“Lazy thinking” at root of accepting and sharing fake news on social media
People who tend towards analytical thinking styles are better at spotting fictional news than others.
Are social media posts badly misinformed? Probably
In light of the survey finding most voters are badly misinformed on well known and popular public policy issues the same is likely true about social media posts. It is likely that more than half of political or policy oriented social media posts are incorrect. But depending on who makes the posts, and how many followers they have, their incorrect posts can be influential – and plant non factual and illogical constructions in the minds of their targets.
(Pun intended) Genuine fake news continues to spread on social media
Oxford research teams says “junk news” continues to profligate on social media, worse even than in 2016.
Exaggerate the headlines much? “Huge tremors strike west coast of US”
This media story went well beyond mere creative fiction – this was truly fake news.
NBC acknowledges news story headline was fiction
NBC makes a major error in reporting on a Trump speech and then retracts its claim, on Twitter – but leaves the original incorrect headline and incorrect video online. NBC News had the story completely wrong.
“Riches Await as Earth’s Icy North Melts”
Years ago, the Washington Post wrote a story about a ship reaching the North Pole without the aid of an ice breaker. Some how, they missed that the ship is itself an ice breaker. Duh. They also had the ship manufactured in the wrong country.
“Nobel Prize-winning physicist Leon Loederman sold his medal for $765,000 to pay medical bills”
A Nobel prize recipient dies. Vox misspells his name and makes a false claim about his medical bills. This 21st century reporting stuff isn’t turning out so well…
Staged photos used to illustrate a “news” story
The way to respond to accusations of fictional news reporting is to double down on accuracy, objectivity and remaining calm. Unfortunately, the news industry continues to harm itself through self destructive behavior typical of middle school drama. Here, an online magazine staged their photos to accompany an interview, down to providing the clothing worn by the subject being interviewed.
Journalism is dead, Part 2
Weather Channel actor Mike Siedel, who plays the role of a journalist and meteorologist, is shown faking a live TV shot. Former NBC News actress Michelle Kosinski, who played the role of a journalist on NBC News is caught canoeing in a flooded street – having just inches of water. Journalism is dead due to death by self inflicted wounds. Sadly, there is no way for a news consumer to know if their news source is reliable or trustworthy as all major news outlets have been caught making significant errors.
Journalism appears to be dead
NY Times largely retracts an article by Gardiner Harris as it was literally a fictional hit piece that would earn an F in a college class (but probably an A in creative journalism school). In the end, the egg is on his own face.
Creative news writing – “First solo flight” claim is false
Numerous “news” outlets botch a new story saying a 17-year student pilot made a successful emergency landing on her “first solo flight”. In reality, her first solo flight was a year ago. However, this erroneous report was repeated by numerous news stories, nation wide. When they cannot get even the simplest of facts correct, should we trust anything in the news?
How Google’s Artificial Stupidity manipulates image search results in to propaganda messaging
The news media uses a photo to illustrate an article, but selects a photo having nothing to do with the subject. The photo is from a festival at a horse race in Great Britain on “dress up” day.
Google Image search was used to research the photo. However, Google misinterprets the photo and falsely adds “richest 1 percent of Americans”. That happened because this photo has been used, repeatedly, by U.S. media outlets to illustrate “wealth” and “richest 1%”. Google’s search algorithms then incorrectly associate “richest 1%” with this photo; Google then reinforces that incorrect conclusion by automatically adding “richest 1 percent of americans” to a search for this photo.
We learn from this that reporters and editors routinely use fake photos to illustrate “news” reports in what appears to be intentional propaganda messaging. Then we learn how Google’s artificial stupidity algorithms incorporate fake photos and textual analysis in to computational propaganda messaging.
Is KGW TV using a faked photo to illustrate a news story?
KGW TV caught using a faked photo?
How does a college student “intern” become a “senior adviser”?
How the New York Times turned a college student intern into a “federal analyst”, “senior adviser” and host of other titles, in a single front page news story. Title inflation makes a news report more persuasive through use of an “appeal to authority”. Citing an anonymous college student intern does not sound as good as citing an anonymous “senior adviser”. Unfortunately, the news media frequently uses both title inflation and anonymous sources to persuade you to adopt their agenda.