Denzel Washington on Media: If You Read The Newspaper, 'You're Misinformed'

[rangerrebew]

Denzel Washington on Media: If You Read The Newspaper, 'You're Misinformed'

Commenting on the topic of "fake news," Academy Award winning actor Denzel Washington criticized the so-called mainstream media by saying if you read the newspaper, then "you're misinformed," and added that in a world where there is too much information the media strive to be first and not to be truthful, no matter who it hurts. "Anything you practice you'll get good at -- including BS," said Washington.

At a screening for Washington's new movie, Fences, at the African American Museum of History and Culture in Washington, D.C., a reporter asked [1] Washington what he thought of "fake news" and its effect.
 

 
Source URL: http://www.cnsnews.com/blog/michael-w-chapman/denzel-washington-media-if-you-read-newspaper-youre-misinformed

[Cripplecreek]

Its what Thomas Jefferson said in a letter to John Norvell in response to Norvell's queries on governance and newspapers.

To your request of my opinion of the manner in which a newspaper should be conducted so as to be most useful, I should answer ‘by restraining it to true facts & sound principles only.’ yet I fear such a paper would find few subscribers. it is a melancholy truth that a suppression of the press could not more compleatly deprive the nation of it’s benefits, than is done by it’s abandoned prostitution to falsehood. nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle. the real extent of this state of misinformation is known only to those who are in situations to confront facts within their knolege with the lies of the day. I really look with commiseration over the great body of my fellow citizens, who, reading newspapers, live & die in the belief that they have known something of what has been passing in the world in their time: whereas the accounts they have read in newspapers are just as true a history of any other period of the world as of the present, except that the real names of the day are affixed to their fables. general facts may indeed be collected from them, such as that Europe is now at war, that Bonaparte has been a successful warrior, that he has subjected a great portion of Europe to his will &c &c. but no details can be relied on. I will add that the man who never looks into a newspaper is better informed than he who reads them; inasmuch as he who knows nothing is nearer to truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods & errors. he who reads nothing will still learn the great facts, and the details are all false.

http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/99-01-02-5737

[Applewood]

At last!  A Hollywood celebrity has something sensible to say.  Don't see that too often. 

Washington is correct, and his statement applies to every news outlet, nor just newspapers.  Seems we just can't rely on media for accurate news anymore. 

[Cripplecreek]

At last!  A Hollywood celebrity has something sensible to say.  Don't see that too often. 

Washington is correct, and his statement applies to every news outlet, nor just newspapers.  Seems we just can't rely on media for accurate news anymore.

He's just fairly well educated.

The problem is, who determines what is and isn't "fake"? Also I see a lot of things being called fake news for no other reason that the accuser disagrees with it. (Which was also what Jefferson said when he said a newspaper dedicated to the facts would find few subscribers)

[Applewood]

I feel sorry for people like my aunt.  85 years old and no internet, so she relies on the TV news for information.  How can anyone make an informed decision at the polls when you are relying on propaganda, not facts?

[Suppressed]

Its what Thomas Jefferson said in a letter to John Norvell in response to Norvell's queries on governance and newspapers.

And yet, he defended newspapers steadfastly.

Brilliant man.

[Cripplecreek]

And yet, he defended newspapers steadfastly.

Brilliant man.

Of course he did. Despite its obvious human flaws, it was still a fundamental right.

I'm guessing he would have similar feelings about the internet which is both one million times worse than newspapers and one million times better than newspapers. There is just as much garbage on the net as valuable info.

[rangerrebew]

He's just fairly well educated.

The problem is, who determines what is and isn't "fake"?

Doesn't that depend on what your definition of is, is?

[Oceander]

Depends on what paper you read and why you read it.

[geronl]

At last!  A Hollywood celebrity has something sensible to say. 

Nothing original about what he said. I think Mark Twain said it.

[Cripplecreek]

Nothing original about what he said. I think Mark Twain said it.

I will add that the man who never looks into a newspaper is better informed than he who reads them; inasmuch as he who knows nothing is nearer to truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods & errors. he who reads nothing will still learn the great facts, and the details are all false. - Thomas Jefferson

People act as if the media has become this way in recent years but the reality is that the media has never been any other way. Its always been subject to the opinions and biases of its writers and none of them are infallible.

I do look to the progressive era as a time when media deliberately set out to misinform with men like Walter Lippman and George Creel openly declaring a duty to do so.

[Hondo69]

Being tied closely to Hollywood I'm sure Denzel understands exactly how news is manufactured and delivered to the retail public.

It's not much different than walking into a store to pick up a charger for your phone.  You are the retail customer and you pay the retail price.  But the store owner purchased that very same item from a wholesaler.  She bought it at the wholesale price, marked it up, then put it on her shelves.

Then we have the manufacturer, who decides what bells and whistles will be included or not included on the product.  Once determined, the product is produced then shipped out to the various wholesalers across the country.

[Applewood]

I will add that the man who never looks into a newspaper is better informed than he who reads them; inasmuch as he who knows nothing is nearer to truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods & errors. he who reads nothing will still learn the great facts, and the details are all false. - Thomas Jefferson

People act as if the media has become this way in recent years but the reality is that the media has never been any other way. Its always been subject to the opinions and biases of its writers and none of them are infallible.

I do look to the progressive era as a time when media deliberately set out to misinform with men like Walter Lippman and George Creel openly declaring a duty to do so.

I'm well aware --NOW -- that the news has always been biased.  Look at Walter Cronkite.   Back in the day, he was considered the  most trustworthy newsman on the planet,   Didn't really realize till years later, watching tapes of some of his broadcasts, just how biased he really was, 

Just seems to me that in recent years, the bias has worsened, facts are omitted or altered to suit a particular agenda.  Take the Berlin tragedy.  When I first saw "breaking news " on ABC, the news reader bent himself into a pretzel emphasizing that it was not known whether the incident was an accident or an act of terrir.  Even when it was obvious this was no accident, the media carefully avoided any notion that the suspect might be a Muslim terrorist.  Meanwhile, when there have been mass shootings in the states, such as the killings in San Bernardino, the media had no problem blaming the killings on those bitter clinger, right wing gun nuts.  Every tragedy is used to promote a leftist agenda, 

I used to be able to trust Breitbart. But now that Breitbart is a propaganda medium for Trump, I can't trust it anymore.  We are at the mercy of conspiracy nut outlets and disinformation campaigns. The media, in effect is contributing to the destruction of America as we know it.  How can we keep this country from turning into a banana republic if the citizens are not properly and truthfully informed enough to make decisions on its future?