"For debunkers, hobby turned into a job" by Brian Stelter, New York Times | April 5, 2010
NEW YORK — One of the paradoxes of the Internet is that, along with the freest access to knowledge the world has ever seen comes a staggering amount of untruth.
A newspaper is claiming this?
The lead newspaper that lied you into Iraq, America?
Talk about insulting.
Eric E. Schmidt, Google’s chief executive, once memorably declared the Web “a cesspool.’’
Depends on where you go.
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The popularity of Snopes — it attracts 7 million to 8 million unique visitors in an average month — puts the couple in a unique position to evaluate digital society’s attitudes toward accuracy. After 13 years, they seem to have concluded that people are rather cavalier about facts.
“Rumors are a great source of comfort for people,’’ Barbara Mikkelson said.
Then why have I stopped buying a newspaper after decades of patronage?
I am CERTAINLY NOT being COMFORTED by INSULTS and LIES!!!
Related: Globe, newspapers across US see circulation fall
Neither is anyone else.
And who are the liars offering as their web truth-teller?
Snopes is one of a handful of fact-checking sites. Brooks Jackson, director of one of the others, the politically oriented FactCheck.org, says news organizations should be doing more of it.
Not their job. That has been left to bloggers by default.
“The news that is not fit to print gets through to people anyway these days, through 24-hour cable gasbags, partisan talk radio hosts and chain e-mails, blogs and Web sites such as WorldNetDaily or Daily Kos,’’ he said in an e-mail message. “What readers need now, we find, are honest referees.’’
Not where I go.
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Much of the site’s resources is spent on investigating political claims, even though the Mikkelsons say politics is the last subject they want to write about.
Oh, REALLY?
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"SNOPES EXPOSED
For the past few years www.snopes.com has positioned itself, or others have labeled it, as the 'tell-all final word' on any comment, claim and email.
But for several years people tried to find out who exactly was behind snopes.com. Only recently did Wikipedia get to the bottom of it - kinda makes you wonder what they were hiding. Well, finally we know. It is run by a husband and wife team - that's right, no big office of investigators and researchers, no team of lawyers. It's just a mom-and-pop operation that began as a hobby.
David and Barbara Mikkelson in the San Fernando Valley of California started the website about 13 years ago - and they have no formal background or experience in investigative research. After a few years it gained popularity believing it to be unbiased and neutral, but over the past couple of years people started asking questions who was behind it and did they have a selfish motivation? The reason for the questions - or skepticisms - is a result of snopes.com claiming to have the bottom line facts to certain questions or issue when in fact they have been proven wrong. Also, there were criticisms the Mikkelsons were not really investigating and getting to the 'true' bottom of various issues....
Then it has been learned the Mikkelson's are very Democratic (party) and extremely liberal. As we all now know from this presidential election, liberals have a purpose agenda to discredit anything that appears to be conservative. There has been much criticism lately over the internet with people pointing out the Mikkelson's liberalism revealing itself in their website findings. Gee, what a shock?
So, I say this now to everyone who goes to www.snopes.com to get what they think to be the bottom line facts...'proceed with caution.' Take what it says at face value and nothing more. Use it only to lead you to their references where you can link to and read the sources for yourself. Plus, you can always google a subject and do the research yourself. It now seems apparent that's all the Mikkelson's do. After all, I can personally vouch from my own experience for their 'not' fully looking into things."
Like I keep saying, an AGENDA-PUSHING PoS for a newspaper!
And once again a LIAR!!!!
And you know WHY you are getting this SELF-SERVING. AGENDA-PUSHING SLOP from the newspapers, right?
"Many still leery of Web, survey shows; Obama has called broadband crucial" by Joelle Tessler, Associated Press | February 23, 2010
WASHINGTON - The government’s plan to provide fast Internet connections to all Americans will have to include some basic instruction in Web 101, according to a survey....
