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To: neverdem
Thank you for posting. Without FR I would have so little accurate information.

Again, thanks!

4 posted on 12/19/2010 8:46:02 PM PST by mckenzie7 (Democrats = Trough Sloppers!)
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To: mckenzie7
“people who watch Fox News” not caring if the news “is accurate or not.”
Without FR I would have so little accurate information.
How do you know if information is accurate or not?
In general you weren't at the events which you read about on FR or hear reported on Fox News. And neither was I.

The general answer to that question is, "branding." You find sources which seem to check out on particular topics, and you believe them to the extent that they are speaking on their areas of expertise and trustworthiness. For example, Wikipedia is IMHO trustworthy in the same sense that "objective" journalism is trustworthy - when the facts are cut and dried, Wikipedia is generally reliable source. But let the subject drift into politics, and Wikipedia and The New York Times will veer left. First in what is mentioned and what is omitted, and ultimately in outright error and lying.

The virtue of FR is that it really has no brand, or else it has a legion of brands. When you read a piece on FR you have to take into account that you really don't know where it actually comes from. And that's good, because then you check things out with web searches and go to primary sources if need be.

It's easy to make the claim that journalism is objective but Fox News isn't. But you claim objectivity, that calls your objectivity about yourself into very serious question. And claiming that someone else is objective, when you know that they will claim that you are objective, does not avoid the problem.

Do people who watch Fox News care about truth? That is an empirically verifiable question. Conduct surveys of the knowledgability of FNC viewers and of a control group, and compare them. That's been done, of course - and people who listen to Rush and to Fox News know more than those who do not. The same would unquestionably be true of FReepers.


5 posted on 12/20/2010 5:13:26 AM PST by conservatism_IS_compassion (DRAFT PALIN)
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