What is journalism?

[Regan MacNeil]

With the Dominion lawsuit filings becoming public, it's a fair question to ask. Can what Fox News does in any way be considered journalism? Does this even rise to the level of yellow journalism, since they appear to know they were intentionally reporting incorrect information? Thread:



I'm making this about Fox News and Fox News only. No other sites of any political bent. You think I should have mentioned CNN or MSNBC or Newsmax? Cool. This is about Fox News.

 

[wicked]

She said "facts" — I think she meant to say "alternative facts"

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

Well, it's not quite journalism, and it's not quite yellow (laughs)...so to answer your question, I don't know.

 

[WriteThinking]

They knew what they were doing.

Fox News hosts didn't believe 2020 election fraud claims, $1.6 billion Dominion defamation suit asherts

See also the link I posted from Washington Post on the Biden/Election thread

 

[Liut]

Paddy Chayefsky is absolutely shocked Fox News would stoop so low just to get ratings.

 

[FileNotFound]

Does the average Fox News viewer care whether it's journalism? Or is the typical Fox News viewer simply looking for the dopamine hit from having beliefs validated?

 

[WriteThinking]

Does the average Fox News viewer care whether it's journalism? Or is the typical Fox News viewer simply looking for the dopamine hit from having beliefs validated?

I think they do care, and they think its providing it, even if just another/their view of it. But that's the danger -- that people legitimately believe what's on there, and don't question it. They should, but they don't.

 

[DanOregon]

Fox "News" is the surimi of news.
I've been fascinated watching the conservative news "wars" - used to be Limbaugh was king - now its a free for all as everyone is looking for their piece of the conservative news pie. There have always been conservative leaning news outlets, but they typically drew conservative conclusions from facts - these days they don't let facts get in the way of their conservative conclusions. But I do think the next couple of years will provide a "breaking point" as news torgs have to pretty much choose to support DeSantis or Trump - it will be a big bet. Shoot, even Kari Lake has ditched DeSantis. This is Bernie/Hillary for the Republicans.

 

[Azrael]

I think they do care, and they think its providing it, even if just another/their view of it. But that's the danger -- that people legitimately believe what's on there, and don't question it. They should, but they don't.

But their willingness - their eagerness - to believe it is what makes them suckers. That, and their ignorance of their own ignorance.

Which is how any con(fidence) game works.

Fox News isn't journalism. It's Three-card Monte.

 

[The Big Ragu]

I think the question can be boiled down to: Is journalism simply the act of producing and distributing reports. ... or does there need to be some degree of accuracy (and then, how do you measure accuracy?) for those reports to qualify as journalism.

 

[WriteThinking]

But their willingness - their eagerness - to believe it is what makes them suckers. That, and their ignorance of their own ignorance.

Which is how any con(fidence) game works.

Fow News isn't journalism. It's Three-card Monte.

The ignorance of their own ignorance is the danger, and that is largely because Fox News does not attempt to correct it, or even put things out there in a more balanced, two-(or more-) sided way so that people might realize at all that more consideration may even be needed. To combat ignorance is a big part of the role of good, real journalism, and this is where Fox News truly goes wrong.

 

[FileNotFound]

"The world is a complex place that requires careful thought and deep study and even then the answer may not be readily apparent" doesn't fit on a bumper sticker or a Fox chryon.