They finally changed (or learned) after January 6th. I distinctly remember yelling at my radio that they were allowing Trump’s lackeys to repeatedly spew lies, and for the sake of “balance” those lies went essentially unchecked, and they’d hand the interview off to a Democrat who was baited with a leading question about “what you think about the claim that Democrats are running a child prostitution ring in the basement of a pizza restaurant”, or something else equally ludicrous. The first time they stopped presenting those lies with “you decide” ambivalence was the Big Lie, which is the first time they started fact-checking in real time.
So yeah, recently they’ve started figuring out how to push back against obvious bullshit, but during the Trump presidency their coverage was absolutely horrendous, and they were played like a fiddle by Republicans who knew damn well NPR journalists had to take every salacious claim they made at face value, which essentially rewarded them for being as insane as possible and consistently working the Overton window in their favor.
A side note here is that there’s a VERY strong difference between American and British journalism, in that Americans put a premium on decorum, and Brits put a premium on counterpoints. Sometimes they can be so direct and probing that it comes off as quite rude, and we can be so polite and courteous that we lay out the red carpet for liars. NPR has traditionally specialized in the “politely ask more questions and eventually you will get to truth” style of journalism, and they’re only now starting to lean into a slightly more confrontational style of “no, that’s wrong” argumentation. They’re not particularly good at it, mind you, but they’re kinda getting there.
Oh hell yes I can’t name names at the moment. But I remember seeing a number of different clips of American right wingers going on BBC proper to be interviewed by some right-wing lunatic in the uk. Thinking that it’s going to be some sort of Cakewalk and they’re just there to look good. And then just get totally shredded. It makes me a little sick inside to cheer for the British lunatic. But you got to take small wins where you can get them. I wish all media had a fraction of the spine they do over there. It’s still far from perfect. But it’s so much better.
I didn’t realize Shapiro was so vocally “against” Trump.
I wonder what he says about him now. I don’t really want to go down that YouTube rabbit hole and f up my feeds, but did he get more against Trump after Jan 6th?
The challenge is that in this current Trumpworld political climate is that news organizations that push back or argue in the slightest would never get additional interviews. Similar to how game publishers stop sending review copies to publications who haven’t reviewed their previous works in a positive light.
We appear to be in an era of “no news except positive news or else” rather than “all press is good press”
But what is the value of having those interviews? Platforming somebody who is just going to tell flat out lies, and not calling them out, doesn’t inform the viewer of anything other than that watching that news outlet is a waste of time.
I agree. It’s the current state of our society. Nobody likes to be challenged or have their feels hurt, which leads to avoidance of the challenge. It’s a catch-22. There’s little value in a non challenging interview. There’s no value in an interview that doesn’t occur at all.
. . . those lies went essentially unchecked, and they’d hand the interview off to a Democrat who was baited with a leading question about “what you think about the claim that Democrats are running a child prostitution ring in the basement of a pizza restaurant”, or something else equally ludicrous.
I wish that was a recent tendency, but they were doing that in the late eighties. Not . . with the pizzagate-level stuff, the right hadn’t melted to that level of grotesque obscenity yet. But they’d use a GOP talking point to frame the story. Still do, actually, but for a long time they were essentially the only slightly liberal media around.
They finally changed (or learned) after January 6th. I distinctly remember yelling at my radio that they were allowing Trump’s lackeys to repeatedly spew lies, and for the sake of “balance” those lies went essentially unchecked, and they’d hand the interview off to a Democrat who was baited with a leading question about “what you think about the claim that Democrats are running a child prostitution ring in the basement of a pizza restaurant”, or something else equally ludicrous. The first time they stopped presenting those lies with “you decide” ambivalence was the Big Lie, which is the first time they started fact-checking in real time.
So yeah, recently they’ve started figuring out how to push back against obvious bullshit, but during the Trump presidency their coverage was absolutely horrendous, and they were played like a fiddle by Republicans who knew damn well NPR journalists had to take every salacious claim they made at face value, which essentially rewarded them for being as insane as possible and consistently working the Overton window in their favor.
A side note here is that there’s a VERY strong difference between American and British journalism, in that Americans put a premium on decorum, and Brits put a premium on counterpoints. Sometimes they can be so direct and probing that it comes off as quite rude, and we can be so polite and courteous that we lay out the red carpet for liars. NPR has traditionally specialized in the “politely ask more questions and eventually you will get to truth” style of journalism, and they’re only now starting to lean into a slightly more confrontational style of “no, that’s wrong” argumentation. They’re not particularly good at it, mind you, but they’re kinda getting there.
Oh hell yes I can’t name names at the moment. But I remember seeing a number of different clips of American right wingers going on BBC proper to be interviewed by some right-wing lunatic in the uk. Thinking that it’s going to be some sort of Cakewalk and they’re just there to look good. And then just get totally shredded. It makes me a little sick inside to cheer for the British lunatic. But you got to take small wins where you can get them. I wish all media had a fraction of the spine they do over there. It’s still far from perfect. But it’s so much better.
This one with Ben Shapiro?
Yes that was at least one of them. Shut right down in a hurry. LOL
I didn’t realize Shapiro was so vocally “against” Trump.
I wonder what he says about him now. I don’t really want to go down that YouTube rabbit hole and f up my feeds, but did he get more against Trump after Jan 6th?
Agreed, when an American first encounters it, it’s kind of shocking.
The challenge is that in this current Trumpworld political climate is that news organizations that push back or argue in the slightest would never get additional interviews. Similar to how game publishers stop sending review copies to publications who haven’t reviewed their previous works in a positive light.
We appear to be in an era of “no news except positive news or else” rather than “all press is good press”
But what is the value of having those interviews? Platforming somebody who is just going to tell flat out lies, and not calling them out, doesn’t inform the viewer of anything other than that watching that news outlet is a waste of time.
I agree. It’s the current state of our society. Nobody likes to be challenged or have their feels hurt, which leads to avoidance of the challenge. It’s a catch-22. There’s little value in a non challenging interview. There’s no value in an interview that doesn’t occur at all.
I wish that was a recent tendency, but they were doing that in the late eighties. Not . . with the pizzagate-level stuff, the right hadn’t melted to that level of grotesque obscenity yet. But they’d use a GOP talking point to frame the story. Still do, actually, but for a long time they were essentially the only slightly liberal media around.