Manipulating the Message: How Powerful Forces Shape the News |
Paperback

Cecil Rosner

Dundurn Press

Social Science / Media Studies / Business & Economics / Industries - Media & Communications / Language Arts & Disciplines / Journalism

Published Oct 31, 2023

"Journalists hate the term fake news, but there's a troubling
reality: spin doctors routinely try to dupe them into reporting
misleading and distorted stories.

"Check the news on any given day and here's what you'll find: Governments routinely lie. Companies inflate claims about their products and practices. Institutions release studies with misleading data meant to deceive. Police departments, infected by systemic racism, downplay crimes against Indigenous and racialized people.

"The public depends on the media to help them understand the world, but are journalists catching all the daily lies, omissions, and distortions? Shrinking newsrooms and an army of spin doctors mean journalists can get duped. Despite valiant efforts by a handful of investigative journalists, the truth is routinely left behind.

"Award-winning journalist Cecil Rosner insists there is something we can do about this. We can pressure news organizations to stop blindly regurgitating the firehose of press releases and focus instead on determining what is actually true. Rosner empowers readers by sharing his techniques for detecting misinformation and disinformation.

ISBN 9781459751255

Support a local bookshop of your choice: https://bookshop.org/a/93260/9781459751255


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Re: book: Manipulating the Message
By: Ogg to All on Mon Nov 13 2023 09:21 pm

ISBN 9781459751255

Support a local bookshop of your choice:

Or, you know, just stop consuming news.

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Hello Arelor!

** On Tuesday 14.11.23 - 12:17, Arelor wrote to Ogg:

Re: book: Manipulating the Message

ISBN 9781459751255

Or, you know, just stop consuming news.

That would be too radical. Some exposure to news is almost
necessary. Probably, most people could carry on with their
lives without "news" from the popular media. The weather news
might be the absolute minimum.

But I am curious to read what the author thinks can be done to
influence better news reporting.


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Re: book: Manipulating the Message
By: Ogg to Arelor on Tue Nov 14 2023 10:40 pm

That would be too radical. Some exposure to news is almost
necessary. Probably, most people could carry on with their
lives without "news" from the popular media. The weather news
might be the absolute minimum.

It is not radical. If your news source is poisoned then there is no advantage in taking it.

I don't need a regular weather forecast. I just feed a script some data from a weather station to make estimations for the next 3 days.

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But I am curious to read what the author thinks can be done to
influence better news reporting.

Kinda like mystical creatures, they only have power if you believe in
them. When they go bad, just stop believing in (aka: readin/listening to/watching) them.

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I don't need a regular weather forecast. I just feed a script some data weather station to make estimations for the next 3 days.

You put a rock outside your window. If you look outside and the rock is
wet, it's probably raining. If it's bright and dry, it's probably hot and sunny. If it's dark, it's either overcast or night time.

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Re: book: Manipulating the Message
By: Phigan to Arelor on Thu Nov 16 2023 03:24 pm

You put a rock outside your window. If you look outside and the rock is wet, it's probably raining. If it's bright and dry, it's probably hot and sunny. If it's dark, it's either overcast or night time.

Some guy made a ton of money selling Weather Rocks in the late '70s. We made our own.
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Re: book: Manipulating the Message
By: Phigan to Arelor on Thu Nov 16 2023 03:24 pm

I don't need a regular weather forecast. I just feed a script some data weather station to make estimations for the next 3 days.

You put a rock outside your window. If you look outside and the rock is
wet, it's probably raining. If it's bright and dry, it's probably hot and sunny. If it's dark, it's either overcast or night time.

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THe rock trick is unlikely to work because a horse or a dog will take it.

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THe rock trick is unlikely to work because a horse or a dog will take i

Just put up "NO HORSES ALLOWED" signs.

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Re: book: Manipulating the Message
By: Phigan to Arelor on Mon Nov 27 2023 11:13 am

THe rock trick is unlikely to work because a horse or a dog will take i

Just put up "NO HORSES ALLOWED" signs.

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They will use the sign to scratch an ich in their butts, which will end up badly for the sign.

I remember mentioning how one of my horses took a structure down that way in an Engineering class. Somebody told me, years later, that a standard problem in Structure Calculus nowadays is "Verify if this structure can withstand a XXX Ib horse scratching her butt against this wall as shown in the diagram".

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