I dunno, I feel like people who make this comment are talking about some mythical person who pays enough attention to get the buzzfeed report, yet who isn't paying enough attention to know that buzzfeed news is a thing.
like "Well _I_ know the difference but the random person does not and gets confused!"
These sort of circular meta-discussions in our politics get us so far from the reality that it makes it hard to know what people actually think
I think you underestimate how long impressions last. I think of BuzzFeed as that crappy lists site. Because that's what they were. I have no idea when they got a competent news division or if that's bs being spread in this thread
I have been following Buzzfeed for years (the Try Guys, Quinta B., Ashley, Buzzfeed Australia etc.) and I had no idea that Buzzfeed had a "serious news" arm until reading this HN thread.
Until 10 minutes ago, I had the impression that the news section was just clickbaity stuff like "10 things that blah blah blah... number 6 will leave you speechless", now I just learned that they were considered for a Pulitzer.
I guess my point is that when Buzzfeed News publishes "Trump ordered Cohen to lie", a person consuming this article isn't going to be "oh this is Buzzfeed so it's just some joke".
They might expect the reporting to be done in a silly manner (see splinter news), but I don't think that the credibility hit would be more than if it were some other website. The credibility line is basically "newspaper" and "everything else".
> The credibility line is basically "newspaper" and "everything else".
Yes that's pretty much how it works in my head. I realise that I tend give more credibility to anything that can be bought, printed on paper, at a newsagency[1], regardless if it's a daily newspaper or a weekly/monthly magazine. I am 40 by the way, it would be interesting to hear what younger people think, since they had way less exposure to traditional print news.
[1]the place where they sell newspapers, outside of Australia it's not called newsagency but I can't remember the correct term and a quick web search didn't help, sorry for that
I don't know what's your definition of "closely", but for a while I was watching most new videos they would put out. I guess it comes down to Buzzfeed using a lot of social media channels (YouTube, Facebook etc.) which is not a good thing in terms of discoverability of the other things they do (e.g. news). Basically I would follow the YT channels or the FB pages and rarely if ever visit their website.
Edit: not sure why you're being downvoted since yours was a legitimate objection
like "Well _I_ know the difference but the random person does not and gets confused!"
These sort of circular meta-discussions in our politics get us so far from the reality that it makes it hard to know what people actually think