Comment by fatherwavelet
5 days ago
Like the good old days when the media was basically complicit in support of Iraq having weapons of mass destruction?
It seems to me that the news has always kind of been mass bullshit. What has changed is we democratized the production of mass bullshit.
Now everyone can make their own version of "Remember the Maine, to Hell with Spain!"
Not to mention, podcasts go deeper on subjects than any investigative journalist ever really could given the format.
Like the good old days where most markets had multiple papers which had to keep readers subscribing, when broadcasters had to follow the Fairness Doctrine and had a push to more moderation because they couldn’t pick and choose their audience.
It was by no means perfect but I think it was better than now where people getting the illusion of information with little accountability for selection or accuracy.
As to the Iraq war, I will note that the media had extensive debates at the time. Ask anyone who was there and outside of a handful of hard-right outlets, the reporting noted that all of the justifications were unverifiable and coming from the same two governments, and plenty of people questioned that. Again, it wasn’t perfect but I think the answer to “the NYT should’ve fired Judith Miller sooner” is that the NYT should have more rather than less competition.