They build your trust with some truth (or at least something believable. Usually half-truths and lies-through-omission nowadays). Add in some fear. Then what you accept as truth changes.
This is why it’s so damn dangerous that Sinclair and Nexstar owns almost every goddamn local news broadcast in the country. They didn’t just buy the stations…they bought the trust that those stations had earned in the local market. That was the real asset.
Yep, and by broadcasting the same message from many sources they can create the illusion of consensus because of the ten news sources you see 8 of them agree, 1 goes insanely far past those 8, and 1 disagrees with the other 9. The fact that only one station disagrees with the rest and presents reasonable facts makes them sound like the outlier and seem likely wrong, while the insane version makes the 8 in the middle sound normal.
That’s how they get you.
They build your trust with some truth (or at least something believable. Usually half-truths and lies-through-omission nowadays). Add in some fear. Then what you accept as truth changes.
This is why it’s so damn dangerous that Sinclair and Nexstar owns almost every goddamn local news broadcast in the country. They didn’t just buy the stations…they bought the trust that those stations had earned in the local market. That was the real asset.
Yep, and by broadcasting the same message from many sources they can create the illusion of consensus because of the ten news sources you see 8 of them agree, 1 goes insanely far past those 8, and 1 disagrees with the other 9. The fact that only one station disagrees with the rest and presents reasonable facts makes them sound like the outlier and seem likely wrong, while the insane version makes the 8 in the middle sound normal.