I have always marveled at the work of acoustical engineers. This is not to say I even begin to understand what they do, let alone the mathematics behind it. But the notion that you can balance the vibrations of sound, bring out the clarity of a sole oboe in a concert hall, separate a voice from a noisy background, well, it is downright mysterious and enchanting to me.
Nice piece, Dan. From a rather liberal Canadian point of view it's difficult to see how this will work out. I am hoping that the story of FOX news will some day be told as a cautionary tale as to how dangerous and expensive it can be to repeat lies. Confirmation bias is no way to conduct journalism.
As always Mr. Rather - well said. And so needed in this time of cacophony. Finding the truth can be difficult, bringing it to light can be harder, but just going for ratings as has been done in the recent past cannot be the pattern for real journalism. I remember the days gone by when I could see who picked up the National Inquirer at the newsstand - it was funny, but some took it seriously. Far too many take the crackpot conspiracy theories seriously and have gone down that rabbit hole - never to return. Keep speaking out my friend - many many of us are listening.
I love this! Also we need to remember or learn that social media is NOT THE NEWS. It spreads untruths faster than we could ever have imagined. Let's go back to news as news please.
I agree with what you said, however, the press is partly responsible for trump to begin with. During his campaign, there was the constant fawning over him, never challenging his obvious lies, all the while harping on nothing but Hillary's emails. Every administration has to be held accountable, but, in recent years, that only seems to apply to the Democratic ones. I get that social media and the 24 hour news cycle complicates things, however, it shouldn't prevent true journalists from doing their job. trump should have been called a liar during his campaign. He should have been held accountable. Instead, most interviewers were too "star struck" to do that, much to our detriment. Turning the news into a ratings game certainly hasn't helped. Most are more concerned about getting news out fast instead of accurately, with the attitude that they can always fix it later, but, more times than not, they don't because something else has caught their attention. I would add to your suggestions to the press, do not ever quote a story from fox news or any of the other propaganda outlets. The best way to drown out lies is to ignore them and flood the airwaves with the truth. Retweeting false news stories, just to comment on them gives them what they desire, wider circulation than they deserve. Nothing pisses off narcissists more than being ignored. We, as a country, and specifically the media, would do well to remember that.
I watch Fox News to see what the other side is saying and I am disgusted by what I hear. When did the bullies take over the cafeteria? I know major news outlets aren’t perfect, but when I hear this kind of talk, I just change the channel. I don’t want to hear opinions, I want fact based news. Facts without opinions attached are important because it helps me determine what is going on. I don’t get that from Fox News. And please, don’t even get me started on conspiracy theories. Getting conspiracy theories via social media is like getting those ridiculous chain letters when we were kids that warned of bad luck if you didn’t rewrite twenty other letters to twenty friends and send them. Yeah, no. My grandmother used to say: “Don’t believe everything you hear and half of what you see.” Funny how advice from two generations ago is applicable to this age of instantaneous digital news. Peace dude!
What really annoys me is the constant focus on one story repeatedly as though the nation hasn't already seen it. It feels like you're being brainwashed. We get it! Move on. I want to hear more interviews from people who voted for Biden, not a constant focus on the former idiot in Chief and their negative ideas and values. I live in Trump territory in PA and I am disgusted enough by the flags, signs and pure bullshit they spew as though they are all that matters. Good article. Thank you👏👏👏👏
This writing is soothing, and not sugar-coated to soothe: don’t worry, evil never wins, it’s not that bad, etc. It’s truth and reason inviting us to be honest and reasonable. It’s an antidote to the lies and craziness taking up so much of our time. I’m so glad to subscribe to something that makes me feel so much better. Thank you Dan Rather and Steady.
Best essay to date. Especially this sentence, "How do we modulate the varying inputs so we don’t end up directing an orchestra of false equivalence?" which really drew me in to the rest of the piece. I've been dismayed and at times irate, at the false equivalence of the new media for years. I even stopped listening to NPR when I felt that they too had gone too far done that road. It's not the job of a reporter to just stick a microphone up to someone's face and leave it at that. They must give context and identify lies and opinions from the facts.
Bravo Dan Rather! I want to add a few of my thoughts how the news is done these days. First, not every story is "Breaking News", sure every new story is new but by overusing the big red banner and music of "Breaking News" makes it then just news. Fifty years ago when you saw "Breaking News" pop up on your tv everyone stopped to see what just happened, these days it's usually a rehash of something you've already heard with a real story (like the insurrection) thrown in once in awhile. Second I want to say something about climate change. I wish the news shows (network and especially cable) would devote more time to reporting daily climate stories from around the world. The way it sounds on our news is that it's just us and it's not and I think that's why people I know don't take it seriously. There are fires, floods, heat waves etc happening all over the world everyday, if the news would report on it (even if cable networks devote just 30min/day) then we would see that it's the earth that it's happening to, not just us. Maybe, just maybe peoples minds would be changed. Also, not just report the the bad climate news but also the good, i.e. what countries or even towns/villages are doing about it. Well, that's my 2 cents. Thanks Dan for refreshing/resetting my brain, sometimes I listen too much to the noise and miss the little things.
