DEDICATED TO BJ ALUMS FOUNDER HARRY LIGGETT 1930-2014, BJ NEWSROOM LEGEND 1965-1995, AND TO JOHN OLESKY JR., 1932-2024, BJ MAINSTAY 1969-1996 AND BLOG EDITOR 2014-2024.
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Tuesday, May 17, 2011
About getting the news
Bob Dyer’s column in today’s Beacon Journal ['Big news' has changed over time] is worth reading. It discusses an alarming trend on where people get their news and how little they know.
Harry and I didn't know that we both were posting about Bob Dyer on the blog, but each post proves the value of the other post.
Dyer is a treasure at the BJ which, like all newspapers, is struggling to compete with an Internet that gets the viewers even though it has little or no crediblity for what's on it.
Anyone can post any "facts" on the Internet, and it dashes around the world and is amplified into "truth" by people who don't know any better.
Two sayings come to mind:
"In a democracy, people get the government they deserve." -- Alexis de Tocqueville, 1831, French aristocrat touring America
"Every country has the government it deserves." -- Joseph-Marie, comte de Maistre, 18th century philosophor who did have an axe to grind since he favored a French monarchy
Harry and I didn't know that we both were posting about Bob Dyer on the blog, but each post proves the value of the other post.
ReplyDeleteDyer is a treasure at the BJ which, like all newspapers, is struggling to compete with an Internet that gets the viewers even though it has little or no crediblity for what's on it.
Anyone can post any "facts" on the Internet, and it dashes around the world and is amplified into "truth" by people who don't know any better.
Two sayings come to mind:
"In a democracy, people get the government they deserve."
-- Alexis de Tocqueville, 1831, French aristocrat touring America
"Every country has the government it deserves."
-- Joseph-Marie, comte de Maistre, 18th century philosophor who did have an axe to grind since he favored a French monarchy