Comments for RE:THOUGHT

Comment on How Politico bungled its Elizabeth Warren story by Alejandrina

Alejandrina — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 05:26:08 +0000

Its like you read my mind! You appear to know a lot about this,
like you wrote the book in it or something. I think that you can do with some pics to
drive the message home a little bit, but instead of that, this
is great blog. A great read. I’ll definitely be back.

Comment on Politi-Fallacy by Bryan White

Bryan White — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 07:41:06 +0000

“When the truth isn’t what people are predisposed to believe that it’s all the more important for journalists to stick by their guns.”

Does this make sense when we consider how bias inevitably creeps into our work?

This is my pet issue: epistemology and the role of information in society. Fact checking is the mass media attempt to assert ownership over a portion of the flow of “quality” information. I just don’t think journalists are particularly trustworthy in that role. It isn’t because they wish to mislead,necessarily. More likely they just can’t separate their bias from their work and judge poorly their degree of expertise in separating truth from error.

It’s my contention that “He said/She said” journalism has as its roots in journalists’ realization that they were not experts. Many of today’s journalists have shed much of that health humility. It’s true to some extent that journalists have increased in education. But not *that* much.

Comment on Politi-Fallacy by Bryan White

Bryan White — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 07:20:52 +0000

Ostermeier’s study:
http://blog.lib.umn.edu/cspg/smartpolitics/2011/02/selection_bias_politifact_rate.php

With my mention of a subjective difference between two rankings I’m talking about PolitiFact in particular. PolitiFact distinguishes between “False” and “Pants on Fire” by stating that the latter (by their definition) is “ridiculous” in addition to simply false. It’s hard to find any objective criterion in their application of the rating. On the other and it’s easy to find imbalanced application of the ratings by the national PolitiFact operation (biased against Republicans). And the opposite holds true of PolitiFact Wisconsin, which is (by my count) the state operation receiving the most criticism from the left.

I’m seeing some interesting things in applying this approach.
http://www.politifactbias.com/2012/08/pfb-research-yes-virginia-politifact-is.html

Comment on Politi-Fallacy by rethoughtblog

rethoughtblog — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 21:48:22 +0000

Hi Bryan,

Thanks for your comment. That’s one thing that I had hoped to get into but decided not to for length: it just inherently very hard to get a scientifically valid, comprehensive analysis of statements to establish as a baseline of truthfulness.

Interestingly, the conventions may have offered a pretty good opportunity since both are of similar length, with a similar number of speakers that are chosen by the parties themselves, rather than journalists. I’m not sure if anyone has done an analysis of the conventions as a whole, though.

I’m not sure I understand what you mean about truth ratings and subjective terms. Are you talking about comparing two different fact checking groups’ approaches to subjectively ranking the same statements?

And good point about Sean Davis’s case. I’m not too well versed with Florida media myself, so it could very well be true. My main point is that we should initially be open to both the possibility that a) the fact checking outlet is biased and b) that Republicans in Florida on average make more not-so-truthful statements.

-Kurt Walters

P.S. do you have a link to that Ostermeier study?

Comment on Politi-Fallacy by Bryan

Bryan — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 05:48:11 +0000

Your basic point is correct, that the raw numbers for various ratings tend to tell us little about the level of bias without some sort of baseline. But that cuts two ways, since stats compiled by journalists who fail to randomize their samples tell us nothing about who’s lying more–other than within their chosen sample, of course, and assuming that the ratings are accurate.

As a variety of folks have written, it is irresponsible for journalists to present their work framed as though it tells us something about the truthfulness of either individuals or parties. That was the thrust of Eric Ostermeier’s widely misreported study at the University of Minnesota.

I’d suggest an exception to your generally accurate point, however. What if there was one truth rating that differed from another on entirely subjective terms? Wouldn’t the difference between that rating and the other from which it differs subjectively actually tell us something about the bias of the persons doing the ratings?

btw, Ted Diadiun is the public editor for the Cleveland Plain Dealer (PolitiFact Ohio). He was quoting a reader; you appear to attribute the reader’s comment to Diadiun.

As for Sean Davis, his case is perhaps incomplete but probably correct. It’s just not that hard to find false statements by Florida Democrats. PolitiFact Florida isn’t that interested in them. The numbers are so imbalanced that instant skepticism is warranted.

Comment on How Politico bungled its Elizabeth Warren story by rethoughtblog

rethoughtblog — Fri, 04 May 2012 18:46:09 +0000

As a note, since I had someone leave a comment, there’s a full name policy for comments on the blog. If that commenter would like to re-post with his or her first and last name, I’d be happy to approve it. I realize this wasn’t laid out explicitly until an hour ago or so (forgive me, the blog’s a few week’s old and I haven’t had time to work on it much), but it now should appear in the sidebar.

