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NPR investigation of a Chinese celebrity dissident leads news orgs to retract stories (www.npr.org)

submitted 6 days ago by yogthos@lemmygrad.ml to c/worldnews@lemmygrad.ml

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[–] porcupine@lemmygrad.ml 26 points 6 days ago (2 children)

an NPR investigation this year uncovered evidence linking Wang to an elaborate con involving impersonation of government officials, credit card fraud

can't believe a totalitarian regime would crush the entrepreneurial freedom of an aspiring small business owner

People who study journalism said they can't recall so many news organizations retracting or amending stories because of questions about the reliability of a single source.

"In the 25 years or so that I've been watching this carefully and writing about it, I've never seen anything like this," says Ed Wasserman, former dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley. "In the literature, I can't think of another instance."

...and when this exact same thing happens again tomorrow, that will also be the first time anyone will recall seeing anything like it.

[–] Belly_Beanis@hexbear.net 8 points 5 days ago

Hey Wasserman, wasn't there a major event in 2003 (22 years ago) where a bunch of "journalists" lied about that event? Like I think we had a top government person say they made it up? This ring a bell for anyone? 🤔

[–] REEEEvolution@lemmygrad.ml 5 points 5 days ago

“In the 25 years or so that I’ve been watching this carefully and writing about it, I’ve never seen anything like this,” says Ed Wasserman, former dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley. “In the literature, I can’t think of another instance.”

Because his profession usually did not issue corrections. See the Cold War. The western narrative throughout is entirely wrong and not a single correction.

[–] eldavi@lemmy.ml 11 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I've given up NPR because of what Luigi accidentally taught me; it's so so fucking confusing!

[–] yogthos@lemmygrad.ml 22 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I'd say it's not so much about giving up on mainstream sources, but developing a critical eye for reading them. I often read FT, Reuters, Bloomberg, The Guardian, etc. They will have have factual information, but what you have to separate it from the framing and the biases. Once you learn to identify them, you can tease apart the facts they're reporting from the narrative they're pushing. In fact, the narrative being pushed can itself be informative because it gives you a clue as to how the public opinion is being shaped, and then you can start asking why it's being shaped that way.

[–] propter_hog@hexbear.net 8 points 6 days ago (1 children)

And who's paying for that shaping

[–] yogthos@lemmygrad.ml 14 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

That one's easy, it's our beloved oligarchs of course. But you're absolutely right, that's ultimately what you have to look at. Whose interests does the cultural hegemony we live under serve.

[–] Red_Scare@lemmygrad.ml 14 points 6 days ago (1 children)

People always have been the foolish victims of deception and self-deception in politics, and they always will be until they have learnt to seek out the interests of some class or other behind all moral, religious, political and social phrases, declarations and promises.

Lenin, 1913

[–] yogthos@lemmygrad.ml 7 points 5 days ago

We'd be living in a much better world today if more people read Lenin.