A Reasonable Expectation

MOST STATES HAVE CONSUMER PROTECTION LAWS, which protect their citizens against fraud, falsehoods and scams. Such laws in action say that there are expectations inherent in products, which any reasonable person would regard as expected to exist, and to function without explicit claim by the seller, for which the seller is liable.

Most of the time you will find your state's consumer protections in the same areas as statutes regarding contracts, and agreements

Pew Research Center Finds NEWS Credibility Declines Further

For the second time in a decade, the believability ratings for major news organizations have suffered broad-based declines. In the new survey, positive believability ratings have fallen significantly for nine of 13 news organizations tested. This follows a similar downturn in positive believability ratings that occurred between 2002 and 2004.

The falloff in credibility affects news organizations in most sectors: national newspapers, such as the New York Times and USA Today, all three cable news outlets, as well as the broadcast TV networks and NPR.

Idiocracy

How many teen pregnancies are there in your country? Nope, wrong. What percentage of people are immigrants? Sorry, that's incorrect. How many Muslims live where you live? Whoa, way off. Let's spell it out Jeopardy-style. Hint: This person is wrong. Answer: Who is
you? A recent study of public perception in 14 countries came to this basic conclusion: 

Everything you think you know about the news is probably wrong.
+ The Guardian: Mistaken perceptions can shape political opinion.

Also see an earlier blog of mine: Basically the News isn't News anymore.

Basically News isn't News Anymore

Wish they would have done the Daily Show

I think most of us, who do research on the Internet and look for hints and trails in the news sources for leads into deeper areas to mine with research, understand that there is a lot of nonsense out there on the web. For example, anything coming out of the mouths of the latest Americans for Prosperity blurb, or Breitbart.com or CounterPunch.com needs to be read as 'fiction' with perhaps a smidgen of truth. Seriously, I've even caught Breitbart.com blatantly lying about quotes people have said (those people shocked to discover Breitbart proclaimed they talked to them at all.)