4 March 2014 - confuse the confused

Jay Scott : Daily Whale : archive : 2014 : 4 March 2014

Calling a Spade a Thing

journalism: Comfort the afflicted,
readers: On Friday, reporters gathered all the facts.
journalism: afflict the comfortable,
readers: Russian plates, military equipment and behavior, helicopters from Russia, taking over airports.
journalism: and make sure that the confused
readers: And not one article was willing to say the obvious?
journalism: never wake up to it.
readers: Is it too late to sign up for Mars One?

clue:

Yes, it’s too late to sign up for the one-way trip of Mars One, which (obviously, though reports may not say so) is unlikely to happen anyway.

Newspapers refused to “speculate” until the next day. I doubt any military intelligence agency in the world was unsure, but that’s not the goal. The goals are to slow political response and to set up for propaganda. Journalism supports those goals when it refuses to draw plain conclusions.

take oh take this clue away