• SirEDCaLot@lemmy.today
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    24 hours ago

    This is disappointing for Rossman. I like his content a lot and he’s on the right page, but I think he’s big enough that he needs to start adopting some journalistic standards. For example, if he reads that some company is doing something stupid, at least bothered to call them and ask for a comment before he drags them through the mud on his channel.

    • Buelldozer@lemmy.today
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      23 hours ago

      Rossman is a modern day Ralph Nader; he lives on outrage and the money it generates. He’s generally correct but when he swings and misses, like he did in this case, it hurts his reputation.

      • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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        22 hours ago

        he lives on outrage and the money it generates

        I don’t think he makes much from YouTube, and he’s said as much. He just uses it as a platform to push pro-Right to Repair sentiment, and he’s right way more often than he’s not (with a healthy dose of hyperbole most of the time). Any miss here is because he didn’t bother doing a bunch of research, because he doesn’t really have an incentive to do so.

        He owns a repair business and works for FUTO, that’s where his money comes from.

    • JigglySackles@lemmy.world
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      24 hours ago

      Yeah, I generally trust him but he can be quick to accusations. I can understand why, especially when a company behaves badly. It’s almost expected that companies are going to make their shit worse. But definitely needs to follow up and recant.

      • lobut@lemmy.ca
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        22 hours ago

        He usually apologises when he’s discovered to be wrong. I know he’s quick to accusations and stuff but he does seem level-headed (to me) overall.

        • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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          22 hours ago

          Apologies don’t make up for being wrong in the first place. Usually they don’t have the same reach, so the mis/disinformation spreads and many people never see the correction.

          It’s the same bullshit “news” companies do to sway opinion. They’ll say something wrong, then a few days later put out a correction that a small fraction of people who saw the first part see. This let’s them spread any lie they want while maintaining an image of being actual journalists to those not paying attention.

          • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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            22 hours ago

            Mistakes happen. He comes with receipts, and sometimes those receipts are misleading. I don’t think he’s being intentionally wrong here, he took information from various communities reporting negative experiences, and extrapolated that there may be an issue there.

            And it’s not clear he’s actually wrong. We have the company claiming they don’t do it, but then what about the accusation that older firmware isn’t available? Surely if they don’t intend to break third party cartridges, they’d keep those available for people who want to downgrade. Maybe there’s a good reason for that too, idk, but my point is that Brother could be hiding something, it’s still unclear and we need more data.

          • lobut@lemmy.ca
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            22 hours ago

            I absolutely agree and think misinformation is terrible and disinformation is worse. However, I don’t think he should be held to the same standard as a journalist. He just reads news from other people. He should definitely make sure it’s truthful and factual ahead of time. But I do agree, it’s kind of why we’re in a crap state in the world right now.

            Although his apology doesn’t make up for it, he does at least make his apology on his main channel. I have seen other YouTubers make their apologies and such on alternate channels. I also don’t think he makes excuses for it either.

            • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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              21 hours ago

              If you have a platform, which he absolutely does, you have a responsibility for what you put out. He needs to check if it’s true. If he can’t, he needs to hire someone that will. Either he doesn’t deserve the views or he needs to be responsible for his content. He doesn’t deserve to get views with no responsibility. Everyone should be held to this standard.

              He collects and edits news for media. He is a journalist.

    • corodius@lemmy.world
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      15 hours ago

      I used to like and trust him, but he has gone way off the deepend of jumping to accusations for clickbait, exactly as this shows. It is sad because of how much he has fought for our rights, but sometimes I wonder if it is all getting to him.