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Culture War Roundup for the week of February 17, 2025

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Strategically incomplete articles that use their own lack of rigour to say there's nothing to see are a pet peeve of mine. I know that it's impossible to prove that the reporter knew about that peace deal, but loudly focusing on a point of ignorance is hardly any better.

I disagree. It's actually significantly worse. A reporter has the responsibility to know these kinds of things. If they write a lie by omission because they're ignorant of what they're omitting, then they're failing in their duties, and they're doing so in a way that allows themselves to feel like they're not failing. If they consciously omitted something in an intentional effort to mislead the audience, then at least they'd be aware that they're being manipulative and dishonest and have to acknowledge that they're looking at a liar every time they look in the mirror. And maybe that could compel some sort of change in behavior due to how it makes them feel (though probably not). But if they leave themselves ignorant, then they can freely spread lies without ever believing that they're being anything less than entirely truthful.