1/ I've now watched "Making A Murderer." Only four years late, I know. But I think it's worth discussing in the context of the current media environment because it helped guide organizations like the Times onto the destructive path they've now taken...

2/ I don't know if Steven Avery killed Teresa Halbach. What I do know is that the documentary very, very skillfully misrepresents the case. Reading outside articles makes clear that it does not offer a fair view of the prosecution's evidence...

3/ This is more obvious in Season 2 than Season 1 (because the filmmakers had much less to work with in Season 2, and so they're stuck with @zellnerlaw's wild goose chases. Here's a hint: if you have a 1272-page appeal, you have no appeal.)

4/ Further, the documentary tries (mostly but not always implicitly) to undercut confidence in police, prosecutors, and the justice system.

We should scrutinize those people; they have huge power. But to do so as an advocate while pretending to present the facts impartially...

5/ Is to fail journalism in the same way the filmmakers say the prosecutors failed.

But here's the thing: Making a Murderer was a HUGE success. It made celebrities of everyone involved. It was viewed 19 million times in the first five weeks...

6/ The lesson you take from that if you are a nice (or not-so-nice) woke journalist is that passion sells. Advocacy sells. Facts and old-school fealty to the whole truth? That's both-sides-ism, friends. That's so 2015...