Fresh approaches to skepticism
The skeptic social movement has been a big part of my social and intellectual world. In a world full of bullshit and liars I appreciate the posture of “show me…
Journalism is a variety of public relations
Journalists complain about the rise and impact of public relations. It’s the “dark side”. Public relations (PR) “exerts a pressure” on journalism. It has a “distorting influence”. Journalists find themselves…
Masturbation: A Short History of a Great Taboo
This film by Lori Malépart-Traversy is a fascinating peak into the legacy of the Graham Cracker guy, Sylvester Graham, And the Kellogg’s guy, John Harvey Kellog, and other Presbyterian and…
Reality testing: measuring the long term impact of journalism
When Margaret Wente was getting busted repeatedly for plagiarizing, her publisher, The Globe and Mail, more or less defended her. Critical commentators’ noted that no one spins harder or better…
Cognition trick: the Google Effect
The Google effect is a kind of digital amnesia that permeates this internet age. Explored by Sparrow, Liu, and Wegner, this variety of cognitive bias reveals the fascinating relationship between…
The stickiness of so-called “reverse racism”
“Reverse racism” has been debunked many times. It’s a bogus idea. Unfortunately, it is also a bogus idea that is widely believed. Like other rightwing tropes such as “the nazis…
The state of hyperlinking in journalism, a case study
From time to time I like to check in on how news orgs are doing with their online publishing practices. In particular, I like to review how they handle reports…