Not So Funny Cide
Thought I’d take a break from all the Bush and War postings momentarily for a story that briefly popped up regarding the winning jockey from the recent Kentucky Derby. Just a good reminder that in today’s world, often the initial reports of a story that is breathlessly rushed out by the media is often lacking in accuracy. At the expense of innocent people.
As the Boston Globe points out, our age of instant information can likely be instant misinformation.
May 20th, 2003 at 8:53 pm
Not to ruin your deviation from politics, but the Bush administration seems to heavily take advantage of the media tendency to rush possibilities to the headlines. When the “story” about the jockey came out, one of my coworkers pointed it out to me. But he certainly didn’t notice any follow-up about the allegations being utterly false. Likewise it’s easy to give a speech about verifiable evidence of Iraq having various nasty weapons — sure, we later learn that it was all hoax and fabrication, but the headline about even the possibility is what sticks and becomes, in people’s minds, fact. I don’t think there’s any media conspiracy, liberal or conservative. I think the media has just lost its mission and bought into the more lucrative entertainment market.
May 20th, 2003 at 11:06 pm
Amen, brotha ymatt! The truly sad part is that this even has to be said. Most people don’t even bother to think that what they’re getting as “news” might be slanted or utterly false. I blame both the media and the public — the media for, as you said, buying into the entertainment factor and the public for being too lazy to question things anymore.