Media Literacy and Fake News (2 Viewers)

[Ayo]

The Canadian Journalism Federation is taking fake news very seriously. I've worked with media literacy for years, and this is - to date - the most expansively public approach that I've seen, in advance of the Federal Election.

Journalism group launches anti-fake news campaign ahead of Canadian election

Recent polling suggests nearly all Canadians have come across misinformation online, yet only 40 per cent feel they know how to differentiate between fake news and the real thing.

www.thestar.com

If you are engaged online, you have likely been subjected to something that was not true, and yet there isn't much pursuit in trying to determine factual accuracy of the articles and information. And most of us - probably every single one of us here - have fallen for it.

Recent polling by Ipsos, Earnscliffe Strategy Group and MIT researchers suggests nearly all Canadians have come across misinformation online, yet only 40 per cent feel they know how to differentiate between fake news and the real thing.

The polls also found 90 per cent of Canadians admitted to falling for fake news in the past, and only a third of them regularly check to see if the stories they’re consuming are legitimate.

I don't think that their approach is going to be enough. I think the most effective utility it will have is bringing awareness. But fuller approaches to media literacy are going to be necessary to combat the deluge of increasingly deceptive media. These are hard skills that can be learned, but with the advent of new 'deep fake' technology, media literacy is going to have adapt, too.

I would like to see greater emphasis on media literacy in the US. Because even though this statement is for the Canadian audience, it definitely - maybe even more so - applies to the US where news is more infotainment and sensationalized than it is up here:

“To be an engaged citizen, you have to have access to quality journalism… you have to understand what is quality journalism and what is not,” said Richard Gingras, vice-president of Google News.

Another source includes one approach - the SPOT approach: https://www.manitoulin.ca/news-media-canada-launches-new-tool-to-help-people-spot-fake-news/

SPOT is an acronym that acts as a simple way to remember the four principles of identifying misinformation. It works like this:
S: Is this a credible source? Check the source of the article—and be skeptical.
P: Is the perspective biased? Think critically and look for varying viewpoints on an issue.
O: Are other sources reporting the same story? Be your own fact-checker and verify the validity of the story.
T: Is the story timely? Check the date the story was published—sometimes, stories use old information to take advantage of a timely occurrence.

It's obviously not enough, but a decent start.

 

[JRad]

I tested your experiment because I found it interesting. I received the exact same results.

One thing that is relevant to the discussion - Google's search results are significantly more up-to-date than Bing's.

Google’s algorithms also take your search history into account.

(Going from memory, this may not be fully accurate) Google’s algorithm is also able to search “deeper” using keywords and text patterns in results, whereas Bing is just searching headers. There’s a reason you say “google it” and not “bing it”.

Actually, here:

Ranking Results – How Google Search Works

With the vast amount of information available, finding what you need would be nearly impossible without some help sorting through it. Google’s ranking systems are designed to do just that: sort through hundreds of billions of webpages and other content in our Search index to present the most...

www.google.com

“for example, the freshness of the content plays a bigger role in answering queries about current news topics than it does about dictionary definitions.”

I know people want to hang on to their illusions this is some conspiracy, so sorry to burst your bubble.

 

[Beach Friends]

Here is one that needs to be logged in here.

 

[cuddlemonkey]

Here is one that needs to be logged in here.

Video is choppy on my end. Perhaps you can explain it for us?

 

[Dadsdream]

Different source.

CBS News admits 'mistake' after airing footage of overcrowded Italian hospital in report about NYC

CBS News admitted to a "mistake" on Monday after airing footage of an overcrowded hospital room that was allegedly in New York City but was actually from a hospital in Italy.

www.foxnews.com

 

[Beach Friends]

Video is choppy on my end. Perhaps you can explain it for us?

Throughout CBS's piece on the virus in NYC, they played clips taped in a hospital in Italy as if they were from a NYC hospital.

It's reminiscent of ABC showing tape from a firing range in KY where a mass of shooters were doing a night fire and claiming it was footage from Syria.

 

[Dadsdream]

Earlier this week, I was watching a History Channel miniseries called The World Wars.

As they began explaining the London Blitz and the Battle of Britain, they went to great lengths to emphasize that Britain stood alone against the German onslaught.

The problem was that they began splicing in footage of areal battles which included American fighter planes, American bombers, footage from fights that occurred years after the Blitz.

At one point, while the narrator talked about the defeated German bombers limping home, they showed footage of an American B-17 with half its tail broken off.

I literally cringed, knowing that was film of an American bomber crew of 10 men being described as Nazis.

Look, if you're going to be called The History Channel and you're going to put on a show called The World Wars, the least you can do is have competent fact-checkers editing your footage.

