Fox News: Sunnier in Germany

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  • Photowhit
    Photowhit Solar Expert Posts: 6,002 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Re: Fox News: Sunnier in Germany

    Having spent my early life as a photojournalist, I was spoiled by having first worked for a small weekly newspaper and my first daily experience was with the 'Tallahassee Democrat' a Knight Ridder (not rider!) newspaper. They were so worried about our impropriety that they refunded or paid for press meals at football games. They finally admittted it was OK for the sports dept to have a home town bias, in their column's.

    Needing to leave Tallahassee(parents getting divorced, driving their son nuts), I found a job at a small daily in Warner Robbins, GA. I had a staff of 1/2 time, U of G grad who would spend 2 hours developing film and making a print. I was very critical of her trying to teach her the need for speed and and critical thinking relating subjects in her photos. Well she produced some nice unassigned art at the county fair near the start of my 2nd week. I had been recieving the paper for 2 weeks prior to getting to town and hadn't heard there was a county fair and was glad I could give her a well earned compliment of her 'art'....

    Later that day the publisher asked to see me and the executive editor, he told us the paper did not report on the fair since they did not advertise with the paper. We both had worked for 'real' newspapers and resigned.

    I think this is far more common today in televised journalism, and with reduced editorial staff, print journalism, to see the responsibility to entertain rather than inform and to profit above all else.
    Home system 4000 watt (Evergreen) array standing, with 2 Midnite Classic Lites,  Midnite E-panel, Magnum MS4024, Prosine 1800(now backup) and Exeltech 1100(former backup...lol), 660 ah 24v Forklift battery(now 10 years old). Off grid for 20 years (if I include 8 months on a bicycle).
    - Assorted other systems, pieces and to many panels in the closet to not do more projects.
  • Windsun
    Windsun Solar Expert Posts: 1,164 ✭✭
    Re: Fox News: Sunnier in Germany
    Uh, anyone dumb enough to think asteroids are connected to global warming should not have the same voting rights as me. :p

    And yet I have seen similar comments about global warming also causing volcanos and tsunami, so the ignorance of science is pretty widespread. I used to think it was just the US, but if you search the international papers and sites, it is not just us that is dumb.

    I am not sure why this ignorance is so widespread, perhaps it is because of the way things are taught in schools. Facts are given, but seldom is there any demonstration as to what it actually means or how it works. My favorite is Newtons 3rd law - yet a favorite of movies is to have some guy fly 20 feet when being shot, especially with a shotgun - and I have actually argued with people that really think that would happen.

    Not suggesting that schools take people out and shoot them to demonstrate that fact :D
  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,431 admin
    Re: Fox News: Sunnier in Germany

    People are lazy... The Washington Post just got stung by one of their reporters:

    Don't need to even discuss the content of the article--Does not really matter other than a "source" was found that re-enforced a perception by the reporter. If the reporter just took one more click (or the Post's layers of editors) at the source, they would found:

    http://dailycurrant.com/about/
    The Daily Currant is an English language online satirical newspaper that covers global politics, business, technology, entertainment, science, health and media. It is accessible from over 190 countries worldwide - now including South Sudan.Our mission is to ridicule the timid ignorance which obstructs our progress, and promote intelligence - which presses forward.

    Q. Are your news stories real?
    A. No. Our stories are purely fictional. However they are meant to address real-world issues through satire and often refer and link to real events happening in the world

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
  • icarus
    icarus Solar Expert Posts: 5,436 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Fox News: Sunnier in Germany

    Without getting all too political, the problem (With the current media and body politic!) is that we seldo can agree on what is fact. The media is so "fair and balanced" that it presents "both" sides of every conversation when in reality in some (many) cases there are NOT two sides of an issue because there are sets of verifiable facts that determine truth.

    " today on our show, we are going to talk to Jonas Saulk on the efficacy of polio vaccines. Speaking on the other side if the subject is Larry Jones a father who is convinced that the polio vaccine gave his child AIDs. Welcome Dr. Saulk and Mr Jones,,,,,"

    Somethings are NOT EQUAL and should not be given equal audience!

