"Earth Is Flat" journalism

[wakemewhenitsover]

There's the scientific view of Darwin, and then there's the "other side", which Luntz named "intelligent design".

There's a grief-stricken mother who thinks the war's bad, so there has to be a grieving father who thinks the war's good.

Deborah Tannen said if someone goes on TV to talk about the Holocaust, there has to be a Holocaust denier to drum up conflict.

Paul Krugman says if someone says the earth is round, they have to present someone else to say the earth is flat.

Like there are always two sides to every issue, and only two.

This Republican spin needs a name.

How about "Earth is Flat" journalism?

[WearyOne]

1. it's on the imcrease and started by Fox News !

[magellan]

2. Call it anything but journalism

What the cable and network news whores offer isn't journalism, it's opinion, a.k.a. here's two sides of the story, pick the one you're most comfortable with. Journalism means reporting the unembellished, unhyped facts...no matter how unpalatable people might find them. It's largely a lost art except in alternative media.

[thiscrowlives]

5. amen ....

that's something I constantly wonder about. What ever happened to "here's a factual account of what happened at this event" .... instead of "here's what our producers or editorial staff want you to see or think or feel about this"????

[NoFederales]

9. Great Avatar tcl; and a DU welcome

NoFederales

[jim3775]

3. That reminds me of a story Robert Fisk told at a lecture

He said that a CNN reporter had seen Israeli soldiers firing on Palestinian Red Crescent ambulances. He wanted to go on air to report this but CNN couldn't book an Israeli official to "respond" so CNN refused to air the story even though the reporter had actually witnessed it.

CNN let "equal time" get in the way of facts.

[foursquare]

4. Truth is truth

and wrong is wrong.
We seem to have forgotten that, in the name of "nuances" and "layered complexity"

[pgh_dem]

6. "Earth is Flat" is catchier than what it technically is...

Which is 'false dichotomy'.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_dichotomy

They do it with every single topic, and the halfwits in corporate media lap it up. It's easy to produce news shows around, requires little or no research, and revs up guests for headbutting sessions.

How do you win a false dichotomy argument on TV? You repeat the your oversimplified version over and over and over...

"Fair up or down..."

"...or else the terrorists win..."

etc etc ad nauseum

[wakemewhenitsover]

12. Or is it the two-party system?

If there were five parties, would it be a quintuple-chotomy every time a hot topic were under discussion? Sound bites would have to be two words each.

[Tesha]

16. We're pretty much already there. Most responses boil down to "F.U.!" (NT)

[DeepModem Mom]

7. kick

[rman]

8. If someone on TV says CAFTA is good, there's *NO-ONE* saying it's bad

It's interesting how that 'equal-time' argument is only applied by the RW when it suits them. After all, it was the RW who repealed the Fairness Doctrine.

As far as i am concerned, the crackpots can talk about their crackpot ideas as much as they want - which is not the same as teaching it in the class room.

[wakemewhenitsover]

11. Who is the man holding the "Someone Lied" sign?

He looks so sad.

[rman]

13. He's with Veterans for Peace, with Cindy at *'s ranch in Crawfort, TX

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=1989074

http://www.iconoclast-texas.com/News/2005/31-40/31news02.htm

[wakemewhenitsover]

15. Archie Goodwin. Great read. Thanks.

[NoFederales]

10. "Flat Earth Thinking"

All the great attributes of a 13th century mind. Instead of theater to "Show them the money", it's a dungeon and "show them the instruments". The Inquisitors will be knocking on doors. What are you going to do?

NoFederales

[Warren DeMontague]

14. There ARE ONLY Two Sides to the Debate re: Evolution and Global Warming

Either evolution is correct, or the Flying Spaghetti Monster created everything.

Either human release of CO2 is responsible for global warming, or a lack of pirates is.

http://venganza.org