Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
  • Mood: frustrated

Permission for Fraud Granted

In a stupendous act of idiocy, a Florida appellate court has declared fraud to be protected free speech, overturning a previous ruling.  The new ruling states that it is not illegal to lie or distort the truth in a news broadcast.  No wonder people who watch Fox News are less well informed than people who watch no news at all.

It is difficult to impossible for people to make good decisions based on bad information.  This harms everyone.  A free and accurate  press is the foundation of a democracy.  Remember when America had one of the best press corps in the world?  I miss that.  We used to make fun of party rags like Pravda  in Russia.  Now if I glimpse the American news while out in the world, 19 times out of 20 I think, "Da, eto Pravda."  Which is Russian slang for "ZOMG what total bullshit."  The name of that rag?  It means "truth."
Tags: news, politics
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  • 11 comments
caudelac

caudelac

November 22 2011, 16:54:12 UTC 9 years ago

true since 2003. Seriously.
msstacy13

msstacy13

November 22 2011, 17:04:19 UTC 9 years ago

Ummm...
Have you ever watched The Front Page?

Truth in journalism really is a novel concept...
msstacy13

msstacy13

November 22 2011, 17:08:03 UTC 9 years ago

The annoything thing is that if you quote a Fox News report
on a website, that website might be shut down...
or that same story reported by Al Jazeera (?) might be blocked
"For reasons of national security"
siege

siege

November 22 2011, 17:19:55 UTC 9 years ago

The foundation of the "free market" ideal is that all participants have equal access to information. If information access becomes distorted, the market becomes distorted.

We currently live in a world built on distorted markets.

"I wonder why," says the Fool.
nimitzbrood

nimitzbrood

November 22 2011, 21:22:17 UTC 9 years ago

This is just yet another precedent to allow the top of our country to be able to bilk and control the rest of our country. Frankly I'm surprised it's taken them this long.
siege

siege

November 23 2011, 01:54:30 UTC 9 years ago

Hardly. Fox News has been infotainment for a very long time, and I have repeatedly mentioned to people how News Corp won a court case years ago over truth in commentary, to the effect that "commentary" was not obligated to be truthful or factual in any way.

Which is how Glenn Beck kept his job for so long, despite constantly losing advertisers.
ravan

ravan

November 23 2011, 02:03:36 UTC 9 years ago

But this ruling applied to the hard news segment, not Beck's opinions presented as though they were gospel.
siege

siege

November 23 2011, 02:17:43 UTC 9 years ago

True, very true.
nimitzbrood

nimitzbrood

November 23 2011, 02:28:02 UTC 9 years ago

Exactly. This ruling allows anybody in the media to lie to anybody at all and have a legal leg to stand on.

If we're lucky someone will kick that leg out from under them.

If we're not lucky...well...
ysabetwordsmith

Well...

ysabetwordsmith

November 23 2011, 02:06:40 UTC 9 years ago

I know that Fox has been broadcasting bullshit for a long time, with the conscious intent of misleading people. But I think it's worse when a court officially declares that it's OKAY for a news company to do that and to fire someone for refusing to lie. That's vile. It's dangerous.
fayanora

fayanora

November 22 2011, 21:53:23 UTC 9 years ago

*Flabberghasted*

  • Autonomous Weapons

    This article talks about autonomous weapons. Very little about this is really new. We've had autonomous weapons for a long time, ranging from…

  • Physics Staircase

    I am familiar with many of those upper steps! :D There is no end to knowledge and discovery. It has mountains upon mountains.

  • Epic Special Effects

    This video is spectacular. I am most impressed by the out-of-phase actions.