Every time you see a media article concerning a topic you are knowledgeable about, it seems wise to gauge the accuracy of the article and update your estimate of the value of getting information from similar sources.
I learned this lesson years ago, back when I was a member of a small Advance Wars forum. Long story short, the admin of that forum was murdered by another by another member who had a sick obsession with the admin’s fiance (who was also a member). Respectable news sources took months to get the story straight; all the initial reports were “war game fanatic” this and “online dispute turned murderous” that. Meanwhile, I pieced most of the story together in days by reading the appropriate forum posts. Granted, I probably burned a lot more time doing that than some journalist with a deadline would have (1 to 3 days of non-stop browsing), and I already had a background in that community, but then you realize that this is the kind of attention and care journalists give to every story and your confidence in the media plummets through the floor and into the basement.
Interestingly, this episode caused me to update in the direction of The Daily Mail and The Sun being more accurate than higher-status competitors like the BBC; they did not avoid fnords, but they were the first to get the basic facts of the case right.
Every time you see a media article concerning a topic you are knowledgeable about, it seems wise to gauge the accuracy of the article and update your estimate of the value of getting information from similar sources.
I learned this lesson years ago, back when I was a member of a small Advance Wars forum. Long story short, the admin of that forum was murdered by another by another member who had a sick obsession with the admin’s fiance (who was also a member). Respectable news sources took months to get the story straight; all the initial reports were “war game fanatic” this and “online dispute turned murderous” that. Meanwhile, I pieced most of the story together in days by reading the appropriate forum posts. Granted, I probably burned a lot more time doing that than some journalist with a deadline would have (1 to 3 days of non-stop browsing), and I already had a background in that community, but then you realize that this is the kind of attention and care journalists give to every story and your confidence in the media plummets through the floor and into the basement.
Interestingly, this episode caused me to update in the direction of The Daily Mail and The Sun being more accurate than higher-status competitors like the BBC; they did not avoid fnords, but they were the first to get the basic facts of the case right.
I don’t read the news anymore.
The Murray Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect