General Discussion

everyday. On Mondays I did 3 days worth almost, the most of the Sunday Times was preprint and available on Thursdays.

The same story would get covered and headlined 7 different ways -- NY Daily News, Newsday, NY Post, WSJ, WaPo, NY Times, Financial Times, Village Voice and The New York Observer.

What I learned was that the "why" changes. The "what happened" overlaps and gets confirmed by the multiple sources. A big part of slant is what gets left out. It is a bit like kids fighting -- "He hit me!" True but also true is "But he hit me first!" I got a good understanding of the filters that each source was applying only by looking at the same story through other filters. I got all the pieces that were left out by one source by looking at the opposing sources. I still do this.

It is not surprising that Trump makes every news cycle about him. He's a master troll. What has surprised me is how few people want to get beyond that. It doesn't advance one's understanding of what happened or why to make everything about Trump. What happened to "Don't feed the trolls"?

At some point around 2015 cable news became like a fire department that screams endlessly every day about how bad and damaging fire is but they never put water on the fire.