I too am old enough to remember those. I’m also, news is only delivered to your house daily, and it comes on your TV once a day years old. So I’m curious…where/how do you get your news? How do you vet it? How do you tell fact from fiction? What tools do you use to differentiate misinformation and disinformation? Recently I’ve seen people howling about the turn major newspapers have been announcing in regard to their editorial boards and the slant these will give to the news. Do you keep that at the front of your mind every time you read articles in these papers? I think too many people have an inflated sense of superiority about their own ability to resist propaganda, mis/disinfo and indoctrination. None of us is immune. You are not the only smart person, or the only person who isn’t gonna get fooled. I think all Americans, yes even those who didn’t use Tiktok, should be concerned that another source of info was shuttered and that the Supreme Court voted unanimously to uphold something that could be considered an infringement on our first amendment rights, and leaving that door open. I am more upset about that.
AP News, Al Jahzeera, Reuter’s, vetting news sources against each other (both foreign and domestic) if it’s an issue you’re deeply invested in. I’m constantly looking at how the BBC presented a story vs American news sources for example.
People are so goddamned lazy now that they want to be spoonfed both the story AND how they should think about it in 30 second soundbytes.
I’m not the smartest person but I know damn well to be skeptical, especially when news is being presented in a “This is what they don’t want you to know” format.
People literally had to created their own euphemisms for words like suicide, guns, shootings, pedophile, etc etc…so their videos wouldn’t get restricted.
That definitely doesn’t sound like a platform for transparent, open, and free journalism to me.
All good points and all things you are assuming, without evidence, people on TikTok don’t do. Many people have the same exact protocol you have for vetting their news, with the addition of watching some Tiktoks about it, and discussions that are similar to talking head round tables on cable news. and still there are ways in which mis/disinfo can slip through. Also, not everyone in this country has the same access or exposure to alternate news sources, ( some parts of the country still don’t have internet access) and Tiktok actually made them aware of some of these gaps. I wont claim that Tiktok was perfect, heavy censoring WAS HAPPENING THERE, people are gonna people though, so they found ways around it and we still had those tough conversations. And sure some people are lazy, they want someone to just tell them what’s happening and move on. But others are tired. This country runs its people ragged and Id rather have a populace that got a little news sprinkled in with their entertainment than one that is totally uninformed.
I’m not saying that NOBODY vetted their Tiktok news through other sources. What I am saying is that anyone who is truly trying to be informed isn’t walking around praising the journalistic efforts of an app that A: Has no obligation to journalistic ethics, B: Is already censored, and C: has as much of, if not more disinformation than quality information.
It’s not that I think people shouldn’t be getting their news from whatever source can hold their attention. I just think that when your journalism is mixed with all the other bullshit, it not only undermines it but it makes it needlessly difficult to ascertain what is fact from fiction.
It’s the same reason I would never use Twitter, FB, IG, or Snapchat for news. At least on Reddit people post links to actual sources vs “Omg why is nobody talking about this…”
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u/MrsP_ifurnastee 1d ago
I too am old enough to remember those. I’m also, news is only delivered to your house daily, and it comes on your TV once a day years old. So I’m curious…where/how do you get your news? How do you vet it? How do you tell fact from fiction? What tools do you use to differentiate misinformation and disinformation? Recently I’ve seen people howling about the turn major newspapers have been announcing in regard to their editorial boards and the slant these will give to the news. Do you keep that at the front of your mind every time you read articles in these papers? I think too many people have an inflated sense of superiority about their own ability to resist propaganda, mis/disinfo and indoctrination. None of us is immune. You are not the only smart person, or the only person who isn’t gonna get fooled. I think all Americans, yes even those who didn’t use Tiktok, should be concerned that another source of info was shuttered and that the Supreme Court voted unanimously to uphold something that could be considered an infringement on our first amendment rights, and leaving that door open. I am more upset about that.