POINT OF ORDER
TIM COHEN: Truthful debate competes with dark arts
What are "radical economic transformation" and "white monopoly capital"? I’m not sure, but I am sure what they are not. They are not short-hand terms to encapsulate broad, coherent social and economic policy, which is what the words might imply. There might be some intersection, but it has nothing to do with government policy and everything to do with a communication strategy. We in the media have in the recent past been tearing our hair out trying to understand why the public seems to have deserted the idea of tested, balanced, verifiable facts. One of the reasons seems to be technological. New media such as Facebook have broken down the barriers to entry in the publication game and now dominate it globally, with Google and Facebook attracting the lion’s share of online advertising. As a result, facts compete on a level playing field with lies. Identities can be hidden, so there is no brand risk involved in lying.Because news is harder and more expensive to produce than commentary,...
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