Or, how I stopped worrying and learned to read the news
Introduction | Agenda | Logical Fallicies |
Labeling | Appeal to Authority | Appeal to Emotion |
Sins of Omission | Diminutive Dismissals | The Numbers Game
| Primary and Multiple Sources |
Links
2001-09-22
A bare start.
[TOP]Introduction
I've noticed a sad phenomenon - people who are clearly quite intelligent, who can think coherently about some subject,
seem to lose that ability when talking about other things. It seems to occur quite frequently when the talk turns to
politics. In the hope that some people don't have a framework for detecting propaganda, or bias, I'm presenting this
page as a starting point. It contains a things to consider when reading or watching the news.
[TOP]Agenda
Everyone and every organization has an Agenda, or reason for what they do and say. When evaluating news, try and
figure out why the information is being presented as it is. Does the writer of an article have an interest in one side or
another of the issue presented? The editors who write a paper's editorial are also responsible for selecting which news
articles are published. Is someone calling attention to a problem also using the problem as a springboard into the spotlight?
Try and determine what is gained by the presenter. Are they selling something? Trying to influence your vote?
Example:
Advertising-supported media (lots of websites, newspapers, television channels) get money from advertisers to show advertising.
Advertisers will pay more if their message reaches more people. So there is pressure to present information in such a way
which draws people.
[TOP]Logical Fallicies
Often in the news "arguments" are presented which, when examined rationally, make no sense. A few "facts" are presented
and then a conclusion or call to action is stated. But upon examination, the facts don't support it. Often there has been
one or more Sins of Omission committed which, if rectified, render the argument nonsensical. All the
other problems described on this page also apply.
[TOP]Labeling
Names have power. You react differently if told about a "controversial" budget amendment than a plain old budget amendment.
Be aware of what names and labels are given to subjects in a story. This is often used in The Numbers Game
to make a study match the Agenda of the presenter. Some studies considered 18- and 19-year-olds "children."
This made the number of "children" who did something or suffered some fate vastly inflated. But it let the presenter make an
Appeal to Emotion to "do it for the children."
[TOP]Appeal to Authority
Have you ever read an article where it said "experts say..." or "according to experts,..."? Who are these unnamed experts?
Do they really exist? Are they so well known that stating their names would tip you off to the Agenda of
the writer? You can't evaluate an unknown expert's statement unless you're an expert in the field under discussion. But you can
always choose to ignore it.
There is also the danger of celebrities/authorities making statements in a arena where they have no experience. Does the person
really have an understanding of the issues involved, or are they just using their fame to push their Agenda?
[TOP]Appeal to Emotion
Read this section for the children; you'll be glad you did. :-) If faced with two competing arguments, try and see which is mainly
based on emotional appeals, and which is mainly based on real fact and reason. It is important to get past the emotional parts of
an argument to see if the solutions proposed are warranted and if the solutions would really have the desired effect.
[TOP]Sins of Omission
What word is missing from sentence? Unfortunately, sins of omission are much harder to detect in real life. When something
relevant is left out of a story, it can change the impact significantly. The omission can be either intentional or unintentional,
but to be aware of it you either have knowledge about the subject or use Primary and Multiple Sources.
Omission is a big problem in The Numbers Game.
[TOP]Diminutive Dismissals
Don't waste your time reading this boring section. If someone does not want others to read a certain book, see a certain movie,
etc. he may dismiss it with a gross oversimplication or outright lie about its contents. Be aware of short dismissals of things
which give little or no information about the thing. If it is so bad, how did it get produced?
[TOP]The Numbers Game
Did you know over half of all people who drank water will die? Statistics and numbers seem to be more often misused than not
in the news. There are twice as many as one thing to keep in mind about them:
1) Statistics are based on studies. You cannot judge the study without understanding how/when/where the study was conducted, what the
Labeling of things in the study means, what Sins of Omission were committed, and
among other things, was the study conducted correctly?
2) Numbers also depend on Labeling of terms, but also on the psychological power of raw numbers. As of
this writing, America has a population of over 281,000,000. Keep this in mind when people start shouting how something caused
10,000 deaths or 50,000 injuries or whatever.
How can you judge statistics and other numbers? It is hard to judge statistics, given you need so much more information than
you will have available. You can, however, simply ignore them. It can help to judge raw numbers by figuring out what it means in
percentage terms. My calculator says 50,000 / 281,000,000 is about 0.018% of the population. Is that sufficient to justify new
legislation or whatever call to action is being pushed?
[TOP]Fighting Propaganda: Primary and Multiple Sources
The best way to be informed is to not rely on only a few sources for news. Everyone has an Agenda; only
by taking the time to read multiple disagreeing views of important issues will you start to see what Sins of Omission
and other problems have been committed.
We have the great tool of the internet to use in easily accessing primary sources of information. Don't just read an article about
a court decision, get the actual arguments and the actual decision and read them. If you see Diminutive Dismissals
about something, chances are you can find web pages which give more detail about it. You might even be able to contact the creator directly
and ask about it.
[TOP]Links
Propaganda
Propaganda
A very nice site, but like everything else, you have to read it carefully.
Note the examples picked (for example, as of this writing, lot of Republican
and Socialist "examples" of propaganda, but darn few Democratic ones).
News
FOXNews.com
FOX News article on how views become "news"
ABCNEWS.com
CNN.com
DRUDGE REPORT 2000®
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