Thank you for reminding us that a free press is central to our democracy. That said, I believe there is an inherent obligation here. The press needs to report the facts. Opinions can be found on the editorial page. People need to read and form their own opinions from news articles. Labeling needs to be over. No left, right, conservative, liberal. Just people who believe certain facts. Just report. And so many reporters do just that. Every day. With clarity. I always believed this is what you do Mr Rather. As a retired educator, now adjunct professor, I also believe that children need to be educated to discern sources. To understand that to form an opinion many sources need to be read. In my social studies classes, and now my methods class, I urge students to always consider the source. We should all do the same.
Mucho! Your experience and maturity shines through in this piece. Well done. Tell you what, it's as well done as "No, sir, Mr. President, are you?" Credibility and bravery are are usually achieved at great expense and risk, and you, sir, have them. Once again, mucho.
Currently trying to keep the New York Times honest. At some point, it seems that they decided to be "fair and balanced" was to treat the supposed misdeeds of either sides as equal. Thus in 2016, we had stories of Hillary's emails being treated as seriously as every horrible thing Trump did. And, for a long time they were apparently so incredulous of the idea that Trump could win the presidency that they treated him like a joke, which had the effect of blurring the awfulness of much of what he was saying (because if was "funny").d
This year, thank goodness, they didn't treat the Big Lie as though it were a possible truth. But, as soon as Biden took office, we started seeing articles like the one about Biden's Rolex, which rather reminded me of the whole Obama in a tan suit "controversy." The NYT took the lead on this story, basically lending the GOP a distraction to scream about trying to cover up the memory of 1/6. And this when we just had a president who had a golden toilet and who knows how many expensive watches, purchased while he was paying no income taxes?
Be equally critical, but don't change the criteria from one side to another. Provide the context (as you advocate). And realize when something just isn't a story, even if it's going to get you page views (surely there were thousands of more important stories than Biden wearing a Rolex, a Rolex that may well have been his dead son's, btw).
Nice piece, Dan. From a rather liberal Canadian point of view it's difficult to see how this will work out. I am hoping that the story of FOX news will some day be told as a cautionary tale as to how dangerous and expensive it can be to repeat lies. Confirmation bias is no way to conduct journalism.
As always Mr. Rather - well said. And so needed in this time of cacophony. Finding the truth can be difficult, bringing it to light can be harder, but just going for ratings as has been done in the recent past cannot be the pattern for real journalism. I remember the days gone by when I could see who picked up the National Inquirer at the newsstand - it was funny, but some took it seriously. Far too many take the crackpot conspiracy theories seriously and have gone down that rabbit hole - never to return. Keep speaking out my friend - many many of us are listening.
I love this! Also we need to remember or learn that social media is NOT THE NEWS. It spreads untruths faster than we could ever have imagined. Let's go back to news as news please.
I agree with what you said, however, the press is partly responsible for trump to begin with. During his campaign, there was the constant fawning over him, never challenging his obvious lies, all the while harping on nothing but Hillary's emails. Every administration has to be held accountable, but, in recent years, that only seems to apply to the Democratic ones. I get that social media and the 24 hour news cycle complicates things, however, it shouldn't prevent true journalists from doing their job. trump should have been called a liar during his campaign. He should have been held accountable. Instead, most interviewers were too "star struck" to do that, much to our detriment. Turning the news into a ratings game certainly hasn't helped. Most are more concerned about getting news out fast instead of accurately, with the attitude that they can always fix it later, but, more times than not, they don't because something else has caught their attention. I would add to your suggestions to the press, do not ever quote a story from fox news or any of the other propaganda outlets. The best way to drown out lies is to ignore them and flood the airwaves with the truth. Retweeting false news stories, just to comment on them gives them what they desire, wider circulation than they deserve. Nothing pisses off narcissists more than being ignored. We, as a country, and specifically the media, would do well to remember that.
I watch Fox News to see what the other side is saying and I am disgusted by what I hear. When did the bullies take over the cafeteria? I know major news outlets aren’t perfect, but when I hear this kind of talk, I just change the channel. I don’t want to hear opinions, I want fact based news. Facts without opinions attached are important because it helps me determine what is going on. I don’t get that from Fox News. And please, don’t even get me started on conspiracy theories. Getting conspiracy theories via social media is like getting those ridiculous chain letters when we were kids that warned of bad luck if you didn’t rewrite twenty other letters to twenty friends and send them. Yeah, no. My grandmother used to say: “Don’t believe everything you hear and half of what you see.” Funny how advice from two generations ago is applicable to this age of instantaneous digital news. Peace dude!
