From "Love, Hate or Fear It, TikTok Has Changed America" (NYT). That's a free-access link. The article has a wide scope. I excerpted what was interesting to me, an old-school blogger, a living relic of the pre-modern period.
"Mx. Spehar posts to more than three million followers from the handle @UnderTheDeskNews and films many clips lying on the floor, a gimmick that began as an effort to differentiate from the authoritative tone of traditional television news anchors. The style of communication has resonated enough to make Mx. Spehar a regular at White House briefings with social media influencers."
If you, like one-third of 18- to 29-year-olds, were getting your news from Spehar, here's what you'd be seeing this morning. Just guess how a TikToker would present the news that Israel retaliated against Iran. Now compare that to what Spehar actually did:
@underthedesknews 4/19 630amET - Iran hit in retaliation.. for retaliation.. strike. Tehran spared. No nuclear.
♬ original sound - UnderTheDeskNews
Posts
57 comments:
Not bad, at least on a quick listen.
>
....is greater than network/cable news media.
@Althouse: The article has a much wider scope what I excerpted, which is interesting to me, as an old-school blogger, a living relic of the pre-modern period.
Relic? What does that make of those who started on telephone dial-up Bulletin Board Services (BBS) years before the invention of the word "Blog"? What about old-old-old-school Usenet, IRC (Internet Relay Chat), and ICQ users on 2400 baud modems who know what "read the scroll" means? [Those old modems were so slow that you could keep up with the text as it loaded, and immediately move on to a new post.]
TikTok and all social media is the new yellow journalism. One might think that children need parents and teachers and social clubs (and even churches?) with integrity and coherence to learn how to navigate a confusing and hostile world. One might think that the chickens have come home to roost for the sloppy and lazy 20th century media industry. One might say "You reap what you sow."
It’s amazing that i still find very well-researched and well-written blogspots out in the wild. And then of course there is this blog, which i check almost daily and is very likely my #1 news source. I see other blog-like activity on other platforms as well but it’s a very niche phenomenon. I prefer it to the bigger social media platforms that i tend to avoid.
Very pleasant speaking voice.
I have nothing against the tiktok clip presented here. I think i just prefer text to video.
Not the way I would like to get my news, but much better than I expected. I cannot understand why video clips seem to be the preferred information format these days. Reading conveys information so much faster and with more precision. Or maybe I am just old.
"Nobody wants a war in the Middle East," she says.
Talk about editorializing....
I am a few years younger than our host. It must be my age that pushes me to always prefer my information, delivered in the written word.
When my weather radio goes off, I go to my weather app and just read the alert. It takes maybe seconds and I don't have to worry about a bot, or some news reader getting the facts wrong.
I'm not a youtube person, but last week I was looking for compilation videos of Caitlin Clark's passing skills. All people want to talk about is her shooting, but lots of people can shoot, very few lead the stats in scoring AND assists. Anyway, looking through the videos I did click on other content, and discovered an hour evaporates quickly. And that's the problem, I'm already quite adept at wasting time, I really don't need help in that department.
There is a reason nobody is reading at grade level. They can pretend to be informed by watching videos.
My dad would shake his head at some silly/stupid happening and say. In the nation of the blind, the one eyed man is King. Meaning ignorance is so prevalent, even limited knowledge is celebrated.
I cannot understand why video clips seem to be the preferred information format these days. Reading conveys information so much faster and with more precision.
This is my greatest objection.
In my book club, I think two other people and I are the only ones who actually read the books anymore; the rest are audio all the way. I can't do that. I'm not sure why not; I don't tend to go back through the text confirming things, for instance - at least not with fiction - so that's not my problem. And I can speed it up if it's too slow for me, so that's not the problem either.
Maybe, growing up when I did, I'm just wired for visual processing now, and kids growing up in these times are more wired for auditory processing? Though this doesn't explain my book club friends, who are all my age or older.
"I have nothing against the tiktok clip presented here. I think i just prefer text to video."
