Media theorist Douglas Rushkoff argues against the notion that public social media acts as an effective check and balance for thinkers.
Opinion
Rushkoff: CDC and Fauci communicate for patient compliance, not pure accuracy
“The CDC is not thinking in terms of giving the public accurate information. The CDC is like, Our doctor trying to tell us the things that they need to tell us to get us to take our medicine. And that's different than journalism. You know, when I look at Fauci,…”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Rushkoff: Deepfakes will force public to rely on trusted journalists and publications
“The thing that's going to happen, I guess, is as deep fakes and other, other kinds of media come out that make it really impossible to distinguish between what is being said and what is not. We're going to, again, just as we did before any video existed, We're…”
Insight
Rushkoff: Factual institutions lose when they manipulate truth to manage perceptions
“Once you start playing that game,
You're going to lose to whoever plays that game more ruthlessly.
You know, if you're going to be on the side of supposedly factual evidence-based reality, you got to stick with that.”
Insight
Rushkoff: Binary nature of digital media polarizes modern politics and culture
“Today, you could say digital technology is a one-zero, yes, no, you know, right, wrong choose one of the above cookie-cutter medium, so people's lives and politics and approaches end up getting that way.”
Insight
Rushkoff: Polished publishing tools falsely equate amateur writing with professional journalism
“The tools create the illusion that, that what we say matters or that because our text matters, Can look all like it's in a sub stack. That means it has equal value to everything else that's up there. And it just doesn't.”
Assertion Partly supported
Rushkoff: The New York Times misrepresented Israeli COVID study for clicks
“So when I see a piece In the New York Times that, you know, the headline and the first few paragraphs are arguing that, oh, you know, when Israel opened up its schools, its elementary schools COVID rates went up. And then you finally read all the way down, and…”