What really annoys me is the constant focus on one story repeatedly as though the nation hasn't already seen it. It feels like you're being brainwashed. We get it! Move on. I want to hear more interviews from people who voted for Biden, not a constant focus on the former idiot in Chief and their negative ideas and values. I live in Trump territory in PA and I am disgusted enough by the flags, signs and pure bullshit they spew as though they are all that matters. Good article. Thank you👏👏👏👏
Good comments on how people must approach the media. It's checks & balances in our country . . . or should be!
This writing is soothing, and not sugar-coated to soothe: don’t worry, evil never wins, it’s not that bad, etc. It’s truth and reason inviting us to be honest and reasonable. It’s an antidote to the lies and craziness taking up so much of our time. I’m so glad to subscribe to something that makes me feel so much better. Thank you Dan Rather and Steady.
Best essay to date. Especially this sentence, "How do we modulate the varying inputs so we don’t end up directing an orchestra of false equivalence?" which really drew me in to the rest of the piece. I've been dismayed and at times irate, at the false equivalence of the new media for years. I even stopped listening to NPR when I felt that they too had gone too far done that road. It's not the job of a reporter to just stick a microphone up to someone's face and leave it at that. They must give context and identify lies and opinions from the facts.
Bravo Dan Rather! I want to add a few of my thoughts how the news is done these days. First, not every story is "Breaking News", sure every new story is new but by overusing the big red banner and music of "Breaking News" makes it then just news. Fifty years ago when you saw "Breaking News" pop up on your tv everyone stopped to see what just happened, these days it's usually a rehash of something you've already heard with a real story (like the insurrection) thrown in once in awhile. Second I want to say something about climate change. I wish the news shows (network and especially cable) would devote more time to reporting daily climate stories from around the world. The way it sounds on our news is that it's just us and it's not and I think that's why people I know don't take it seriously. There are fires, floods, heat waves etc happening all over the world everyday, if the news would report on it (even if cable networks devote just 30min/day) then we would see that it's the earth that it's happening to, not just us. Maybe, just maybe peoples minds would be changed. Also, not just report the the bad climate news but also the good, i.e. what countries or even towns/villages are doing about it. Well, that's my 2 cents. Thanks Dan for refreshing/resetting my brain, sometimes I listen too much to the noise and miss the little things.
It calms my trauma triggers to read you posts.. Thank you for being steady in this most tumultuous time.. Overwhelming gratitude to you!
Thank you for reminding us that a free press is central to our democracy. That said, I believe there is an inherent obligation here. The press needs to report the facts. Opinions can be found on the editorial page. People need to read and form their own opinions from news articles. Labeling needs to be over. No left, right, conservative, liberal. Just people who believe certain facts. Just report. And so many reporters do just that. Every day. With clarity. I always believed this is what you do Mr Rather. As a retired educator, now adjunct professor, I also believe that children need to be educated to discern sources. To understand that to form an opinion many sources need to be read. In my social studies classes, and now my methods class, I urge students to always consider the source. We should all do the same.
I find myself nodding often during this piece. I just hope we all take heed and put your words into practice. Myself included.
Mucho! Your experience and maturity shines through in this piece. Well done. Tell you what, it's as well done as "No, sir, Mr. President, are you?" Credibility and bravery are are usually achieved at great expense and risk, and you, sir, have them. Once again, mucho.
You have a calming voice! Thank you for the perspective. I will do my part to think about what I'm reading, what I'm saying, and what I'm sharing.
Currently trying to keep the New York Times honest. At some point, it seems that they decided to be "fair and balanced" was to treat the supposed misdeeds of either sides as equal. Thus in 2016, we had stories of Hillary's emails being treated as seriously as every horrible thing Trump did. And, for a long time they were apparently so incredulous of the idea that Trump could win the presidency that they treated him like a joke, which had the effect of blurring the awfulness of much of what he was saying (because if was "funny").d
This year, thank goodness, they didn't treat the Big Lie as though it were a possible truth. But, as soon as Biden took office, we started seeing articles like the one about Biden's Rolex, which rather reminded me of the whole Obama in a tan suit "controversy." The NYT took the lead on this story, basically lending the GOP a distraction to scream about trying to cover up the memory of 1/6. And this when we just had a president who had a golden toilet and who knows how many expensive watches, purchased while he was paying no income taxes?
Be equally critical, but don't change the criteria from one side to another. Provide the context (as you advocate). And realize when something just isn't a story, even if it's going to get you page views (surely there were thousands of more important stories than Biden wearing a Rolex, a Rolex that may well have been his dead son's, btw).