How to Fight The Republican Noise Machine
via Kleiman, Jim Rutenberg and Jackie Calmes show what it looks like for journalists to do their jobs in the face of patent falsehoods like the "death panel" nonsense.
They trace the origins of the rumor back to some of the usual suspects from the Clinton era, including the Washington Times's editorial page and the Weekly Standard.
In the story, David Brock makes a point I've been thinking about quite a lot--that back in the (pre-web) day, it was lots harder to get the straight dope about such things. Of course the web makes it easier for the crazies to spread their crazy, but it also makes it easier to disseminate the facts. Optimistic liberal that I am, I have faith that the facts will beat teh crazy most of the time.
via Kleiman, Jim Rutenberg and Jackie Calmes show what it looks like for journalists to do their jobs in the face of patent falsehoods like the "death panel" nonsense.
They trace the origins of the rumor back to some of the usual suspects from the Clinton era, including the Washington Times's editorial page and the Weekly Standard.
In the story, David Brock makes a point I've been thinking about quite a lot--that back in the (pre-web) day, it was lots harder to get the straight dope about such things. Of course the web makes it easier for the crazies to spread their crazy, but it also makes it easier to disseminate the facts. Optimistic liberal that I am, I have faith that the facts will beat teh crazy most of the time.
posted by Winston Smith at
7:05 PM
2 Comments:
WS,
You might like this from TPM. The concept appeals to me, I just wonder if it would work!
Best,
Jim
Jim, I'd go one better. We need to use the media-hated L-word ('lie') in specific instances, but we need to attack wingnut credibility relentlessly. You can't believe a word they say, and we need to create and reinforce that association in the minds of people who might otherwise be gullible enough to be taken in.
So: Narrative - they're lying. Meta-narrative - they lie all the time.
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