mom fixed dinner and the kids did what kids do. All too often, the TV didn't get turned on till the evening entertainment started. TV and then cable and then the internet did whatever it took to attract viewers or increase website hits, exaggerations, slanting, and ignoring facts. If it was an interesting story, it was good story.

The big problem is the public does not see these presentations for what they really are. They consider it factual news, not entertainment. People really believe Obama is Muslim and was born Kenya. They believe Trump is a reincarnation of Adolph Hitler. They think legal immigration is destroying America and free college education and healthcare are realist possibilities today.

The bottom line is the media is inflaming racism, xenophobia, hatred, and painting an unrealistic picture of American. Worse yet, politicians are pandering to those warped beliefs.

This is the problem with 24 hour cable news. The days of Walter Cronkite are long gone. Just the news please, no commentary. Really PBS news hour, and I also like Vice news which is a new program on the premium channel anymore. They offer this and let their viewers make up their own minds about what they just heard, plus they add other very interesting world stories that you're never get out of main stream media or right and left media outlets.

The news is also the reason for this great political divide and hate of the opposite side of the isle in this country. You have FOX NEWS, right wing talk radio on the right, and the MSN's on the left and of course their radio talk show hosts, who do it for ratings and profits. Their news is going to be developed according to their audiences with a strong twist to the right or the left, (with a lot of critical information left out) to suit their audiences. I call it dumbing down America.

It's gotten so bad that right wingers refuse to read articles that don't have the right wing gold stamp of approval on it. They believe that it's all FAKE news especially if it's negative against Trump so they refuse to read it. Which not only makes them stupid as to what is going on, but it's much worse. They have this stubbornness to believe anything that didn't come out of a right wing talk show hosts mouth, which makes them (stubborn stupid) and very difficult to rationalize with. As we see Trump is cheered on by these same people, with him banning media outlets that he believes are more critical of him from attending White House daily briefings. And often times, they're just repeating his own words. Here is a good article on this.
The GOP must do something about the conservative media industrial complex if it wants to survive

To be knowledgeable, you have to be able to listen to everything and read everything regardless of which side of the isle it's coming from. And once you do that it's NOT hard at all to decipher what is fake news and what isn't.

I agree.
I think most people don't realize just how damaging this type of news reporting is to the country. In the minds of the public, it turns rumors into facts and allegations into guilt.

Only 1% of Americans are political active; that is there political involvement is confined to reading or watching the news once a day and voting in major elections. These people scan the news on their computer or watch the evening news and accept what they are told as the truth particularly if the story is repeated over and over.
Only One Percent of Americans Are Really Politically Active

Agree, and it's done it's damage.