
Game theory explanation of why journalists don't call out lying politicians - teaman2000
https://theconversation.com/when-covering-elections-journalists-face-a-debilitating-dilemma-54533
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jdietrich
There is also the issue of access. A political reporter's career is
essentially over if sources won't talk to them. Habitually 'calling out'
politicians is a very easy way to become a persona non grata inside the
beltway or in Westminster. The risk of losing access is the sword of Damocles
hanging over every political journalist.

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petewailes
I'd posit that a large part of the issue with media reporting is that the
media has a disincentive to be honest. The way they stay afloat as business
entities is through commercial means - either subscribers or advertising or
both. That means eyeballs, which means that the business case for
sensationalist reporting will always trump that for honest, factual reporting.

The only way to reliably get around this is to have a separate, non-partisan
funding mechanism for news. For all it's flaws, it's why the BBC tends to do
well. Just being independent isn't enough (see The Independent as an example
for that).

Side note, this is partly why the BBC gets a lot of flack for both sides -
when they say things that support one position, the other side invariably
accuses them of bias. Even they don't get it right all the time though, and
never will (being run by humans who, you know, get things wrong).

The best thing America could do for it's political system is outlaw media
outlets from reporting news and being for-profit. Instead, set up a slush fund
of a few billion to pay for all news, and then ban themselves from interfering
except to punish those who are partisan one way or the other.

Reporting should be about educating people as to the state of the world, and
local, relevant information. Not entertainment.

Fun fact: in the UK, this trend really started with the publishing of the
memoirs of Christine Keeler in the News of the World, which also kicked off
the rise of Rupert Murdoch's empire. The scandal that ensued became known as
the Profumo affair and by location centred around Cliveden House, which has
400 acres of woodland which include the cottage where I live.

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teaman2000
Or, to put it in terms of the article, there are costs to being honest - both
in terms of numbers of viewers and readers, and in reputation.

But readers are a lot less interested in serious news than entertainment.

