Wednesday, June 8, 2016

The Los Angeles Times: Censoring comments to protect its offensive practices and... state cronies?

The L.A. Times implements at least a couple of offensive, anti-reader practices. They launch noise-making ads without user approval, and they inexplicably disable zooming on their mobile site.

That's bad enough. But then they compound the offense by censoring comments that call them out on it. And there's yet more: On top of that, they censor comments that call the state of California out for its rip-offs as well.

Look at this bullshit:


Now what kind of publication is so ashamed of its own work that it bans comments that refer to it? A deliberately deceitful one. There's more:


So this is "journalism" today. It's free, so it's worth nothing. And that's exactly what the L.A. Times delivers and tries to defend. Shoddy work and disgraceful cover-ups, instead of simply fixing the problem.

I guess it is embarrassing when comments provide more information than the "story" above them. Some publications (honorable ones, that is) would use this as incentive to do better. The L.A. Times simply tries to bury the problem.

Hey L.A. Times: Take a lesson from local cats and bury your shit, instead of your readers.