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Notes -
"We live in a world where Twitter shitposters provide more information about what's really going on with CW issues than credentialed journalists" does not particularly imply to me that it is sensible to expect the shitposters to live up to the standards expected of credentialed journalists -- if they had wanted to be credential journalists they could have done that!
Shitposting is quite fun however.
Why are credentialed journalists held to a higher standard? It’s not out of respect for the credential.
LoTT has clearly been assigned more resources and more influence than random shitposters. It’s sensible to expect higher standards for the same reasons.
Isn't it mostly that... credentialed journalists are expected to have the resources to do this stuff? I know LoTT has a lot of followers, but I don't believe that this has been monetized to the extent of (say) the NYT, or that she has a newsroom full of fact checkers or suchlike.
When I picture LoTT, it's 'suburban mom sitting in her basement laughing her ass of at all the dumb stuff people are doing' with maybe a side order of 'I hate these people and want them to suffer' -- neither of which I imagine would change much with increased follower counts.
The other thing about journalists is that they like to at least maintain some sort of pretense of 'professional ethics' -- I would expect a credentialed journalist to have taken multiple courses on this, and be aware of pitfalls and procedures. No such course exists for Twitter users at any level, up to and including the owner of the place. Probably it would be good if it did, but that ain't where we're at here.
I don't know where you're drawing the line.
Her Twitter bio proudly claims to be a "Media/News Company," and the testimonials on her About page includes a glowing review of her journalism by Matt Walsh. Wait, does he count as a journalist?
There are talk show appearances and shout outs from the former President. Chats with other culture war luminaries. Honorary school board appointments (?!). Those aren't normal suburban-mom activities. She is clearly running a brand.
But that's kind of beside the point. I can't believe that one needs credentials or courses to ask "is what I'm about to say true?" I also don't believe for a moment that's the main motive for TW critics. He certainly doesn't get to deploy a similar defense!
I dunno either really -- is Joe Rogan a Journalist? I would say not.
But the place you are drawing the line most certainly includes T.W. at the time of this incident -- so if LoTT is getting held to journalistic ethics, then so should he.
Yes! Yes, and as far as I know, he has met this bar. If someone bothered to hoax him, and he took the bait, I think that would look badly on him. I certainly wouldn't say, "way to go, you hoaxed a shitposter."
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It's out of respect for the function they are holding. Even if I don't hold a lot of respect for the credential of a doctor, if you present yourself as one, I will be expecting that your health advice is based on a higher standard than that of a random's youtuber, and that you will be taking some amount of responsibility for it.
Shitposters can get quite popular, and that will mean influence and resources. That doesn't mean they're presenting themselves as rigorous truth-seekers.
But the best part of the whole affair is that she actually did do more due diligence than a lot of mainstream journalists, it's just that Tracing put a lot of effort into faking the evidence.
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