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Game theory applies here. There will always be one journalist without any moral qualms that’ll stay, betting on everyone else leaving, and making a scoop.


> There will always be one journalist without any moral qualms that’ll stay

They’re outed as stooges. That doesn’t matter to the influencer crowd. But I bet this costs the DoD a lot of narrative-shaping power.


I'm growing more convinced that there is a significant subset of the population that wants all of the press to be stooges.


> there is a significant subset of the population that wants all of the press to be stooges

A significant fraction of Americans are addicted to rage bait. They don’t care about accuracy as much as entertainment and ideological predictability.


When they're obviously lying to you, at least you know that they're lying.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vranyo

Known lies can still be effective.



> making a scoop

The chances of making that via a White House press conference is pretty close to zero.


>Game theory applies here.

Rely on traditional trade craft. A bouncing bevy of brothel, escort service, deepthroats; historically and dramatized, is a staid and proven primary source.


...so why did they unite in this case?


Because there’s nothing to win here? Nobody gets a Pulitzer for copy-pasting a press release from the DoD (or DoW, for what it’s worth)


That's some bar moving. In one case we're saying that even if you report garbage, your competitors are going to occupy the niche without you, therefore something something game theory.

But in this other case, well there's just no value to reporting garbage.


Have you ever seen a White House press conference? People scream their questions in the hope of being the loudest, because the president only answers a few. If most of the competition for question time leaves, there’s more time for you to get that juicy soundbite you’re after.


Have you seen a white house press conference lately? It's all just the same talking points. Everyone gets to report on the sound bites. You're choosing to describe these things as if the game theoretics are qualitatively different. Your description is doing more of the work than the game theory.


Only the one? Found the optimist.. ;)




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