    Tony
  • ggunn
    ggunn Solar Expert Posts: 1,973 ✭✭✭
    Re: Fox News: Sunnier in Germany

    I have friends all over the political spectrum. It's funny to hear the views on the media of folks out on the ends of the continuum. Someone on the far right might talk about the "liberal bias" of the media, while someone on the far left may claim that the conservative cabals have a stranglehold on information. Relative to their own positions, I guess they are both correct. :D
  • westbranch
    westbranch Solar Expert Posts: 5,183 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Fox News: Sunnier in Germany

    I was elected to a Prof. Association board a few moons back. After a year or so we got into a philosophical discussion on an item we had to vote on..... next month we were back in philosophical mode and we were each asked where we thought we were in the political spectrum, I as most said we saw ourselves in the middle, but I added that I might be a little bit to the left, one of the wags added, 'Ya a bit left of Genghis Khan'. My middle was between logger Greenies and Crusty Ranchers, perspective is relative...
     
    KID #51B  4s 140W to 24V 900Ah C&D AGM
    CL#29032 FW 2126/ 2073/ 2133 175A E-Panel WBjr, 3 x 4s 140W to 24V 900Ah C&D AGM 
    Cotek ST1500W 24V Inverter,OmniCharge 3024,
    2 x Cisco WRT54GL i/c DD-WRT Rtr & Bridge,
    Eu3/2/1000i Gens, 1680W & E-Panel/WBjr to come, CL #647 asleep
    West Chilcotin, BC, Canada
  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Fox News: Sunnier in Germany
    ggunn wrote: »
    I have friends all over the political spectrum. It's funny to hear the views on the media of folks out on the ends of the continuum. Someone on the far right might talk about the "liberal bias" of the media, while someone on the far left may claim that the conservative cabals have a stranglehold on information. Relative to their own positions, I guess they are both correct. :D

    no they both are not correct as it is a distortion or deflection from the facts on all sides to suit their needs. i will say only that neither is being factual or even realistic in many cases. some even resort to sensationalism as in making a story out of nothing or making a so so story into more than it is. we should not go further into the political aspect other than what was presented here as it pertains to solar.
  • Photowhit
    Photowhit Solar Expert Posts: 6,002 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Re: Fox News: Sunnier in Germany

    'NEWS' Should be just that, a statement of the facts, Editorial show like the one shown, is fine as an opinion of individuals or of the network but the facts being wrong on any news show is unexceptable.

    I confess to being a green party member and indeed a fatalist (I don't believe we can save our selves). With-in parties I think things are nuts, I went to the organizational meeting for the Florida Green party at volunteered to supply 40% recycled paper for the publications(about as much recycled content that you could get in @1980) which were going to be done by copier. The person did not want to use recycled paper stating that they couldn't get it to run right, end of discussion, didn't want to try...
    Home system 4000 watt (Evergreen) array standing, with 2 Midnite Classic Lites,  Midnite E-panel, Magnum MS4024, Prosine 1800(now backup) and Exeltech 1100(former backup...lol), 660 ah 24v Forklift battery(now 10 years old). Off grid for 20 years (if I include 8 months on a bicycle).
    - Assorted other systems, pieces and to many panels in the closet to not do more projects.
  • ggunn
    ggunn Solar Expert Posts: 1,973 ✭✭✭
    Re: Fox News: Sunnier in Germany
    niel wrote: »
    no they both are not correct as it is a distortion or deflection from the facts on all sides to suit their needs. i will say only that neither is being factual or even realistic in many cases. some even resort to sensationalism as in making a story out of nothing or making a so so story into more than it is. we should not go further into the political aspect other than what was presented here as it pertains to solar.
    Perhaps I was not clear. I think that the overall perspective of the media, if there is such a thing, is somewhere in the middle between the radical left and the reactionary right, and when someone says "the media is biased to the left (or right)" what they really mean is "the media is biased to the left (or right) of ME", in which case they are quite possibly correct either way. There is no question that some subgroups within the media slant their reporting (putting it as generously as I can) to further their agenda.
  • Windsun
    Windsun Solar Expert Posts: 1,164 ✭✭
    Re: Fox News: Sunnier in Germany

    There is nobody anywhere without some kind of bias, but most people fall within the "not too kooky" range. Our biases have an influence on how we interpret facts - and sometimes if we will even accept them as facts.