I know, not everybody built model airplanes as a kid and not everybody can identify WWII aircraft by silhouette, but for those of us who can, this series provided a perfect example of what happens when people in the media don't do their due diligence.

Watch The World Wars Full Episodes, Video & More | HISTORY Channel

www.history.com

 

[Beach Friends]

Really CBS? Again?

 

[Nebaghead]

Really CBS? Again?

I’m confused? What did they do wrong? Did this nurse turnout to be fake?

 

[Dadsdream]

Yeah. Fake nurse, crying fake tears. CBS bought it hook, line and sinker.

Prior to CBS picking up this video, Imaris posted on her public Facebook page that she has anxiety and bi-polar depression and had not been an employee at the hospital for over a year. She mentioned in her post that she was unsure if she was ready to return to her job.

Imaris also said the growing volume of information on coronavirus “triggers” her.

“The information overload can be hard for me to sift through as far as what is credible and what is not, it triggers me,” she wrote in a Facebook post.

WATCH: CBS News Posts Fraudulent Video Of ICU Nurse Crying Over Poor Working Conditions

CBS News posted a video of a nurse who claimed she quit her job after being asked to work in a coronavirus ICU without a face mask.

thefederalist.com

 

[MT15]

Hmmm, someone who says they don’t like propaganda hit pieces and then cites The Federalist? Lol

 

[Dadsdream]

Hmmm, someone who says they don’t like propaganda hit pieces and then cites The Federalist? Lol

It was either that or Bernie Sanders' tweet about how terrible it was that she was forced to quit. COFF!!!

 

[Beach Friends]

Hmmm, someone who says they don’t like propaganda hit pieces and then cites The Federalist? Lol

Since we are ITT, did you ever see where ABC News and GMAC apologized for pretending that footage from a KY firing range was Syria?

I remember you believing that would come as soon as they could work out exactly how they managed to try sneak one past their own viewers.

 

[SaintForLife]

Hmmm, someone who says they don’t like propaganda hit pieces and then cites The Federalist? Lol

Feel free to point out what part of that article was incorrect or propaganda.

 

[cuddlemonkey]

Feel free to point out what part of that article was incorrect or propaganda.

I will do that as soon as DD does the same for the ad he refuses to watch, despite his blanket dismissal of the the things said in the ad. I'm sure his lack of response to me on the subject was just an oversight...

 

[SaintForLife]

I will do that as soon as DD does the same for the ad he refuses to watch, despite his blanket dismissal of the the things said in the ad. I'm sure his lack of response to me on the subject was just an oversight...

Are you forgetting the hissy fit many threw here when Beach Friends posted a Twitter post that included an undedited video but the Twitter poster made an irrelevant QAnon reference? Many here said it didn't matter what was in the video. You guys set the standard.

 

[cuddlemonkey]

Are you forgetting the hissy fit many threw here when Beach Friends posted a Twitter post that included an undedited video but the Twitter poster made an irrelevant QAnon reference? Many here said it didn't matter what was in the video. You guys set the standard.

I set nothing.

What I did do, though, was read the Federalist article. What DD quote from the article is not actually what was said in the Facebook screenshots they shared.

What the article said:

"Prior to CBS picking up this video, Imaris posted on her public Facebook page that she has anxiety and bi-polar depression and had not been an employee at the hospital for over a year. She mentioned in her post that she was unsure if she was ready to return to her job."

What her Facebook post said:

"I already suffer with anxiety and bi-polar depression and was feeling a heavy toll with transitioning back into the ICU after being away from the bedside for over a year."

In that same post, she also said she's been off of work for "about two weeks."

It's quite possible that she was employed that whole time as a nurse in a function other than ICU nurse and that she was about to move back into that role.

 

[Dadsdream]

I understand it's not politically correct to say that in a time of heightened anxiety, perhaps CBS shouldn't post videos of an overly-emotional person who suffers "anxiety and bi-polar depression" totally freaking out on camera.

But in a time of heightened anxiety, perhaps CBS shouldn't post videos of an of an overly-emotional person who suffers "anxiety and bi-polar depression" totally freaking out on camera.

 

[brandon]

I understand it's not politically correct to say that in a time of heightened anxiety, perhaps CBS shouldn't post videos of an overly-emotional person who suffers "anxiety and bi-polar depression" totally freaking out on camera.

But in a time of heightened anxiety, perhaps CBS shouldn't post videos of an of an overly-emotional person who suffers "anxiety and bi-polar depression" totally freaking out on camera.

In a time of heightened anxiety, it’s important not to show it.