Uh, if they're just going to publish total outright lies, why not just claim they eat babies or something equally horrific? Villifying the state via haircut shaming is certainly not how I'd go about it.
Could you explain why you think this?
Well yeah: it's easier to do and gets the same results in the end.
Journalists are actually people. Let's assume that care about what they do and want to do it with integrity (as most of us seek to act). Convincing them to constantly lie and compromise their work for political reasons seems like a lot of work, and they'd just wind up quitting and writing scandalous tell-alls anyway. So why bother to begin with? It'd just cause drama and is frankly a dead-end for your goals in any event. Just hire a bunch of hatchet job propagandists whose explicit goal is lying. Then everyone's happy and you've made your life much much easier.
Of course, you miss out on "truthful articles" that fool people into believing you're a good institution. But most people will see that you're publishing intentional lies and have fired your good journalists anyway, so no one is going to believe you're a reliable journalistic institution even if you cram in some incisive, hard-hitting truths. Again, it's just a waste of time and effort; people who are smart enough to do the research will see through you in any case. So, just go straight for the propaganda.
There are plenty of people (right here in this thread) who will falsely equivocate between your propaganda and actual journalism anyway, so it's not like you're even sacrificing that much.
I briefly researched this and it looks like the initial version of the article (as described by the Washington Post) was indeed wrong. The Diplomat claims RFA updated the English translation of the article and made it more accurate:
The instruction for male students to get the same haircut as their leader is not based on any directive from Kim but on a recommendation from the ruling Workers’ Party, according to a North Korean from North Hamgyong province near the border with China.
So I'm not sure the takeaway is "someone sat down and wrote a bullshit story with the intent to deceive the public," so much as "an article stub appears to have gotten into the wild and was corrected in translation."
Certainly it's easier to believe RFA made an error and/or mispublication here than they're just publishing propaganda, right? Unless we're saying the standard for a US-backed media source is "zero errors, and any errors are intentional propaganda."
But let's assume that's true: they don't make any errors and this is indeed propaganda. Why did they publish it? What would be the utility of false haircut propaganda, except to tip their hands that they are a propaganda outlet, which would certainly make its utility as a propaganda outlet worthless? Wouldn't they want to get this story right so you believe the really big important stuff?
If you asked an intelligent person, "how would you publish propaganda," you'd just do it like Russia Times: just straight-up repeat the state's lies and never bother reporting anything close to the truth. I think the multilayered conspiracy theories required for the assertion that institutions intentionally seed their stories with propaganda are difficult to swallow, and not particularly well-supported. Like there's no evidence RFA intentionally lied here, at least none that I can find.
Of course, I also think you should be cautious of media sources in general and it's a fine idea to keep in mind who pays RFA's bills. But the way to judge whether a place gets it right or wrong is to examine its history and accuracy; dismissing it outright because the US funds it is intellectually lazy.
"Bad arguments" is a pretty rich take coming from you. You've done nothing but continually, in defiance of logic and facts, assert total nonsense... and then turn around and claim that I'm the one that has bad arguments.
Literally, at least I have something. All you've got is a mushy, unfactual "enlightened centricism" that says that actually all media and all fact checkers are liars. Which is an utterly moronic take, and as I have demonstrated all over this thread, totally unsupported by actual facts.
"Actually being state-run is okay if those journalistic institutions can be independently verified to offer high-quality, objective reporting, based on nothing more than an analysis of that reporting -- especially with regards to that institution's stances of its government's actions."
Not sure why this is so hard for you all. Like, actually, in order to determine if a news source is good, we have to -- shockingly! -- examine the output of that news source. By this metric, the VOA and BBC are pretty good... uh, single Tweets notwithstanding.
Well, your logic has been spectacularly unconvincing. And my continual exhortations for you to offer a single shred of evidence in support of your position have gone ignored, so... honestly my conclusion is you indeed have no evidence and no logic. Why are you even still replying if you have nothing to offer other than conspiracy theories and bad takes?
I honestly could go on; are you claiming that literally all English-language reporting on the VOA (including a fair amount of critical coverage that still talks about its journalistic integrity) is participating in some kind of conspiracy to support its reputation?
Certainly you have evidence of that? Even a single source?
But obviously not. You have no interest in things like "evidence," and asking you to support your absurd assertions is simply a waste of time.
VOA earned credibility around the world on the basis of its honest journalism, even when its stories conflicted with US policy. “Some might argue that as a government-funded network, the voa should always be expected to portray US policies as righteous and successful,” wrote former VOA Director Sanford Ungar in Foreign Affairs in 2005. “But experience demonstrates that the VOA is most appreciated and effective when it functions as a model US-style news organization that presents a balanced view of domestic and international events, setting an example for how independent journalism can strengthen democracy.”
As anyone who’s ever lived, worked or served overseas will tell you, the Voice of America (VOA) is an invaluable and highly respected source of news and reliable information in a world too often flooded with misinformation and propaganda.
So certainly you have some sources for your claim that it's US propaganda, right? It's based on more than just the name and you continually asserting it?
I added productive statements already; I'm still literally the only one in this thread that's cited anything. Are you afraid of researching your stances and backing them up? Because there is a troll here, and it is not me.
It absolutely is not state-run; VOA and RT are and the BBC is not. Obviously it’s not totally cut and dry but to claim it’s state run is simply a misunderstanding of its history and charter. As I said earlier, words actually mean something.
They might, but being state-run is actually no guarantee of bias! Some state-run media is certainly very biased (RT). Others less so (VOA). This might surprise you but you have to do things like “research” and “consider the source,” in addition to determining where its funding comes from.
I do hope this is shooting themselves in the foot though. Users largely would see no advantage to this, and there are several very immediate downsides.
That claim includes a source.
Uh, if they're just going to publish total outright lies, why not just claim they eat babies or something equally horrific? Villifying the state via haircut shaming is certainly not how I'd go about it.
Well yeah: it's easier to do and gets the same results in the end.
Journalists are actually people. Let's assume that care about what they do and want to do it with integrity (as most of us seek to act). Convincing them to constantly lie and compromise their work for political reasons seems like a lot of work, and they'd just wind up quitting and writing scandalous tell-alls anyway. So why bother to begin with? It'd just cause drama and is frankly a dead-end for your goals in any event. Just hire a bunch of hatchet job propagandists whose explicit goal is lying. Then everyone's happy and you've made your life much much easier.
Of course, you miss out on "truthful articles" that fool people into believing you're a good institution. But most people will see that you're publishing intentional lies and have fired your good journalists anyway, so no one is going to believe you're a reliable journalistic institution even if you cram in some incisive, hard-hitting truths. Again, it's just a waste of time and effort; people who are smart enough to do the research will see through you in any case. So, just go straight for the propaganda.
There are plenty of people (right here in this thread) who will falsely equivocate between your propaganda and actual journalism anyway, so it's not like you're even sacrificing that much.