Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/11/19
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]No, Eric, that is not what they are. The vast - vast - majority of news articles represent honest attempts by bright, well meaning men and women to do the best they can with a subject in a very short period of time. I'll tell you what - On a day we agree on, you call me at 2 p.m., and I'll assign you to write a story of 1200 words which you have to report and have written and turned into me by 6 p.m. Daily newspapers are NOT peer reviewed journals. They are not encyclopedias. They are instant reports on a given day's events, written for consumption the following day. Journalists face a near impossible task; in fact, if you expect perfection, they face an impossible task. I get so damn sick and tired of hearing people say - 'any time I know anything about a subject, some reporter gets it wrong.' Frankly, what they are saying in most cases is 'any time I know something about a subject I not only bring my knowledge to every story I read about it, I also bring all my opinions, prejudices, and biases; and I judge what's written against those.' I know, I know, you can quote chapter and verse. - -----Original Message----- From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us [mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us] On Behalf Of Eric Sent: Wednesday, November 19, 2003 5:53 PM To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us Subject: [Leica] Re: vuescan vs twain Eric: >> never believe what you read in the press! - ruben >Yep, and stumble around in the dark. Ruben has a valid point. If the press as a whole has such low standards of fact checking that it's gotten to the point that many people don't believe what they read, how is that the readers' problem? Whenever I know anything about a technical topic, I'll find all sorts of errors whenever it is reported in the general press. Peer-reviewed journals seem to be pretty reliable. But that's because peers are reviewing the material instead of journalists. So how am I supposed to trust the general press to keep me accurately informed when I don't have the resources to vet the article? Bottom line...I don't. So yes, unfortunately, we do stumble around in the dark about topics of which we don't know. I treat all news items as editorial/opinion pieces. In the end, that's what they are. Eric - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html