• Welcome to Autism Forums, a friendly forum to discuss Aspergers Syndrome, Autism, High Functioning Autism and related conditions.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Private Member only forums for more serious discussions that you may wish to not have guests or search engines access to.
    • Your very own blog. Write about anything you like on your own individual blog.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon! Please also check us out @ https://www.twitter.com/aspiescentral

Tabloid: Truth or Fiction?

Riley

Riley

Well-Known Member
Should I believe tabloid online newspapers when they report on an "upcoming disaster"? Because several like Daily Express, Daily Star, and The Sun are talking about a volcano (Paektu in North Korea) that could blow. Apparently, it's very deadly, could cause a year with no summer, yadda yadda.

Would an eruption there be deadly for the US? How bad would a summer-less year be nowadays? And should I listen to tabloids?
 
I usually don't believe anything until I read it in a serious newspaper or on a reputable source online. I take articles from tabloids with a shitload of grains of salt. Not everything in tabloids is automatically false, but they do make their money off of hype, hysteria and twisting words. But that's me, with an incredible distaste for tabloids, so I'll post this as my personal opinion instead of fact ;)
 
Last edited:
Yeah. Just take it with 'a pinch of salt'. Get your news from a reputable source. I go mainly for the BBC and the Guardian really for world and national news.

Let the tabloids die with the newspapers. Don't make them live on online.
 
I don't believe anything I read from The Daily Fail, Express or The S*n.

Utter bile and bigotry on a daily bloody basis from the lot of them.
 
tab·loid
ˈtabˌloid/
noun
noun: tabloid; plural noun: tabloids
  1. a newspaper having pages half the size of those of a standard newspaper, typically popular in style and dominated by headlines, photographs, and sensational stories.
    • North American
      sensational in a lurid or vulgar way.
      modifier noun: tabloid
      "they argued about who made what allegation on what tabloid TV show"
    • =======================================
"From the 1980s and ’90s, the tabloid as a journalistic model for popular entertainment appealing to a mass audience was successfully applied to television, producing low-brow talk shows such as Jerry Springer and pseudo-documentaries such as Unsolved Mysteries."
tabloid journalism
 
For many in the news media what matters about a story is how much attention it will get, because page views translate to revenue. Whether or not it's true isn't important.
 
Does anyone recognize these sites and know if they're tabloid/credible or not?:
  • AOL.com
  • WorldNetDaily
  • Religious (news) sites or forums that talk about End Times and prophecies and what not
 
Riley said:
Does anyone recognize these sites and know if they're tabloid/credible or not?:
  • AOL.com
  • WorldNetDaily
  • Religious (news) sites or forums that talk about End Times and prophecies and what not
Click to expand...

A hopelessly subjective question when you consider many who might ask the same of everything from the New York Times to the Christian Science Monitor.

That such answers may well reflect individual biases for whatever reasoning.

Though I must admit, I once lived in an era when I could cite sources that were considered beyond reproach in journalistic integrity. These days...not so much. A time when journalism has nebulously merged with entertainment and solicitation of target audiences for higher returns and shareholder equity.
 
Last edited:
Judge said:
A hopelessly subjective question when you consider many who might ask the same of everything from the New York Times to the Christian Science Monitor.

That such answers may well reflect individual biases for whatever reasoning.
Click to expand...

I'd completely agree with this. For example, you mentioned religious websites/forums that talk about end times and prophecies. I'm an atheist, so I would say that anything about "the end times" or prophecies of any kind are a load of bull. However, if you are religious, or you believe that prophecies can be fulfilled, then you are likely to disagree with me and say that such sites hold weight.
 
I'm the same way as you, in a sense. Not an athiest; I know God exists. I just worry He or whatever cosmic power isn't giving me enough time to stop 'sinning' and repent. Mom insists two things:

  • I'm still going to Heaven as long as I don't commit murder
  • The End Of The World is FAAARRR off
I operate by Cartoon Logic. And traumatization by religious episodes of shows. I don't share beliefs with Judaism, but if you say 'prophecy', CL kicks in.
 
Oddly enough, I quoted the Christian Science Monitor for opposite reasoning. I once took a class in internal relations taught be a staunch atheist.

In his opinion, he revered the Christian Science Monitor given his perception of their objectivity and professional analysis of world affairs, at least those detached from any theological perspective. Something at the time that some of my fellow students felt somewhat disturbed over.

Great class, cool old dude teaching. I loved his sense of impartiality. But it was in a different era than today when everything seems absurdly politically polarized.
 
And should I listen to RationalWiki when I use it for debunking things like WND (WorldNetDaily)?
 
Riley said:
I'm the same way as you, in a sense. Not an athiest; I know God exists. I just worry He or whatever cosmic power isn't giving me enough time to stop 'sinning' and repent.
Click to expand...

I'm not being deliberately dense, but I honestly can't see how we could be considered similar in any way from what you've said above.
 
Basically if you're seeking to find "media neutrality", I suspect you won't find it anywhere.

The irony is that most of them don't care what their viewers/readers think. They just want an audience that sells advertising time and promotes shareholder equity.

"Always the dollars. Always the dollars." - Joe Pesci, "Casino"
 
Meh, I stopped reading Tabloid newspapers years ago, I even stopped buying the local paper when it went up to 70p a day with no increase in content last year, the jobs section on a Thursday has shrunk to a page and a bit if that, not worth it IMO.

And don't even get me started on the blatant LIES about people on benefits peddled in the Daily Mail.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

New Threads

Top Bottom