We're all familiar with the supposed motivation of advertising: draw attention to your product's strengths:
"Now with 25% less deadly stuff!"
There's the mudslinging approach:
"25% better than the leading competitor"
Then there's the staple of the infomercial, selling things you wish were true:
"Cooks dinner in 20 minutes and is completely self-cleaning!"
So what's up with the news, blogs, etc. all promising, "Truth", "Real News", "Reality-Based", etc.?
To wit:
"Real News"
"Reality-Based"
etc.
Is even mediocre journalism really that hard?
"Um.. Fred, I'm really getting tired of hanging out at the Internet trying to uncover information. What to do?"
"Just put 'Truth' in our blog's mission statement and wait for the Pulitzer."
What's with the sudden supposed popularity with Truth? Is there a sudden lack of Truth?
If so, why are more and more people choosing to watch fake news?
I'm thinking that what we really have is not less Truth, but a stupendous increase in the amount of B.S. Maybe I should change this blog's catchphrase:
"Now with 30% less B.S.!"
No comments:
Post a Comment