11/08/2005
Fixing the Lies
The idea behind freedom of speech is that people voice their opinions and the battle of opinions brings forth the best opinions. This strategy falls apart when you consider the fast pace of media and the rampant use of lies.
When the United States of America was founded news traveled slowly and the pace of life was much slower. On one day you might hear a story about a horse thief and on the next day you might hear the correction. The town criers and newspapers brought the news and they brought the corrections as well. I am not saying that problems didn’t exist, but time was needed for the truth to come out slowly.
Today we get our news from many sources, which could be very good. More opinions lead to a more diverse point of view. Of course that assumes that listen to many sources of news. For most people time is not available to listen to the various sources of information and determine who is lying and who is telling the truth. When a lie is discovered does the media get out there and fix the mistake? Most of the time mistakes are corrected by ignoring the lie or placing a correction on page 2 of the newspaper next to the masthead. What’s a masthead? If you don’t know where to look for the masthead and the corrections how can the corrections even be made?
The media doesn’t like to admit that they are wrong. When they make mistakes they make a little note of it and they go on. So, if they announce a breaking story with six inch headlines and they announce the correction with six point type the how many people from the first group are going to see the correction?
Since politicians, talk radio personalities and bloggers now understand this they go about spread lies at high speed and they don’t worry about the corrections or the truth. A very good example of this is documented in a piece written by “Media Matters for America” which is a Web-based, not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) progressive research and information center. They go out and expose the lies that the radical right is spreading throughout the media.
Matt Drudge on his web page - “The Drudge Report”, spread one such lie. Drudge spread the lie that Cindy Sheehan had changed her story from the first time that she met with the president until her current confrontation in Crawford, Texas. Media Matters for America has done an excellent job documenting Matt Drudge’s lie and how it propagated through the media. Unfortunately the lie continues to spread through the media and conservative bloggers continue to propagate the lies even though the truth is known. To make matters worse, Fox News the bastion of the radical right jumped on the story and broadcast it to millions of people. Even with the known correction, how many people are even going to hear about it?
So, today over at the Drudge Report there is a new Cindy Sheehan story. Is it a correction of the lie that began right there? No, it is a Drudge exclusive story about an e-mail he read from someone who he claims is the aunt of Cindy Sheehan. Based on he recent propagation of lies we would expect this to be the same, more lies. Of course we can’t prove that, because Drudge is the only source. In the old days, a reporter would lose credibility from publishing a lie. But, today credibility doesn’t matter.
Now, based on recent news stories, do you know who sent Joe Wilson to Niger? Make sure that you read the corrected version of the story.
politics
14:50 Posted in Politics | Permalink | Comments (28) | Email this | Tags: Politics
Comments
Doc,
For a glimpse at what a complete lying scumbag Matt Drudge is check out the developing story on the front page of my site. I caught Drudge in the act of fabricating a story about Courtney Love's supposed suicide.
Posted by: Rodger Jacobs | 12/08/2005
Thanks for the heads up Rodger!
Posted by: Dr. Forbush | 12/08/2005
You're welcome, Doc. Spread the word about this story. I'd like this to be the straw that breaks Drudge's back. Notice no retration and no apology from him when he revises the story to say that it was an off-duty LAPD officer who committed suicide -- and there's no evidence even of that.
Posted by: Rodger Jacobs | 12/08/2005
Drudge is a tabloid writer, I figured everyone knew that. He's a good resource for breaking stories that the regular media hasn't printed yet because they take time to verify sources and facts before printing. Just the the supermarket tabloids, The Drudge Report is sort of a glimpse of what the cutting room floor of a legitimate newspaper looks like. I wouldn't get too excited over anything he posts. They're just rumors, and presented as such.
Posted by: Adam | 12/08/2005
Cindy didn't have any problem being kissed by Bush....
http://www.blogsforbush.com/mt/archives/005103.html
Posted by: Catholicgauze | 16/08/2005
Catholicgauze,
Like I've said before, Bush played the part of a used car salesman really well. She may or may not have been happy when she left that meeting. That meeting isn't the point. The point is that she is unhappy about Goerge W Bush misusing the memory of her son in his propaganda war right now! She may have been sold a lemon and she wants to see customer service...
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