"Fake News": The Emergence of a Post-Fact World

[David Horn]

(01-16-2017, 10:46 AM)SomeGuy Wrote:

(01-16-2017, 10:27 AM)David Horn Wrote:

Warren Dew Wrote:I don't watch Fox, or any television, so I have no way of judging what she's up to now.  That said, one can do less damage as a commentator than as a reporter, since it's generally recognized that commentators exist to provide opinion, not fact.

...  Sorry, but the TV eye reveals what can easily be hidden inside the printed word.  It's not perfect, but it has had merit over the years.  When Nixon and Kennedy debated, readers scored Nixon the winner, but TV viewers went with Kennedy.  Considering how scummy Nixon turned out to be, maybe those viewers got it right the first time.

And yet Nixon actually got a lot more done than JFK did, didn't he?  If it hadn't been for the Watergate thing he'd be remembered as one of the best presidents of the last half of the century.  Oh, and it wasn't readers, but radio listeners who rate Nixon the winner, and the TV thing had a lot to do with him not wearing makeup.

That being said, there is a certain amount of validity to your point, and it is the only reason I ever watch video content at all.  After all, you can see and hear the video content yourself, even if you are subject to misdirection in how it is filmed and presented.  The printed word, well, you're completely at the mercy of whoever writes it.

I'm not a great Nixon fan, even allowing for his supposed strengths. But comparing Nixon's 5 years and 7 months to Kennedy's 2 years and 10 months is a bit unfair. Even then, it was Kennedy who set our sights on the moon in 10 years, not Nixon. And the entire Camelot thing was extremely powerful too.