Whose law is this?
January 9, 2019 2:20 PM   Subscribe

I could have sworn there was a "law" named for someone (e.g. Betteridge's law of headlines) that stated that all news seems reliable unless it's in your specialist area, in which case it's immediately obvious all the details are misreported or misunderstood.

The point being, of course, that journalists are mostly not experts in what they report and any reporting, particularly stuff that you're not an expert in either, should be taken with a pinch of salt. Whose law is this? Have I conflated some other things in my mind? Googling doesn't bring up anything except "how to know which sources to trust", which, well, I suppose I'm glad there's lots of that out there now, but that's not what I'm after.
posted by spielzebub to Society & Culture (2 answers total) 11 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: That's the Gell-Mann amnesia effect. The name is due to Michael Crichton, in accordance with Stigler's law of eponymy.
posted by madcaptenor at 2:25 PM on January 9, 2019 [20 favorites]


Best answer: "I can personally attest to the accuracy of what is called Knoll's Law of Media Accuracy: 'Everything you read in the newspapers is absolutely true except for the rare story of which you happen to have firsthand knowledge.' Erwin Knoll is the editor of The Progressive."
posted by J.K. Seazer at 3:24 PM on January 9, 2019 [7 favorites]


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