Me too. But for video, I think it's much more sedate and rational than cable news.
What was the point of Oct 7, if not war?
Our elite msm get paid by like-minded benefactors that require certain narratives and spin to be deployed. If this person relies on ad revenue, and that allows her to relay the news as she sees fit, then good for her, and her audience. I’d prefer lone news narrators relaying varying takes to conglomerates all saying the same thing.
Plus, I think it’s good that young people follow current events.
TikTok is 21st century heroin.
What comes next will be worse.
It's TikToks, so it's free speech we don't like that must be banned.
OGH: "...for video, I think it's much more sedate and rational than cable news."
Yeah, but so is the Itchy and Scratchy show. That said, I would go to this source before I would consult one of those places for the news by quite a long margin. Nice work.
Ann Althouse said...
"I have nothing against the tiktok clip presented here. I think i just prefer text to video."
Me too. But for video, I think it's much more sedate and rational than cable news.
4/19/24, 7:20 AM
Agreed, my aversion to cable news specifically is about more than just the video format, although on some level that’s part of it.
To call Isfahan a "tourist town" is loony.
To do so also incorrectly suggest that Israel is targeting civilians not military sites
As the gnomes say in world of Warcraft “mmm…interesting!”
No one wants war in the Middle East?
How much analyzing does "Death to Israel" require to come to that conclusion?
See also: Little Satan and Big Satan.
Who is next in line here?
I learned a new term today. Mx.
I wish I didn’t.
In my book club, I think two other people and I are the only ones who actually read the books anymore;
I used to like to lie down to read, but with reading glasses, that's not as comfortable as it once was. Fortunately, my job has down time where I'm just waiting for my next thing to happen and I can read on the Kindle Cloud reader. Most of the books I read now are still audio. It's just easier to have them on in the car. It became my preferred way of reading after I dropped NPR.
The biggest thing with audio books is that the narrator can make it or ruin it. Good or bad, they alter my understanding and feelings about the book. It's enough that I will search by narrator as much as by author when I am buying new audiobooks.
"To call Isfahan a "tourist town" is loony."
You made me look it up in Wikipedia. I found this really interesting:
"When Cyrus the Great unified Persian and Median lands into the Achaemenid Empire, the religiously and ethnically diverse city of Isfahan became an early example of the king's fabled religious tolerance. It was Cyrus who, having just taken Babylon, made an edict in 538 BCE declaring that Jews in Babylon could return to Jerusalem. Later, some of the freed Jews settled in Isfahan instead of returning to their homeland. The 10th-century Persian historian Ibn al-Faqih wrote:
"'When the Jews emigrated from Jerusalem, fleeing from Nebuchadnezzar, they carried with them a sample of the water and soil of Jerusalem. They did not settle until they reached the city of Isfahan, whose soil and water was deemed to resemble that of Jerusalem. Thereupon they settled there, cultivated the soil, raised children and grandchildren, and today the name of this settlement is Yahudia.'"
The “Mx” seems to be used way more than necessary, which is annoying. Just use the last name like everyone else.
Do remember that there are no longer legal prohibitions in this country checking news media publishing propaganda in any form.
Back in the 50's television was said to be aimed at the 12 year old's mentality. Children were to be restrained in the consumption.
That wasn't bad. Better than what comes out of most mainstream media outlets.
The medium is the message.
Well.... Walter Cronkite he ain't, but he's still a step above what is spewed on the cable channels.
I can read & comprehend faster than I can listen to someone recite. But this is because I've got years under my belt of education (the real kind) and then a challenging career that demanded the skill in order to organize my work. It's second nature.
But the attraction of listening to a video, is that (ironically) it frees the eyes up. You can divert attention from a video, but still hear the narration. You can even divert attention from the audio and still jump back and keep the thread going. Much more difficult to do this, when reading.
And such is the attraction to the generation that has been raised on clicks. The eye is constantly scanning, the mind is constantly jumping to the content at the 'next' click. Comprehension is secondary.