    I see that an awful lot in one of the financial forums that I monitor (which seems to attract the supremely ignorant and agenda driven posters) - a fact like "Chinese company xxx buys 30 tons of pineapple from Hawaii". One person will accuse the Chinese of buying up all the pineapple to drive up prices and take over Hawaiian farms, while the next one will tout that same fact as a boon for some politicians policy. Neither is true (they probably just wanted to buy some pineapple, and Hawaii had some) but people, especially in politics tend to see all kinds of ulterior motives that don't really exist.

    Not long ago that kind of "hmm, which side am I on" event occurred in California, when the anti-solar folks found themselves in alignment with the "save the tortoise" folks over a proposed solar array.
  • ggunn
    ggunn Solar Expert Posts: 1,973 ✭✭✭
    Re: Fox News: Sunnier in Germany
    Windsun wrote: »
    There is nobody anywhere without some kind of bias, but most people fall within the "not too kooky" range.
    I relate this because I thought it was funny, not to be political...

    A favorite show of mine is "Futurama". In an episode from a couple of seasons ago, Fry reacted to something Leela said by remarking, "Wow. You've just gone from crazy like a fox to crazy like Fox News." :D
  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,431 admin
    Re: Fox News: Sunnier in Germany

    A "two for". Via Fox News website from AP:

    Global video gaming company that backed search for WWII fighter jets says no planes in Myanmar
    Published February 16, 2013
    Associated Press



    YANGON, Myanmar – A global video gaming company that funded a search for dozens of World War II-era British fighter jets in Myanmar says none of the legendary planes are buried in the Southeast Asian country.

    Aviation enthusiasts hunting for the lost planes believe as many as 140 Spitfires were hidden in crates in pristine condition in three Myanmar locations.
    Supermarine Spitfire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


    Attachment not found.
    If your mother says she loves you, check it out” is a newspaper adage, cautioning reporters to always check the facts. The saying (cited in print since at least 1974) became a slogan of the Chicago City News Bureau, credited to both Edward H. Eulenberg and Arnold A. Dornfeld.

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
  • ggunn
    ggunn Solar Expert Posts: 1,973 ✭✭✭
    Re: Fox News: Sunnier in Germany
    BB. wrote: »
    Even I knew that the Spitfire wasn't a jet. Is the pressure so great to get the "news" out as quickly as possible that they don't have the time to check to see if it even makes sense?
  • Cariboocoot
    Cariboocoot Banned Posts: 17,615 ✭✭✭
    Re: Fox News: Sunnier in Germany
    ggunn wrote: »
    Even I knew that the Spitfire wasn't a jet. Is the pressure so great to get the "news" out as quickly as possible that they don't have the time to check to see if it even makes sense?

    90% of the time the reporters simply do not know what they're talking about. This is from experience, as for a long time my wife had reporters as accounting clients. Their lack of general knowledge would shame any schoolboy of eight.
  • ggunn
    ggunn Solar Expert Posts: 1,973 ✭✭✭
    Re: Fox News: Sunnier in Germany
    90% of the time the reporters simply do not know what they're talking about. This is from experience, as for a long time my wife had reporters as accounting clients. Their lack of general knowledge would shame any schoolboy of eight.
    When I worked in the semiconductor biz, there was an article from a tech magazine which tried to explain the difference between static and dynamic RAM. It said (correctly) that dynamic RAM has to be refreshed periodically, but said that the method for refreshing it was to blow air over it. What refreshing really means is that the data in the RAM has to be rewritten periodically. Anyway, copies of the article with the pertinent section highlighted were posted all over the facility and gave everyone a good laugh.