Recently, Sarah Silverman went on a little Twitter rant about the dangers of trusting any media outlet other than newspapers for the truth about what’s happening in Donald Trump’s America. Because clearly the New York Times is the gold standard for honest journalism.
I beg of you- read newspapers. Not websites. Not cable news. NOT a twitter feed or FB feed (I understand this irony) we are living in a country where people believe Memes more than The NY Times- an establishment that is accountable- legally- for what they print.
— Sarah Silverman (@SarahKSilverman) February 8, 2020
It would be nice if we could trust mainstream newspapers (“accountable — as if!), but as has been demonstrated more times than we can count, we just can’t. Since Silverman doesn’t seem to understand that, actor and conservative Adam Trahan explains why newspapers like the New York Times are not the solution to the Fake News problem:
If I read only newspapers, I’d have no idea that a psychopath tried to murder volunteers at a republican voter registration tent 2 days ago. I’d also think Nicholas Sandmann was harassing a Native American Vietnam “veteran,” and that Obama has a scandal-free presidency. https://t.co/OMiaJ48KrV
— Adam Trahan (@AdamTrahan) February 10, 2020
Bingo.
She has no argument for why footage uploaded directly to social media from its source is somehow not the best thing ever. I'm with her about the cable news, though.
— Rachel ???? (@RaychelTania) February 10, 2020
Cable news is indeed a mess. But, as Trahan points out, Silverman’s argument is still terrible:
That’s about the only thing I could get behind. Her underlying insinuation is that everyone is too stupid to verify information and we just believe the first thing we see because we’re uncultured swine, unlike the fine people at The NY Times (of all the friggin places to cite)
— Adam Trahan (@AdamTrahan) February 10, 2020
Sarah’s really not in a position to be lecturing Americans about separating fact from fiction, considering her own inability to do just that. If it’s all the same to her, we’d like to give our trust to those who deserve it.
Citizen journalism is the best thing to happen to journalism since the first amendment.
— Adam Trahan (@AdamTrahan) February 10, 2020
