reporting

Garbage “reporting”

Posted on by backuphill

The dude that wrote this article isn’t reporting anything (don’t actually click on the link unless you really wanna see it, cuz I really shouldn’t be exposing people to this kind of crap journalism). This is an opinion piece and should be flagged as such. As you can see, neither Google nor Yahoo News decided to label it appropriately.

Damon Linker, a “senior correspondent,” apparently doesn’t have anything to report on so he just decided to publish a article about his opinion. Yahoo News should actually be ashamed for putting it out there. Apparently, Damon has no shame either since he actually clicked publish on this.

News isn’t news unless it is reporting something of interest to the reader. Opinion, should be labeled in a manner that makes it clear there is no news, it’s just someone’s perspective. This is opinion. There is no reporting here.

How do people get paid to do this stuff…

Balanced

Posted on by backuphill

BiasChartv2

If you haven’t yet checked out this source for news from AllSides, you need to.

It doesn’t claim to be perfect, but it gives you a chance to have balanced perspective by giving you access to news from the whole spectrum. The best part is that you know what you are getting before you read because the source has been rated for it’s bias.

If only you could get that kind of information about what you see on social media.

 

**I am not being paid for promotion of this website. I just like to know, and would like you to know, what I am reading so I can be better informed.**

Focus

Posted on by backuphill

man in white crew neck t shirt

Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com

The focus is off and that’s the problem.

This whole Covid-19 thing has gotten the reporting all backwards.

At first, when this all came about, the reporting was all about how many people died each day. It was reported by county and by state.

Now, it isn’t necessarily how many people have died but how many people have been tested and have come back positive. From what I understand, a positive result doesn’t necessarily mean that they have a currently active case but just that they have had it at some point in the past (maybe I am misinformed…). Obviously, testing is now more prevalent than it was at the beginning, so of course there will be more people testing positive.

Anyway, just because someone has tested positive doesn’t mean it is a death sentence as we know the mortality rate is extremely low. So, other than fear-mongering, why keep reporting positive cases?

We don’t report how many people get the flu or the common cold on a daily basis, even though large numbers of people still die from them each year.

We don’t report daily car crashes, even though people die from those.

We don’t report daily abortions, even though babies dies daily from that.

We don’t report daily new cases of cancer, though people die from that as well.

Heart disease? Nope. Heart attacks? No. Suicide attempts? Not.

Doesn’t exposure and lack of death create a herd immunity?

So, what’s the big deal if more people are testing positive? The number of deaths (percentage wise) doesn’t seem to have spiked on an exponential climb. If the mortality rate has remained relatively the same, then is there really that much of a cause of concern?

Maybe I am missing something. Or maybe I haven’t.

Irresponsible reporting

Posted on by backuphill

Fire Halloween

Of all the shots that could have been used in this package that showed up on Good Morning America yesterday, they choose this one? Real nice.

Anyone else notice what is in the picture above?

If you missed it the first time, I highlighted it. This still is from a video that was on the news yesterday morning. I am sure there were thousands of other shots they could have edited into this package, but they chose this one? Why?

Sensationalism. Pure and simple.

I don’t know if the skull is real or not. It probably isn’t. It could be a Halloween decoration. But, what if it isn’t? Maybe more to the point, what if there are actually people killed in these wildfires? How does that make a family who lost a loved one feel if they see something like this?

“Keeping it classy” is something the media has totally lost.

We can hope and wish they would do better, but until people stop watching it won’t change.

You can do better ABC, Good Morning America, and reporters.

 

Clickbait and Google News feed

Posted on by backuphill

Click bait 1

The clickbait around here is so obvious it hurts. The screen shot of the Google News feed from a few days ago is a prime example. All of the news articles are about the same topic, on the same day, but one of them is using the “clickbait” title tactic.

Click bait 2

CNN should know better than this, but I guess that is what we can expect when you’re desperate to compete. Notice all of the other headlines are pretty much the same, but CNN takes it to the next level of sensationalism. Also, when you look at the timing of the article – “one hour ago” – you can clearly see that it wasn’t “just tweeted” or “something new”. Again, it is an under-handed and dishonest attempt to get traffic on their site. Pure clickbait and there is no way of defining it any other way.

The fact that is stands out so obviously is disturbing, though I suppose if you get your news via social media or something similar there is probably no point of reference and you probably would click on it. CNN once used to be a reliable source of news info, but as you can see headlines like this make it a “less than news service.” You can also see why so many people bash on CNN for being a terrible purveyor of news and information.

People need to stop “consuming” this crap. It is time for CNN to go away because it’s desperation is showing.

* Discussion for another time: The Hill is the only balanced reporting on the list above.