Mx Spehar did a good job on the Key bridge story - very short and yet got in all the relevant points. I followed that story closely and the only person who did a better job than Mx Spehar was a specialist on shipping.
In general it's amazing how real and vivid all the TikTokers are as compared either to the sound bite people or the anchors on main news channels or standard advertising. And it's even more true that there is a really gigantic difference between blacks on TikTok and blacks on any other media. On TikTok they're smart, sharp and interesting; elsewhere at this time they're aggrieved, offensive and repetitive.
Why did Jews need freeing, one might ask.
"Thereupon they settled there, cultivated the soil, raised children and grandchildren, and today the name of this settlement is Yahudia."
Interesting stuff.
In 1979, before the overthrow of the Shah, there were approximately 80,000 Jews in Iran. Today it is estimated that there are 5,000- 8,000 left.
Honestly, I'm surprised there are that many left in Iran. Jews used to live- and in some cases, thrive- throughout most of the Middle Eastern countries. But they have been chased out or removed from all of them to numbers fewer than a couple of hundred in each country, if that.
The problem with video is it’s linear - you can’t skim and focus on what interests you. I check Althouse, Powerline, and Instapundit every morning (I’m retired). They are blogs and aggregators.
What Kay xaid. I work in an office and prefer reading to lixtening. I don't want to dixturb people around me.
Let me add: those eyebrowx. A little much for me.
I think it's much more sedate and rational than cable news.
True. But there is a definite Rachael Maddow vibe. Spehar's voice sounds a lot like Maddow's. Then there is the hair and the glasses. Also Spehar starts out with a condescending, lecturing tone and a presumption that her audience has been misinformed and needs correcting, both characteristics of Maddow's style.
"No, Israel did not hit Iran's nuclear sites last nite..."
It's a device so her listeners will feel like they're part of a special group with the inside info that most people don't have. The truth is, this early, even the IDF is probably still trying to determine what they actually managed to hit and what they didn't hit.
Ann Althouse said...
["I have nothing against the tiktok clip presented here. I think i just prefer text to video."]
"Me too. But for video, I think it's much more sedate and rational than cable news."
That's a low bar, and better than almost nothing.
I gave up on cable news (even Fox) long ago, and ever since our local Nexstar stations went all woke, I avoid them most days except for weather reports and election results.
I miss the the old Drudge. AP and Reuters can be good if you ignore the headlines and read down past halfway in their articles to see the part where they do some actual reporting.
Is there a way to rewind a "Tik-Tok"? By the time I find and turn off the mute button it's half over. I try and back it up like I would on YouTube and that loses the current piece, never to be found again.
Your daily brayer drops breadcrumbs to steer you to all the news and handmade tales that are fit to be published. In a climate that is saturated with self-interest, this aids and abets (a la Google et al) separation of the wheat from the chaff.
Almost transcribing Spehar:
"Remember that Iran is not a Democracy so when its State Media says something...you have to take it with a grain of salt."
Ed. This is in some ways better than the US media. At least in Iran you know the messaging is coming from the State. In the US, the messaging is cloaked by the impression that independent, objective journalism is delivering the news, when in fact most of the "media of record" are parroting the talking points of The State, by which I mean the Democrat Party and the Bureaucracy that almost entirely aligns with the Democrat Party.
I'm with Kay, you are my #1 news source.
"Not the way I would like to get my news, but much better than I expected. I cannot understand why video clips seem to be the preferred information format these days. Reading conveys information so much faster and with more precision. "
Video is so slow I can't maintain my attention to it. My mind wanders and I lose half of what the speaker says.
simply by reading print news articles
TV news for generations was just people sitting behind a desk, reading.
Is there a way to rewind a "Tik-Tok"? By the time I find and turn off the mute button it's half over.
I have the same question.
What a pleasant surprise. I have no idea how prevalent rational discourse is for the third than get their news from TicTok, but this gives me hope.
