Sorry for the lack of posts lately. I’m working to finish all the supporting materials for the seventh edition of Mass Communication: Living in a Media World, which hasn’t left much time for blogging. Hope to get back on a regular schedule in the coming week.
With everything going on in the news lately, I’d like to post a few links to material old and new about how we deal with the news.
- How our political biases can distort our reasoning
I’m a big fan of the libertarian law blog The Volokh Conspiracy. A really sharp conservative leaning, intellectually honest blog about a wide range of legal issues. Great place to go if you are looking for something other than pat, partisan answers. I really like a piece they ran recently about how smart people can engage in questionable reasoning when that reasoning is at odds with their beliefs. Essay uses examples from the Kavanaugh SCOTUS nomination hearings, but that’s not what it’s really about. - Do you really want unbiased news? C-SPAN is where you can find it
A lot of people claim they want just-the-facts, unbiased news. I really don’t believe them. Usually what they mean is news that matches their personal biases. But if you really want news presented straight, without any interpretation, C-SPAN is really the one place you can find it. Of course, that means you have to commit to listening to the an entire news event. Otherwise you would be getting the reporter’s interpretation, right? At any rate, here’s a great example of it. On the eve of the hearings the Senate Judiciary Committee held over sexual assault allegations against SCOTUS nominee Brett Kavanaugh, C-SPAN posted the entire opening statements by Prof. Anita Hill and Judge Clarence Thomas along with the complete hearings the Senate Judiciary Committee held on Hill’s allegations of sexual harassment against Thomas. - WaPo editor Marty Baron says: Read the story before you share it on social media
How often could we improve the quality of our social media feed if we always completely read the articles we are linking to before we share them (especially if we are resharing them from someone else)? Some great advice from WaPo media columnist Margaret Sullivan.
And a couple of oldies but goodies from this blog: