Sure, I’m not trying to dunk on Reuters specifically, I don’t really care either way. It’s about the principle of the thing, and the overall pattern of uncritical reporting in mainstream media.
F.U.D. is a strategy that works exceptionally well. It only takes a few headlines to sow the seeds of doubt that make uncontroversial stances increasingly untenable. Whether it’s Trump’s transparent lies, Big Oil/Tobacco/Asbestos’ transparent funding of bogus “studies”, or Israeli genocide denial, it doesn’t matter; once these narratives are allowed to spread decontextualized and uncontradicted, well-intentioned actors are forced to spend an wildly asymmetric amount of time and energy into debunking insane and disingenuous claims before they can even begin to lay out their own arguments.
With this in mind I don’t think it’s unreasonable for people to be mad that a respectable journalistic institution would let even a single headline through that uncritically propagates Israeli F.U.D. covering up for war crimes.
I mean, I honestly don’t think “Initial inquiry says Hamas camera target of Israeli strike that killed journalists” is uncritical propagation of Israeli FUD.
It’s not a good title, since it clearly causes a misunderstanding and it doesn’t convey key information like “whose investigation”, but it’s not disinformation.
Sure, I’m not trying to dunk on Reuters specifically, I don’t really care either way. It’s about the principle of the thing, and the overall pattern of uncritical reporting in mainstream media.
F.U.D. is a strategy that works exceptionally well. It only takes a few headlines to sow the seeds of doubt that make uncontroversial stances increasingly untenable. Whether it’s Trump’s transparent lies, Big Oil/Tobacco/Asbestos’ transparent funding of bogus “studies”, or Israeli genocide denial, it doesn’t matter; once these narratives are allowed to spread decontextualized and uncontradicted, well-intentioned actors are forced to spend an wildly asymmetric amount of time and energy into debunking insane and disingenuous claims before they can even begin to lay out their own arguments.
With this in mind I don’t think it’s unreasonable for people to be mad that a respectable journalistic institution would let even a single headline through that uncritically propagates Israeli F.U.D. covering up for war crimes.
I mean, I honestly don’t think “Initial inquiry says Hamas camera target of Israeli strike that killed journalists” is uncritical propagation of Israeli FUD.
It’s not a good title, since it clearly causes a misunderstanding and it doesn’t convey key information like “whose investigation”, but it’s not disinformation.
FUD != Disinformation.
Propagating a lie without conveying that it’s coming from a notorious liar is technically correct but also the very definition of FUD.