Isfahan, I am reading (the old-fashioned way), was hit because it has air force assets and because it is right next to a major nuclear site. But to TikTok, it's tourists all the way down, eh? I guess this strike was in fact a warning to Iran that Israel can do it next door to the max if they need to. I say good! Except I wish they'd just do it. Does the mean I am not among the "everyone" who does not want war in the Middle East? Or as Trotsky said, "you may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you." So much for Tik Tok. Thanks, Chairman Xi.
Yes, Temujin, and not just Iran. In the year or so after 1948, some 700,000 or so Jews in many Mideast nations were driven to flee. Most went to Israel which absorbed all of them, so there are today no Jewish refugees from that entire region. Meanwhile, the Arab nations made sure never to absorb their Palestinian refugees. Oh well, you know, Israel is so much larger and able to absorb people than the entire tiny Middle East.
"I excerpted what was interesting to me, an old-school blogger, a living relic of the pre-modern period."
If you want to endure, be like a crocodile, not like a dodo.
A little added information.
"Isfahan, home to a major airbase for the Iranian military as well as sites associated with Iran's nuclear program, is located some 215 miles (346 kilometers) south of Tehran, the Associated Press reported."
Read more: https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2024/04/israel-carries-out-strikes-isfahan-iran-reports#ixzz8XrN8UHb4
Military tourists, then?
"Nobody wants a war in the Middle East."
I refuse to indulge Spehar's dysphoric fantasies, therefore the objectively and grammatically correct pronoun prevails.
I congratulate her attempt to defuse rumors regarding Iran's nuclear weapons development efforts, which must be destroyed eventually. However, her claim that "Nobody wants a war in the Middle East" is both hopelessly ignorant and dreadfully dangerous.
TikTok is the most effective anti-American propaganda project in history. It's the platform of choice for the dissemination of lies. From flat-earth frothings to racist mass assaults, TikTok attracts the worst of the worst and preys on the dumbest of the dumb.
When I click on a link to an interesting item, if it video without transcript, I skip it. I want to read. So, get that video off my lawn.
The biggest thing with audio books is that the narrator can make it or ruin it.
I can only listen to non-fiction books being read; anything with dialog just grates on me since in my head I'm giving characters different voices, but when someone else is reading it's all in their voice.
Apparently, the NY Times is not up on Tik Tok news
Isfahan Is Home to Iranian Weapon Facilities
Missiles are produced near the city, which also has nuclear research centers.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/19/world/middleeast/iran-isfahan-nuclear-missiles.html
That has made the city, home to roughly two million people today, one of the tourist centers of Iran.
Isfahan is also a center of missile production, research and development for Iran. That includes the assembly of Shahab medium-range missiles, which can reach Israel and beyond. And it is the site of four small nuclear research facilities, all supplied by China many years ago.
The Natanz uranium enrichment site is also in Isfahan Province, along with an air base that has long hosted Iran’s fleet of American-made F-14 Tomcats — purchased before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, according to The Associated Press.
"Nobody wants a war in the Middle East."
Biden wants one. He's financing one.
I am certain that I'm not missing a damn thing by abjuring use of TikTok.
There are more than 45 million 18-29 year olds in the US.
This Tik Toker has 3 million followers. How does one get to 15 million who “regularly” follow?
Assuming all three million followers actually follow regularly, the number sounds high. How many of the 45 million or so actually have Tik Tok? Of those how many look at it “regularly”?
No doubt influential to a cohort like Tucker Carlson is but the hype is bullshit
Wikipedia: "Vitus Spehar, better known as V Spehar, is an American journalist and podcast host best known for their TikTok account, UnderTheDeskNews.[1]
Wikipedia doesn't just drink the Kool-Aid, it serves it.
Love, hate or fear Tik Tok?
Why isn't 'ignore' a choice?
I've been to Isfahan. It is in fact a tourist destination, particularly among Shia Moslems, who come to see its many architectural marvels.
Go here and scroll down to see some yourself:
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=isfahan&atb=v346-1&ia=web
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