Beware of Disinformation on the PBS News Hour

Originally, back in 1975, the PBS News Hour, under McNeil/Lehrer, was a source of reliable and intelligent programing. Judy Woodruff did her best to uphold those standards. But since Judy left, in 2023, the News Hour has become an embarrassing source of patent disinformation.

The latest example: somebody named Manisha Sinh, from some foreign country (Pakistan?), was given uncriticized time to totally MISINFORM the audience about the US Constitution’s THREE requirements for any president.

Art 1, s. 1 states, the person must be 1) “a natural born citizen,” that is, born to an American parent (not necessarily in the country). A baby born to an American astronaut on the moon can become President of the USA. 2) 35 years old. 3) 14 years a resident within the US.

But that guest didn’t say that. She only got one out of three correct! She said 35 years old, but then “born in the US” – false – and “not incited an insurrection”* – false.

The three requirements in Article One , written in 1787, ratified in 1788, say NOTHING about “insurrection.” That comes up 82 years later in the 14^th Amendment. Even then, its s. 3 does NOT specify that if a person engages in insurrection (which is undefined), then they cannot become president. Indeed, that is the very point the US Supreme Court is taking on today (Thursday 2-8-24).

Ms. Sinh pronounced as true that which the Supreme Court has yet to decide. The folks at the PBS News Hour gave her the platform and did absolutely nothing to correct the ill-informed untrue statement.

As a result, millions of people are misinformed, or confused if they remember what competent teachers told them in school.

Small wonder the US media is becoming a despised and untrusted institution in the USA.

William J. Kelleher, Ph.D.

@InterpretivePo1

*You Tube, 43:10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5Z2TBJGlow

Comments

How the “But For” Test for Causation in Law can be Adapted to Political Science

For social science, as for law, the concept of “causation” can take on different forms. These forms of causation are “outside the box” of the old Newtonian concept of causation. That is, a one-on-one collision. For example, the “8 ball” in a pool game moved to the corner pocket because the cue ball struck it at the intended angle. The cue ball did that because Minnesota Fats hit the cue ball just right with his pool stick. This is a mechanistic model of causation. In that model, the list of causes prior to Minnesota Fats could go back endlessly; or at least to the Big Bang of 13.8 billion years ago, which, mechanistically, is thought to be the First Cause of everything. However, for the most part, social science, like law, envisions human behavior as conduct for which the actors are responsible. This need not be a “moral” responsibility, for which moral blame is attached. Instead, “causal responsibility” is simply a matter-of-fact, or practical, concept...

Executive Immunity – Beyond the Hype

The media and fund raising emailers are having a ball screaming “the sky is falling! The Trump Supreme Court has given Trump ‘absolute immunity’ for whatever he wants to do as President. He’ll kill us all!” But that’s far from true. The United States v Trump The case is known as US v Trump . In its opinion, the Supreme Court didn’t give Trump anything. In fact, the Court remanded the case to the District Court, and told the lawyers for both sides to start all over again. This time, they have to consider three important points. Before explaining these, lets see how the case got to the High Court. As you probably know, Trump was indicted by a Federal Grand Jury for several criminal charges alleging a conspiracy to change the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. (SCt's Opinion, page 2. All references to the Opinion.) In the...

The Psychology of the Student Protests

University students have been in the news lately because of their protests on campuses and in the streets. Unfortunately, the mainstream media often convey false impressions about the intentions of the protesters. As a result of such misreporting, the meanings to the students of the encampments is widely misperceived. For instance, I recently heard one misinformed person talk about the encampments as if they were a colony of bonobos doing it all day in those tents. As a political scientist who studies all sorts of political behavior, I would like to add a little clarity to our understanding of the mental state, or intentions, of the protesters. Of utmost importance to keep in mind is that the feeling that is moving the majority of the student protesters is a strong compassion for their fellow human beings who are suffering so much in Gaza. The compassion felt by these protesters includes the feeling of such abhorrence for the slaughter they see going on in Gaza that they must...

The Political Science Interpretivist

Search This Blog