Some Chicago Boyz know each other from student days at the University of Chicago. Others are Chicago boys in spirit. The blog name is also intended as a good-humored gesture of admiration for distinguished Chicago School economists and fellow travelers.
Myths, Lies and Straight Talk ~Courtesy of John Stossel. Thanks John.
The news business is first and foremost a business. The product they sell is fear and scandal. Whether you accept and internalize the distorted image of reality they present is purely up to you.
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I’m not sure that’s quite fair, is it? They’re really selling readers’ eyeballs to advertisers. Gotta go grab the eyeballs (via editorial content and publicity), then gotta go sell your readership to advertisers, who in turn then buy advertising space to reach those readers … And on and on. That’s the business.
One of my readers one time referred to the press as “anxiety pimps”.
Most recent science finding do in fact suggest (and confirm) that cold and dampness can and do give colds. Stossel wrong.
As for room on earth: may be plenty of room for many more but would you live in Siberia or other less than habitable places. Quality not quantity is what counts.
Correct — it is not the “news business” but the “business of news.” Business first. You can appeal to a niche or you can appeal to the masses. The masses like to worry, the masses like drama, and the masses like crime. The old saying that “no one reads about all the houses that didn’t burn down last night” remains true.
For more on what the poverty looks like in America, you can read here, where I talk about the myth/luxuries of poverty in America.