-Kurt Walters

Comment on Unexplained issues for Mooney’s “Republic Brain” thesis by clay moldenhauer

clay moldenhauer — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 13:54:16 +0000

Kurt,
My blog creation suggestions aside, I’ve thought more about the content of your post about Moony’s ideas. My daughter made a comment about the (circa 1820) birth of Unitarianism so I googled “1820 split between unitarians and calvinists”. There’s the implication of the google search results [ look for yourself ] that the american political psyche split may have started in this time frame along the fault line of the divinity of Jesus, yes or no, and the fault line of God, punisher or friend. I see the split as an amazingly left brain (linear, literal, and quid-pro-quo conservatism) — right brain (non-linear, metaphoric, negotiation liberalism) separation manifested on the collective level. Hence, left/right brain, Republican/Democratic, PC/Mac kinds of groupings all make “sense”. Elsewhere, I have speculated about mother nature’s gradual shift of “evolutionary chi” away from the left brain to the right to aid the human potential movement away from the excesses of left brain paternalism. This idea accounts for the increasingly divergent groupings of “ my country uber alles” folks and the rise of the Pandorian folks, of which I am one. Such ideas are usually presented as unpopular metaphysical guesses, or the “truth” if the writer claims to be channelling a news media from the angelic realms (joke). Yet, if there’s is any truth to the 25,000 year cycle of the earth’s wobble (precessionof the equinoxes), then there must be some bio-psychic consequences. What might they be? Circadian rhythms, for instance, are very real. Can there be planetary rhythms comparable to these? I must stop here, however. With such subjects like this, the deeper you go, the deeper it gets. However, there is something very simple and clear to me : in the age of Aquarius, the thinkers step back, the sensors, feelers, and intuitives step forward. Rationalism has proven that it is capable of cleverness, greed, and pride, but it has also proven that it is incapable of wholeness.

Clay Moldenhauer
Charlottesville, Va.

Comment on Unexplained issues for Mooney’s “Republic Brain” thesis by rethoughtblog

rethoughtblog — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 03:40:37 +0000

Hi Clay, all of those are good ideas. I figured I’d pick up some best practices along the way, so it certainly helps for you to lay some out. And you may definitely link to the blog as much as you’d like.

Comment on Unexplained issues for Mooney’s “Republic Brain” thesis by clay moldenhauer

clay moldenhauer — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 19:10:42 +0000

Kurt,

I’m going to be following your blog. May I link to it sometime in the future?

First question, pointing to the blog’s info flow organization. If I want your take on the “Republican Brain” book once It’s published, will your update/review include your first thought’s on an unread book? Or will the first thoughts be in an archive (that cumulate monthly) to which you will link the book review? May I suggest a unique marker (to your work) that tells the reader when a link is going to your stuff, and not to some other site. (eg. <>)
TAG : format, linking tips, “Republican Brain”

Second question, pointing to search-ability. Are all the posts going to be threaded by tags? I suggest that every post be tagged, and tagged with key terms of your focus topics, with the caveat that every post should have a few terms/tags that render the post unique and therefore findable. All at the end of the post, like abstracts in professional journals do. This will assist the power of apps like Evernote. It will also assist you in thinking about just what the piece is about, and what terms need highlighting, or what terms could be good synthetic-collectives of the topic presented even if not used in the piece.
TAG : search-ability, terms/tags

Third question, pointing to reader orientation to the subject. I am surprised that there are no dates ATTACHED to each post at the beginning of the piece (keep the program generated dates at the end). I suggest that every post have a date and a place locator (eg. 2012.April.26, Wash. DC) right at the start..with a by-line.The date gives the reader an orientation as to the timely-ness of the material, and the geo data provides some spacial feel for the writer and his material at the very start of the engagement of writer and reader. Also, date/place/by-line being a part of the piece, any copy made has that datum on it, for future use in organizing…
TAG : date data, geo data, source, organizing

Lastly, who is the writer? YES, A BY-LINE . I like articles that I read or copy to have the writers thumbnail info on the article, as is done in most hard-copy pieces. Or at least a full name at the start of the piece. It’s an old tradition : when you have something to say, stand up. And copy right is established if you include the datum l’ve suggested which “documents” what you’ve said.
TAG : by-line, copyright

BEST WISHES,

Clay Moldenhauer
Charlottesville, Va.