This is nonsense but it's also a perfect example of the epistemology of elite journalism: that knowledge is at some level impossible, and that therefore journalists should not use critical thinking and basic reasoning and inference but instead be tabula rasa. This creates a larger problem... (1/n) - ThreadSky

jaykaydee.bsky.social • 32 days ago

This is nonsense but it's also a perfect example of the epistemology of elite journalism: that knowledge is at some level impossible, and that therefore journalists should not use critical thinking and basic reasoning and inference but instead be tabula rasa. This creates a larger problem... (1/n)

Reposted from Jim Pickard

don’t shoot me but my contentious view is that it probably wasn’t a Nazi salute - despite obvious similarities - and we shouldn’t claim to *know* that it was one

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jaykaydee.bsky.social•32 days ago

Journalists who behave as if they're not in a position to provide any special insight into events, who dispense with knowledge and context in favor of stenography and forever-born-yesterday perspective, signal to their audiences that what they do has no real worth. And audiences pay attention! (2/n)

jaykaydee.bsky.social•32 days ago

This is bad as a general matter but that it's elite journalists with the widest reach is destructive to both their profession generally and their colleagues at smaller outlets (still the vast majority of journalists) specifically. *Most* journalists believe, and act, like what they do matters! (3/n)

jaykaydee.bsky.social•32 days ago

We are at a moment in media consumption where many folks do not read or watch "the news" as we have thought of it, and here purveyors of "the news" are saying basically: you're right, who knows, why bother. They can pound sand. But it also means that real journalists need to do something else: (4/n)

jaykaydee.bsky.social•32 days ago

At this stage, journalists who do care about the work they do need to be making a case to the audience that the news matters: that it has a material impact in their lives, and they should read/watch/listen and care. So those of us who likewise care should pay attention and boost those efforts. (5/n)

smelendez.bsky.social•32 days ago

It's also not as traditional as people like to think. Read political reporting (even city council coverage) from dailies through at least the late '80s—political figures are treated as people whose actions and motivations reporters put in context of their backgrounds, goals, and biases!

jaykaydee.bsky.social•32 days ago

Yes totally - this is a fairly recent development, much to the detriment of media outlets and their audiences.

stribs.bsky.social•32 days ago

This is what Musk and every toxic troll depends on when they do stuff like this: plausible deniability

*rather implausible, really, but plausible for some and that’s all they need

dai-lewis.bsky.social•32 days ago

I've been looking for this explanation... they cannot stand thinking the same thing as the rest of us. So they try not to

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