Conor Friedersdorf

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

This thread is also a great illustration of what I like/ dislike about Twitter. Like: substantive pushback from smart people who quickly point out counterpoints to any take. Dislike: ease of my posting slightly too fast + needless hostility/presumption of bad faith/malign motives — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@bubbaprog I doubt the subject could actually meaningfully consent to and that contains lots of conspiratorial nonsense I would rather go unseen than spread online. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@bubbaprog I did not mean to imply that Fox behaved well, but rather than even a show that broadcasts all sorts of nonsense didn't publish this. I favor efforts to expose their bad behavior. I lament doing so by publishing footage that — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

Lots of thoughtful pushback here. I think the best course would have been reporting on and describing the footage, to illustrate Carlson's misleading and objectionable tactics, without actually publishing the footage. See below for lots of interesting debate about that. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@mattyglesias Yes, I agree that Tucker behaved badly (see many subsequent reply tweets). My concern, which I could have phrased better, is that the footage would have been better reported on than actually published, because of the downsides for both the subject and the rest of us. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@jesseltaylor FWIW we agree that Fox behaved badly. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

The conspiratorial slant to takes like this are frustrating. The protection against infection the vaccines seemed to offer early on (and did offer prior to more infectious variants) was not a con now being admitted to--it was imperfect knowledge about an unknowable future. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@yeah_good_okay @ivysorta @steinkobbe You could both follow an interesting conversation about the complex and varied goods and journalistic questions at stake here. Instead you snipe with petty, ill-informed insults. Join the substance of the back-and-forths. They are right there for you. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@MistahScooter @Popehat The irony here is that I have probably written as many critical pieces about right-wing entertainers on Fox and talk radio than any opinion journalist. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@MarcBodnick @janecoaston @trizzlor Also, I don't agree with the way you are using the word censor here. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@MarcBodnick @janecoaston @trizzlor I personally have the same opinions as I did before: that Kanye suffers from manic episodes, that Tucker is an unethical broadcaster, etc. I would be curious to know how many opinions will change as a result of this episode. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@ASFleischman @janecoaston Agree that he has no expectation of privacy, but I would not feel a subject I was interviewing had meaningfully consented to the interaction if they were suffering from a manic episode. Even then I can think of reasons to publish-if it was the POTUS, e.g.-but I'd be very hesitant — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@ASFleischman @janecoaston I have very mixed, complicated, and unsettled thoughts about its larger newsworthiness and the nature of our present attention economy. I hope you're right about the upside but I worry the clip will circulate in unreasonable circles where viewers will not dismiss it as you expect — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@MarcBodnick @janecoaston @trizzlor I often agree, but surely you can see some countervailing value in the norm of not publishing footage of a person known to suffer from mania having what strongly appears to be a mental health episode? — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@donmoyn I hope you're right. My instinct was that this is just like one more example of a Trump lie. But perhaps something about it will change someone's mind about Tucker. I still wonder if actually publishing the clip was necessary for that or if reporting on it was the better call. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@realworldrj I do not want the outlet that published the footage censored. They have a right to air it. I just think reporting on it without airing it would have been the better call in this case. And my likes have nothing to do with my position here. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@janecoaston @trizzlor My armchair qb sense of how best to have handled this would be to report on/describe the discrepancies, citing the unaired footage, without publishing the footage itself. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@ASFleischman @janecoaston I agree that Carlson, as ever, acted irresponsibly. And I don't object to anyone reporting on what really happened. But publishing the footage seems like a step farther to me, and I'm curious to probe whether or not it was necessary. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@MerkinMuffley5 @donmoyn I agree. Do you think that reporting on the footage without publishing it could have conveyed all the accurate information or that some bit of accurate information could not be described? — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@paint771 But fuller context could be given without publishing the video, yes? — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@trizzlor @janecoaston I wouldn't say "I think it would have been more responsible to refrain from airing this" is censorious––they of course are within their rights to disagree and air it––but to address the other matters, it seems like making this a viral clip spreads more conspiratorial utterances — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@MarcBodnick @donmoyn I think that critique can be made, at great length and with more examples than anyone will consume in full, without putting these particular clips into the world. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@dianabhenriques I think that's a fair critique of my formulation and I'd make my point differently if I had to do it again. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@Popehat I grant that you make a reasonable case. I still doubt that anyone is going to change their priors about the manipulativeness or evilness of Fox based on this, though I'd love to be wrong about that. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@Popehat is already viewed as untrustworthy by almost anyone who can possibly be persuaded of its untrustworthiness. Even to make that case anew, there is so much material to draw from. Does drawing on this with its clear downsides add enough value to justify it? — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@Popehat It seems to me that the downsides of publishing footage of an incendiary rant by someone who appears to be suffering a manic episode are not outweighed by the upside of slightly more informed media criticism, given the context of a TV show that — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@Popehat I agree that Carlson's show appears to have behaved badly here––shock of shocks!––but I still feel queasy about publishing footage of someone's manic episode and all its incendiary madness when the only added value is reconfirming something we all knew — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

RT @amarimow: Details here on the proposed settlement with the judiciary paying $125 million and reimbursing most users up to $350 for PACE… — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@donmoyn What good will come of it, do you think? — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@HCheadle I feel queasy about spreading that footage if the only value it adds is *Carlson's show misleads its viewers*, something I lament and find newsworthy but that can be easily highlighted in a million other ways without using what seems like a manic crisis — PolitiTweet.org