General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: In support of Glenn Greenwald [View all]tclambert
(11,085 posts)Get it on record so you can prove they actually said it. That's all the fact-checking you need. The kind of fact-checking they used to do, where armies of bookish assistants tried to verify the truthfulness of what newmakers said--well, not only is that old-fashioned, but it's expensive. When mega-corporations took over the media, they introduced modern accounting principles and cost control measures that saved lots of money by dispensing with that costly truth stuff. And then Rupert Murdoch made a business model out of converting old-fashioned news operations along the lines of what we used to call "gossip rags." Not only was it cheaper, but the natural he-said she-said controversies that result titillate the readers and sell papers (and later on, cable news channels).
Imagine a world in which news media reported verified facts, where people took medical advice from doctors instead of movie stars, where people learned science from scientists instead of biblical scholars enthusiasts. What a boring world. In a world like that we might miss out on the drama of going to a war for bogus reasons.