Re: [telecom] 911 operators couldn't trace the location of a

***** Moderator's Note *****

> > In my darker moments, I wonder if the freedom our constitution > guarantees to the press has been abused by those whom it was meant to > protect.

Certainly. Long ago American society recognized there were tradeoffs between the various freedoms granted by the Constitution and abuses by those who exploit them.

For instance, society is always balancing our Fourth Amendment rights against government searches against the greater good of protection against crime. Not an easy answer.

We have a free press, which is very important to us. But the press at times has long abused its freedom.

For instance, In the 1950s, a cadre of individuals were convinced that communists were ruining the country. They banded together and published, at their own expense, all sorts of material that attacked politicians and entertainers that ruined their careers, even their lives. In hindsight, we look at those publishers as evil people, but at the time--with the Korean and Cold War raging--people supported them. (Ref "Reds" by Ted Morgan.)

It seems to me that our TV network news organization are now > headlining a generation of blow-dried airheads: men and women whose > only talent is the ability to look sincere on television.

This has been going on for 100 years. Before TV, some newspapers were very sensational at the expense of reporting the truth. Other newspapers were influenced by their advertisers. TV supplanted print media 50 years ago, but now the classic TV news shows, local and national, are not being watched. Print media is dying.

The TV anchors of old - World War II and Korean war veterans who had > actually risked their lives in search of truth - have now been > replaced by actors whose only job is not to tell the whole truth, but > rather to sell as much soap as they can while generating as little > controversy as possible.

Even before TV, some radio commentators were pretty bad in spreading propaganda or false stories just to get ratings.

Even in the days of Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite there were conflicts from the parent corporation. TV programs are enormously expensive to produce and someone has to pay for it. With Edward R. Murrow, his exposes angered corporate sponsors. It was very hard for CBS to support Murrow under those circumstances, Murrow was costing CBS serious money.

I'll make a prediction: if that shoddy and once-over-lightly report is > ever given serious criticism, the blow-dried airheads who will stand > in front of the cameras while they read the sincere words someone else > wrote for them will inevitably say that the phone was made by Huawei.

There are many 1950s articles on technology now available via google books, such as early computers and dial telephone conversion. A study of them reveals massive inaccuracies-- reporters had no idea of what they were reporting and either made stuff up or merely parroted corporate press releases.

Advocates of the Internet claimed it would bring a fresh unbridled information age to society. In my opinion, things like social media and narrow cable TV views have done the opposite.

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HAncock4
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