News broke this afternoon that the National Weather Service knew that the northeast snow fall would likely be a lot less than predicted yesterday, but decided not to adjust or correct its widely forecast earlier predictions of a foot or two of snow, so as not to "confuse" the public.
Although the Weather Service no doubt meant well, I agree completely with The Washington Post that this was a "poor" decision.
Indeed, I would say that, especially in this age of fake news and its attendant crises, a deliberate decision by a scientific or governmental agency to not tell the truth to the public is a very poor decision - an horrendous decision. We the public need to have confidence in our institutions and what they tell us, and especially so when so many deliberate lies, masquerading as truth, pollute our information stream.
A deliberately false report in the interest of helping the public also plays right into the hands of Trump and his minions, who like to cry "fake news" whenever they encounter a news report not to their liking.
One of the best ways of countering this vexing problem is The National Weather Service, and all scientific and governmental agencies upon which we rely, telling us the truth, or as much as they know about it, whenever they can.
Although the Weather Service no doubt meant well, I agree completely with The Washington Post that this was a "poor" decision.
Indeed, I would say that, especially in this age of fake news and its attendant crises, a deliberate decision by a scientific or governmental agency to not tell the truth to the public is a very poor decision - an horrendous decision. We the public need to have confidence in our institutions and what they tell us, and especially so when so many deliberate lies, masquerading as truth, pollute our information stream.
A deliberately false report in the interest of helping the public also plays right into the hands of Trump and his minions, who like to cry "fake news" whenever they encounter a news report not to their liking.
One of the best ways of countering this vexing problem is The National Weather Service, and all scientific and governmental agencies upon which we rely, telling us the truth, or as much as they know about it, whenever they can.
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