media in the US displaying a continuing inability to learn some pretty easy lessons

[regehr@mastodon.social]

media in the US displaying a continuing inability to learn some pretty easy lessons

The Media Can't Stop Propping Up Elon Musk's Phony Supergenius Engineer Mythology

"CEO said a thing!" journalism is now utterly pervasive, and includes parroting billionaire and CEO claims with a total disregard for whether or not anything being said is actually true.

The Fine Print* (karlbode.com)

[ashguy@infosec.exchange]

@regehr
I earnestly hope that the average american only believes this just because of the media, and the media only propagates this because they're paid to. Like there's no way a lot of people in these positions with these privileged perspectives actually believe this, right?

[regehr@mastodon.social]

@ashguy I don't think it matters that much what they actually believe!

[janxdevil@sfba.social]

@regehr “You cannot wake a person who is pretending to sleep.” —Attributed to various.

[ashguy@infosec.exchange]

@regehr I mean if it's something that the media needs to "learn" that Mr. Musk isn't all that intelligence-wise, then it kind of is a matter of belief. I'm also naïve, probably, and hope that most decent people would have beliefs that they stand by until they're given definitive proof to change their mind. I won't think someone is directly malicious regarding something that could be a belief as long as they're open to changing their mind.

An example of this would be my mom, who up until recently was definitely bought into the Trump cult. Genuinely just because she's very back-woods-ish, doesn't know how to log into Facebook without my help, etc. I love her but recognize she can be vulnerable to weird takes.

I would consider an outlet that proclaims Mr. Musk's "genius" while basically having it in their job description to do research on things like the heinous shit Grok outputs as being directly malicious, and that's a whole other issue.

The former you can just show the heinous shit and they'll change their mind, and the latter will see the heinous shit and say it's genius.

[jripley@mastodon.social]

@regehr People still commonly refer to Musk as “founder of Tesla” despite this being 100% a lie and easily checked by any website with the history. He even _sued_ the actual founders, because he was upset by this, to force them to give him a “founder” title. Settled lawsuit, but I’m guessing he paid for that title. That’s how absurd and petty he is—his status and reputation is something he buys with money, and unfortunately it works.

[gwozniak@discuss.systems]

@regehr This is where I find it useful to draw a line between journalism and media. When I grew up they were considered synonymous. Now, they aren't.

Most responsible journalists I read know Musk and his ilk are full of shit. Especially Musk, who is probably not very bright. But when I check out media (even the fucking CBC, dammit), they will push the clickbait-y narratives with "CEO/press release" garbage, with any serious commentary on it that tells you how much bullshit it is left relegated to hidden podcasts and such.

[gwozniak@discuss.systems]

@regehr Further to this (because it's a real bugbear of mine), I think the only thing worse than tech media is business media. Tech media makes half-hearted attempts at doing something journalistic. Journalism in business media is more or less LinkedIn.

[regehr@mastodon.social]

@gwozniak we have business people running my university now and I can definitely understand why this kind of business media exists

[gwozniak@discuss.systems]

@regehr Ugh.