Of the survey’s respondents, 35 percent do not use broadband at home, including 22 percent of adults who do not use the Internet at all. Of that group, 36 percent say it is too expensive, while 19 percent do not see the Internet as relevant to their lives. Another 22 percent lack what the FCC calls “digital literacy’’ skills. They fall into a category that includes people who are not comfortable with computers or who fear “bad things’’ on the Internet.
Among people who do not use broadband, 65 percent say there is too much pornography and offensive material on the Internet, 57 percent say it is too easy for personal information to be stolen online, and 46 percent say the Internet is too dangerous for children....
I agree on that first one; however, I didn't realize the truth was dangerous.
I guess a newspaper would say that, wouldn't they?
So DO NOT EVEN TRY IT, codger!
"For elderly, wired world holds terror — or delight" by Sam Allis, Globe Staff | April 6, 2010
They grew up in a time when technology meant a wall telephone, a TV set with three channels, and a radio.
Why did life seem so much better then?
Today they’re in the midst of a monumental transition. While some senior citizens are handling the rapid rise of the Internet age well — e-mailing, posting family photos on Facebook, paying bills online — for many it has prompted sheer terror.
Only in NEWSPAPER EDITORIAL ROOMS across the country!!!
People have always faced changes as they age — cable TV, voice mail, call waiting — but no generation has been thrown so much change, so fast, as today’s seniors. Those who’ve adjusted feel confident. Those who’ve resisted feel vulnerable, oblivious to how critical the computer will be to help them stay in touch with friends, order food, or buy prescription drugs as they become more housebound.
If there is a silver lining, it’s this: The next generation of seniors — the baby boomers — will not have to go through this wrenching change. They know how to reboot, IM, and tweet....
But for now, there are a lot of people like Dorothy Larsen, an 86-year-old widow who lives in Framingham. “The future scares me,’’ she said. “I like the old days. I’m scared of computers.’’
So is West Roxbury resident Jane Kennedy, somewhere past 70. “I’m not on the Internet,’’ Kennedy said. “I don’t know that much about it. It seems to get more and more advanced. I don’t even know what they’re talking about: BlackBerries, blueberries.’’
What’s different for seniors today is the pace of change, said Ellen Langer, a Harvard psychology professor who studies aging.
“The reason for the difference is that the speed of communication has increased enormously, and the information is information that has personal relevance,’’ Langer said.
What’s more, the speed with which seniors process information declines as they get older, noted Anne Fabiny, chief of geriatrics at the Cambridge Health Alliance.
“Even if you do have the resources, it takes a lot longer to learn it,’’ she said.
Children and grandchildren of seniors often play large roles in helping out....
Personality matters here. One indicator of how seniors do is how they regard the future. If they’re positive, they’re more apt to make the transition. Those frightened of the future are more apt to be stuck in the La Brea Tar Pits of the past.
You mean, LIKE NEWSPAPERS?
Education and money play a role.
Yeah, and AGE has NOTHING to DO with those!
If you have them, the odds are you will do better making the change to this brave new world. Ann Kneisel, a pistol of an 84-year-old, has seized the day all her life. She’s educated, financially secure, and active. She travels to New York and Europe for opera....
That's not me or your Grandma, kiddo.
This illuminates why senior centers and public libraries are so important.
Yes, the AGENDA-PUSHING ASPECT of the story is finally ILLUMINATED!
There is staff in both places to teach computer skills. To close branch libraries in Boston — a proposal that is under consideration — robs seniors of a place to learn, specialists said....
Oh, it is about KEEPING the LIBRARIES OPEN!
Then you need not worry and mission accomplished, Globe.
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As usual, Globe is late recognizing the obvious reality:
"Globe joins in online news project" by Megan Woolhouse, Globe Staff | June 17, 2010
Eric Newton, vice president of journalism for the Knight Foundation, said the idea is to use “the power of the digital age to help news organizations,’’ as print subscriptions decline and a growing number of readers find their news online.
“The news organizations that are interested in continuing to use all the tools at their disposal, including these new digital tools, are positioning themselves better for the future,’’ he said.
Won't mean a damn thing if you guy are just going to keep telling lies and concealing crimes.
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