Mental model for News
Do yourself a favor and incorporate a mental model in your life. More importantly, teach it to your children. While the need for this has always existed, I suspect the magnitude of the need is a lot more now and will be even more in the future.
Here it is:
Any news/info that you come across [in Newspaper (even the one that aligns with your views, specifically those), Twitter, Your favorite news app, Whatsapp (of course), and any media for that matter, however reputed] is simply not what it says. Dig for more before you react. There definitely is something more for you to know before it merits a reaction.
It could be a news item about an actor talking about racism, women’s rights and a generally woke-ish stuff : Find out if there is any movie of them is releasing soon.
It could be a podcast suddenly promoting a book: Find out if there is a quid-pro-quo going on between the podcast host and the guest (who has their own podcast).
It could be a scientist writing a passionate Op-Ed about climate change: Find out if there is some grant related issue going on.
It could be a VC writing a passionate blogpost about a topic that is suddenly going viral: Find out if that the VC firm is trying to boost the VC’s reputation in the community. I was sad when I got to know that the ‘software is eating the world’ of Marc A as well as all famous articles of Ben H were products of this. As much as all those were insightful pieces, IF I had known the intent behind, I am not sure how I would have reacted. Imagine such an article appearing with the title ‘Sponsored’ or ‘Advertorial’ in the newspaper. The thing is: It need not be called Sponsored/Advertorial only when it is paid-for. If it got planted, and co-evolved between the newspaper/magazine and the company/person, it is Advertorial.
It could be one of those articles that start with “Inside…” and goes onto great length in a narrative-non-fiction format. Mostly, it means that the PR department of the company got in touch with the journalist, offered them ‘access’ to the executives and give them ‘exclusive’ details of an upcoming product/feature. Even if the the journalist might act independently in terms of what comes out in the article, it is important to note that the input to their story (and even its genesis) came from the company itself. (When I used play roles around ecosystem development, I have seen this first-hand).
It could be one of those articles that are a different version of “Inside…” stories, again with narrative-non-fiction format — this time showing the company in negative light (“Hit” pieces in today’s parlance). Mostly, it means that a competitor, or disgruntled employee reached out to the journalist and offered ‘juicy’ bits. It is entirely possible that the content are all true but when you know why it came to light and who benefits from it, your reaction might be different.
In conclusion, what I want you to know is: There is ‘persuasion’ at work everywhere and you be aware of it. ‘News that is fit to print’ only means that ‘News that we think is fit to print for various reasons’. You need not get all negative about this, think everyone is a cheat, and not consume anything. Once you know there is persuasion involved, you can happily participate in it and get persuaded in some cases and not in others.
UPDATE:
I heard about the Gell-Mann amnesia just now, which is exactly what I wanted to say here:
Read the last line there: “Clear Eyes, friends. Clear Eyes.”
