Thank you for Press Run, your hard work over the years and this story.
At the 2018 White House Correspondent's Dinner, Michelle Wolf turned to the CNN table and quipped something about "breaking news," with the punchline being congratulations, "you broke it." I agree the news has been broken by the emphasis on speed, profits, ideology, and other problems inconsistent with good journalism. And let's not forget social media like Facebook and Twitter.
I believe many consumers are catching on, and moving on. But there must be reliable sources to combat the fatigue caused by wading through the nonsense.
That, in a nutshell, is why your work is so important.
I do not see this as a "police union conspiracy". And I do sympathize with the Atlanta Officer who was so overwhelmed that she thought her food was being poisoned at McDonalds just because it was delayed.
But this is a much larger issue.
It's the issue of the demand for speed as opposed to accuracy in "journalism". It's the claim of the term "Journalist" for anyone who tweets, blogs, or posts to youtube. How many times over (pick any time period you wish) have we seen stories retracted because they were under-sourced or over-hyped?
I will argue that Right Wing Media is inherently biased. I will argue that "Mainstream" Media is governed by profit motive and thus sensationalizes.
But I assert the main culprit is the race for speed. The desire for the "scoop". In the age of the internet; stories will circle the world in minutes. Thus reporters, trying hard to do a good job, are pushed to publish before someone else does. Mistakes are inevitable.
it's a definately a problem. and i think this is case the police unions clearly tried to use that to their advantage. in NYC, i noted the unions made their blockbuster claims about the officers being "intentionally poisoned" just minutes before the 11 pm local news began.
Why would any legitimate news outlet risk embarrassing itself & lose all credibility by being the first to print bogus "news"? It should be easy enough to reach the police's press liaison to verify the story.
The media often repeats what the cops say almost verbatim and without question even when the cops' version of events changes upwards of 10 times. How many times has the OFFICIAL police report not match the video evidence?
The first story a cop tells is OFTEN a lie or half-truth at best.
eric, any of us in the bike activism community in NYC can tell you that the cops dictate what local reporters report. "he had the light when it was run by the dead person" is the classic. one person, usually a pedestrian or cyclist, is either dead or in the hospital, and unable to give his or her side, so the reporter talks to the cop, who talks to the self-interested party (the driver) and boom! a report that suggests no criminality, based on the word of the possible criminal, as laundered through a bored cop looking to avoid paperwork.
Among the pathologies common to the modern(?) cop is a need to lie; they can’t do their jobs without lying for some reason. The three New York’s “finest” *knew* they were lying and the “unions” jumped to echo the lies. There’s a terribly deep rot in our police.
This piece needs expanding / a follow-up. You're doing better than the pieces you've criticized, but... not that much better, TBH.
The notion that it was improper cleaning, leaving some sort of residue, was fed to the media by an (anonymous, of course) "police source". Shake Shack did not agree. Shake Shack's statement, on twitter, is that they found no reason to think there was ANY contamination in the shakes. And that no official has offered any official statement that there was anything in the shakes. They "continue to await the test results from the NYPD".
It's been, four days, now? And there's still no "test results" from NYPD.
Starting to look like the 3 cops lied, or it was all in their heads, they imagined it (overtired from too much overtime lately? Tear gas residue? Who knows.).
The unions should be forced to admit it the entire story was completely baseless, offer apologies and FULL retraction. Unless they can back it up - they shouldn't get away with this "cleaning residue", anymore than they deserved to get away with the initial false claim.
Have mixed feelings about the overuse of the qualifier "allegedly," but this is a story that definitely merited it. Agree too with dbtheonly who suggests that "the need for speed" is complicating reporting today.
good point. this is perfect example of when allegedly should have been used. but i think the media culture, esp when dealing w/ local police depts, is there's not need for allegedly when quoting cops.
Eric,
Thank you for Press Run, your hard work over the years and this story.
