President Trump has announced that he is running to make it back to the White House. While I am not a fan of Trump, I sympathize with him on one thing: mob journalism where journalists form opinions before they even analyze the news. Trump has a tough task ahead of him. Indeed, some journalists are becoming unhinged in many ways.
In the last few hours, the Associated Press, a US new wire-service (call it the largest news network in America), reported that Russian missiles had hit Poland and killed two people. In BBC Newshour, analysts after analysts, journalists after journalists, supported that thesis. Even when the Russian Ministry of Defense said it was not from it, they dismissed everything.
As that was happening, President Biden dropped a line: “It is unlikely in the lines of the trajectory that it was fired from Russia, but we’ll see?” To stay on their conceived mission, CBNC posited that “Biden didn’t address whether the missile could have been fired by Russia from Ukraine or elsewhere.” Yes, Russia is now operating from Ukraine on the border with Poland. The US defense boss put out a statement and the defense ministry spokesman put out his, yet journalists kept the message: this was Russia quoting the president of Ukraine who concluded it was from Russia in minutes.
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In all these reports, there was no caution on the sensitivities of triggering a 3rd world war. I was speechless on what men and women can put with their figures. I know that tech companies get fined these days, I think it is time to find a mechanism to fine journalists for recklessness and stress to the citizens. The AP later corrected itself:
“In earlier versions of a story published November 15, 2022, The Associated Press reported erroneously, based on information from a senior American intelligence official who spoke on condition of anonymity, that Russian missiles had crossed into Poland and killed two people. Subsequent reporting showed that the missiles were Russian-made and most likely fired by Ukraine in defense against a Russian attack”.
People, is that how they cover extremely sensitive topics like Russia and NATO that one unknown person can feed the world fake news with potential for one entity to send weapons and destroy this earth? Whether you like Russia, Ukraine, etc, the world demands balance on hot topics. I am happy that despite what BBC, AP and some news organizations were reporting, Biden and his team had concluded that Russia was not attacking a farm in Poland! But we may not be lucky next time and that is why we expect better ethics from journalists.
Comment on Feed
Comment 1: Prof. Journalism as a respected profession is going down the drain, because of drop in revenue orchestrated by i technology disruption.
To make up for the short fall, most reputable news agencies now report opinions to stirr up emotions, drive traffic, get ratings and profit.
One needs to be a critical thinker to decipher their outright biasness, lies and sensational outburst.
Biden who had the most privileged intelligence report, denounced it immediately.
Comment 2: When news becomes business, the truth disappears. It’s no longer about the truth, but more about breaking news and filling people with opinions. If you read the same story on Fox and CNN, you’ll think they’re both reporting different stories. Neither bother about the truth, but focus on selling to their “customers”.
When Tucker was sued, the defense argument was “reasonable viewer would not take Tucker seriously”. Yet, he continues to “sell” news/opinion on Fox and makes money for the network. Many people have been killed and wounded because of some fake news/opinions.
I’m all for freedom of the press, but fake news is not encouraging freedom. Fake news threatens human existence and freedom. If humanity is destroyed, the so-called news will play a major role.
Comment 3: This again was a reminder to many of us about not acting on impulse or with emotions. Always remain calm even when the pressure is getting ‘worser.’ For this, I loved team Biden calmness to get the facts and not be bullied by some fake news press. I agree with you Prof we need to find a way to fine fake news mongers.
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Biden’s statement calmed the hysteria, and Polish president maintained that line. Journalists and hysteria are oftentimes one and the same, the ‘news’ is valued more than lives.
There are people who are earnestly wishing for World War 3 to start, for them, the one involving Russia and Ukraine is already getting boring, so they are wishing that everywhere would start burning; you cannot separate humans from warped thinking anyway. From government of the US to Poland, from Russia to NATO, everyone responded responsibly and cautiously to the missile that killed two people inside Poland, yet the news guys were busy selling their bad market.
This world will collapse the moment we no longer have wise men and women who offer wise counsel and can make good judgment. It is those with loud mouths that determine stability of our troubled world, it’s way above their comprehension.
As for Trump and his quest to return as president, he needs to sit it out, his time has passed. It doesn’t matter how poorly Biden performs, but I don’t see how Trump will beat him if both of them go head to head again. If Republicans want to capture Whitehouse, the road to it is not paved with Trump, as it stands now.