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.

 

[BobE]

Whatever you do, do not watch Newsmax. HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLY CHEET

 

[insidejob]

Someone please show me footage of Carlson or Hannity reporting the actual science and dangerous effects of this virus before Trump had to tuck tail and shut down the country. Until he did, they kept parroting that it would magically go away and was nothing more than the flu when they knew good and damn well from international reporting that this was a plague. Laugh all you want @Farb, your heroes have contributed to thousands of people dying in this country and continue to do so today by carrying your savior's water.

 

[insidejob]

Whatever you do, do not watch Newsmax. HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLY CHEET

What the hell is Newsmax?

 

[cuddlemonkey]

What the hell is Newsmax?

Right wing whack jobs, from what I can tell. They've been advertising on local sports radio and it's all so far up Trump's arse that I'm shocked they haven't suffocated yet.

 

[SaintForLife]

I literally hate what passes as "Conservative" media these days. If this wasn't the MCB I'd go into more detail as to how dangerous these networks and websites are. I hope Hannity and Carlson both get infected. Might not have been them for this particular propaganda piece, but they're the problem, not the solution and it is killing people.

Shhhh. Don't tell him how the media and the Democrats pushed the biggest political conspiracy theory of all time and most people on the left still believe in it.

 

[SaintForLife]

I literally hate what passes as "Conservative" media these days. If this wasn't the MCB I'd go into more detail as to how dangerous these networks and websites are. I hope Hannity and Carlson both get infected. Might not have been them for this particular propaganda piece, but they're the problem, not the solution and it is killing people.

Did you know that the Washington Post called out Biden for doing the same exact thing as what MT15 posted? I posted the links in this thread. Deceptively editing videos to give a different impression of what was said is a bipartisan problem.

 

[BobE]

What the hell is Newsmax?

Right wing whack jobs, from what I can tell. They've been advertising on local sports radio and it's all so far up Trump's arse that I'm shocked they haven't suffocated yet.

I tend to agree with Cuddle. Can't lie I was watching Brett Baeir and kept seeing commercials for it so I turned it on......I made it 10 minutes. Newsmax makes FNC look like MSNBC

 

[MT15]

Did you know that the Washington Post called out Biden for doing the same exact thing as what MT15 posted? I posted the links in this thread. Deceptively editing videos to give a different impression of what was said is a bipartisan problem.

Once again you are equating campaign ads with what is supposed to be a news source.

You don’t see any problem with Fox News doing the same thing that a political campaign does when it makes ads? Political campaign ads are definitely trying to sell us something. Fox shouldn’t be in the business of peddling misleading clips that are more like a campaign ad than a news item.

I am amazed that you evidently cannot see the difference.

 

[insidejob]

I am amazed that you evidently cannot see the difference.

He just doesn't care. He's made that pretty obvious.

 

[SaintForLife]

Color me unsurprised. Choosing to get your information from a station Trump always complains about not "protecting him" or "sticking up for him" when he's cutting fed funding to virus testing in hot spots across the country proves to end up getting you sick, and possibly kills you.

Here's an oldie but goodie from the Washington Post

We should also give Vox credit too

 

[MT15]

SFL, I know you know the difference between opinion and speculation in January, and spouting complete disinformation into March, when everyone knew better. Why pretend it’s the same thing?

 

[MT15]

Since we don’t have a thread for the Qanon cult, I guess this fits here. This was tweeted by one of the reporters on the “list“.



file attached so you don’t have to use the link.

 

[BobE]

I'm going to call shenanigans on that

 

[MT15]

And, related to the above

 

[cuddlemonkey]

Here's an oldie but goodie from the Washington Post

We should also give Vox credit too

From the WaPo piece:

Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a member of the government task force coordinating the response to the coronavirus, said he is often asked why the government is focusing on coronavirus when so many are dying of seasonal influenza.

“I often get asked: ‘We have an influenza outbreak here, we have about 8,000 deaths already, 100,000 hospitalizations. Why are we paying such attention’ ” to coronavirus?

“The reason is, despite the morbidity and mortality with influenza, there’s a certainty of seasonal flu. I can tell you as we get into March and April, the cases are going to go down.”

Until officials can offer that kind of certainty about the coronavirus, even if it does not seem as dangerous as the flu, anxiety levels will not decline, Bufka said. While public health officials are urging handwashing, staying home when sick and keeping a distance from obviously ill people, Bufka suggests a different calculation for mental health.

When she counsels anxious clients, they “try to get a good assessment of what is actually the risk,” she said. “How likely is it? And try to distinguish between possibility and probability.

“Sure, it’s possible there will be more cases in the U.S. It’s probable there will be more cases in the U.S. But it’s not likely to be the person standing next to me in the grocery store.”

Back on February 1, when this was published, it mentioned that public health officials were encouraging the exact things needed to minimize the risk. I don't blame the author of this for failing to predict that a large number of Americans would disregard precautions as social distancing (and now the use of masks).

This is not fake news and has nothing to do with anyone's lack of media literacy except for your own.

 

[GMRfellowtraveller]

Since we don’t have a thread for the Qanon cult, I guess this fits here. This was tweeted by one of the reporters on the “list“.



file attached so you don’t have to use the link.

TiL Dick Cavett is still alive

 

[CoolBrees]

Someone should tell Anderson Cooper’s corpse that he was executed Yesterday and should probably get off tv before he gets piked in the head.

also

So much for my idea for Good Will Hinting 2: Tokyo Drift.

man 2020 keeps getting worse and worse

 

[MT15]

More fake news amplified by people who don’t care about the truth.