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'Confirmed' Has Become A Meaningless Word In Mainstream News Reporting

Johnstone, Caitlin
http://caitlinjohnstone.com/2020/09/21/confirmed-has-become-a-meaningless-word-in-mainstream-news-reporting/

Date Written:  21/09/2020
Year Published:  2020  
Resource Type:  Article

The word "confirmed" has been misused and abused to such a spectacular extent in mainstream news reporting of late that it doesn’t actually mean anything anymore when they say it.

Abstract: 
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Excerpt:

The word "confirmed" has been misused and abused to such a spectacular extent in mainstream news reporting of late that it doesn't actually mean anything anymore when they say it.

When a news reporter announces that they have independently confirmed another outlet's reporting, the reader imagines that they have done actual investigative journalism, traveled to the places about which the claims are being made, done deep digging and looked at the evidence with their own two eyes and found that the claim is true. In practice, all it often means is that they spoke to the same sources the other reporter spoke to and are in fact just confirming that the source did indeed make a given assertion. The reader assumes they're confirming the source’s claim is true, but all they're actually confirming is that the first reporter didn't just make up the claim they're uncritically parroting.

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