• athos77@kbin.social
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    10 months ago

    it’s literally just the personal website of a random guy who doesn’t even have any background in journalism or academic research;

    Really? Cause this sure sounds like you’re wrong:

    Dave M. Van Zandt obtained a Communications Degree before pursuing a higher degree in the sciences.

    he’s a healthcare worker.

    The majority of college graduates eventually end up with a career that wasn’t their original field of study. And lots of people have hobbies; quite a few are really good at it, particularly when they studied it for four years.

    Media bias fact check has no credibility

    Hunh. You might read the “reception” section of their Wikipedia article, which basically boils down to “it’s not perfect but it’s pretty darn good, and when they compare it to academic research on the sites in question, it’s pretty accurate”.

    • pelikan@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      10 months ago

      You might read the “reception” section of their Wikipedia article

      The same link literally says:

      Wikipedia editors consider Media Bias/Fact Check as “generally unreliable”, recommending against its use for what some see as breaking Wikipedia’s neutral point of view

      • athos77@kbin.social
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        10 months ago

        I like how you gloss over the six paragraphs that say “academics and researchers generally agree that it’s pretty good and reliable” and focus on the single sentence that says “Wikipedia people don’t use it on Wikipedia”.

      • athos77@kbin.social
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        10 months ago

        You said, and I quote, that this was someone who

        doesn’t even have any background in journalism or academic research;

        And I point out that he has a degree in Communications, and you say that’s not valid?

        Communications includes Journalism and, depending on the university, you might be given a degree in Communications even though your field was journalism. Hell, my dad studied Computer Science for five years but his degree is labeled “Mathematics” because CS was part of the Math department at the time. My cousin studied Archeology but his degree is technically in Anthropology for the same reason. It’s entirely possible to study Journalism and end up with a degree in Communications.

        And considering that he spent four years of his life studying it, and another twenty working on it as his full-time ‘hobby’, and that the majority of people who study these things find his results to be valid, should speak to the overall quality of the site. But not everyone finds something in life that they can be this passionate about, to work at it unpaid for a quarter-century, so I can understand if you find it hard to believe.

      • BurningRiver@beehaw.org
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        10 months ago

        And let’s not miss the fact that Wenstrup, who is a podiatrist, didn’t publish transcripts from the hearings. Only his own personal musings, which I’ll mention again, as a podiatrist. If I have bunions on my feet, I’d (likely not) consider calling him. But not about epidemiology.