The mainstream media is continuing its descent into mediocrity. I mean, we are told by the mainstream media that they have fact checkers, editors, and all that other stuff that means that we can trust them, right? But then something like this happens.
Greta Van Susteren of Fox News found confirmation of her suspicions that North Korea thought they were attacking Japan and not the US when they hacked Sony Pictures. Her proof came straight from the “North Korea state-owned news twitter feed” (@DPRK_News).
The only problem is that the @DPRK_News is a parody, written by a blogger.
Now comes the ironic part. Despite multiple comments to the story on her own site warning Van Susteren that her source was a parody site, and even the parody site’s author notifying her that her source was not true, she refuses to admit that she was fooled by the joke. She does admit that “some say” the feed is a hoax, but doesn’t admit that she was taken in.
Meanwhile, other major media outlets (including Slate, the Washington Post, and Newsweek), fall for the same parody twitter feed. Where are all those editors and fact checkers now? At least the others retract their stories.
5 Comments
re your story on N. Korea ‘thinking’ they were attacking Japan, not US, with Sony Pictures hack: Am I missing something here? Sony Pictures Entertainment is a subsidiary of Sony Corporation, a Japanese conglomerate. It is NOT American. And, incidentally, errors by GVS are not news. News is “newly received or noteworthy information” not common, everyday occurrences. Fun article though.
Mainstream news lives in a reality of its own today. Last week on MSNBCs morning Joe, the host offered proof that torture really does work by citing the TV show ‘Homeland’. Later the same day another MSNBC commentator offered proof of something by citing a fictional TV show again. My 14 year old daughter pointed that one out to me. If MSNBC is the good one, one only imagines what goes for truth on fox.
Arthur, Sony Pictures is still an American company, even if it is owned by Sony HQ in Japan.
“Meanwhile, other major media outlets (including Slate, the Washington Post, and Newsweek), fall for the same parody twitter feed.”
That’s not very likely. A better explanation is rampant plagiarism.
It is very difficult in some circumstances to determine fact from fiction on the internet. I’ve been caught up in it posting to this site. I bet if a poll was conducted that the majority of people would say it’s true because I read it on the internet. If you want a good example search climate change and see all the science backed sites on both sides of the issue. I takes a lot of detective work to get to the bottom of many politically charged issues. I sympathize with their task, but we should hold them accountable and they should be able to acknowledge the fact they were had, however sour the taste.