At the 2018 White House Correspondent's Dinner, Michelle Wolf turned to the CNN table and quipped something about "breaking news," with the punchline being congratulations, "you broke it." I agree the news has been broken by the emphasis on speed, profits, ideology, and other problems inconsistent with good journalism. And let's not forget social media like Facebook and Twitter.
I believe many consumers are catching on, and moving on. But there must be reliable sources to combat the fatigue caused by wading through the nonsense.
That, in a nutshell, is why your work is so important.
Thanks again.
Ed Bigham
Pennsylvania
thanks Ed, i appreciate yr support.
Mr. Boehlert,
I do not see this as a "police union conspiracy". And I do sympathize with the Atlanta Officer who was so overwhelmed that she thought her food was being poisoned at McDonalds just because it was delayed.
But this is a much larger issue.
It's the issue of the demand for speed as opposed to accuracy in "journalism". It's the claim of the term "Journalist" for anyone who tweets, blogs, or posts to youtube. How many times over (pick any time period you wish) have we seen stories retracted because they were under-sourced or over-hyped?
I will argue that Right Wing Media is inherently biased. I will argue that "Mainstream" Media is governed by profit motive and thus sensationalizes.
But I assert the main culprit is the race for speed. The desire for the "scoop". In the age of the internet; stories will circle the world in minutes. Thus reporters, trying hard to do a good job, are pushed to publish before someone else does. Mistakes are inevitable.
And I don't have an answer here.
it's a definately a problem. and i think this is case the police unions clearly tried to use that to their advantage. in NYC, i noted the unions made their blockbuster claims about the officers being "intentionally poisoned" just minutes before the 11 pm local news began.
Why would any legitimate news outlet risk embarrassing itself & lose all credibility by being the first to print bogus "news"? It should be easy enough to reach the police's press liaison to verify the story.
The media often repeats what the cops say almost verbatim and without question even when the cops' version of events changes upwards of 10 times. How many times has the OFFICIAL police report not match the video evidence?
The first story a cop tells is OFTEN a lie or half-truth at best.
eric, any of us in the bike activism community in NYC can tell you that the cops dictate what local reporters report. "he had the light when it was run by the dead person" is the classic. one person, usually a pedestrian or cyclist, is either dead or in the hospital, and unable to give his or her side, so the reporter talks to the cop, who talks to the self-interested party (the driver) and boom! a report that suggests no criminality, based on the word of the possible criminal, as laundered through a bored cop looking to avoid paperwork.
Among the pathologies common to the modern(?) cop is a need to lie; they can’t do their jobs without lying for some reason. The three New York’s “finest” *knew* they were lying and the “unions” jumped to echo the lies. There’s a terribly deep rot in our police.
This piece needs expanding / a follow-up. You're doing better than the pieces you've criticized, but... not that much better, TBH.
The notion that it was improper cleaning, leaving some sort of residue, was fed to the media by an (anonymous, of course) "police source". Shake Shack did not agree. Shake Shack's statement, on twitter, is that they found no reason to think there was ANY contamination in the shakes. And that no official has offered any official statement that there was anything in the shakes. They "continue to await the test results from the NYPD".
It's been, four days, now? And there's still no "test results" from NYPD.
Starting to look like the 3 cops lied, or it was all in their heads, they imagined it (overtired from too much overtime lately? Tear gas residue? Who knows.).
The unions should be forced to admit it the entire story was completely baseless, offer apologies and FULL retraction. Unless they can back it up - they shouldn't get away with this "cleaning residue", anymore than they deserved to get away with the initial false claim.
THAT would be solid journalism.
interesting. i admit i missed the Shake Shack response questioning even the idea that cleaning fluid had been accidentally gone unrinsed.
Have mixed feelings about the overuse of the qualifier "allegedly," but this is a story that definitely merited it. Agree too with dbtheonly who suggests that "the need for speed" is complicating reporting today.
good point. this is perfect example of when allegedly should have been used. but i think the media culture, esp when dealing w/ local police depts, is there's not need for allegedly when quoting cops.