Media Literacy and Fake News (1 Viewer)

[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.

 

[Farb]

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.

Well, I find humor in hypocrisy so I tend to laugh a lot on this board. My apologizes. If you want to discuss people just using emoji's instead of actually posting words, we can have that discussion.

What is the death toll in New York state? Compare that to any other state in the union, democrat and republican and let me know what you come up with.
Don't worry, my savior forgives all and will welcome you with his warm, orange staining embrace.

 

[JRad]

What is the death toll in New York state? Compare that to any other state in the union, democrat and republican and let me know what you come up with.

So one of the biggest tourist destinations in the world, where everyone is basically on top of each other, had a high infection rate. Say it ain't so.

 

[Farb]

New York 2019 Population: 19.45 million. Deaths from Coronvirus*: 24,835- Glorious Coumo Brother in charge.
Florida 2019 Population: 21.48 million. Deaths from Coronvirus*: 3,447- Evil Republican in charge

*Made in China

 

[zztop]

Fox News on Sunday repeatedly showed a well-known photo of Jeffrey Epstein posing with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago — but each time Trump was edited out of the image.

(original photo)

Anyone want to guess why they kept cropping Donald out of the picture while talking about a sex offender?

 

[MT15]

New York 2019 Population: 19.45 million. Deaths from Coronvirus*: 24,835- Glorious Coumo Brother in charge.
Florida 2019 Population: 21.48 million. Deaths from Coronvirus*: 3,447- Evil Republican in charge

*Made in China

You act like that’s the final score, grasshopper, we are not even to halftime yet.

 

[wardorican]

Here's an oldie but goodie from the Washington Post

We should also give Vox credit too

You didn't read the Washington Post article did you? It was mostly a commentary on how not knowing about something, makes it seem scarier, and a big threat you understand, isn't so bad.

Also.. Feb 1...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/time-for-a-reality-check-america-the-flu-is-a-much-bigger-threat-than-coronavirus-for-now/2020/01/31/46a15166-4444-11ea-b5fc-eefa848cde99_story.html

Lenny Bernstein
Feb. 1, 2020 at 8:00 a.m. EST
The rapidly spreading virus has closed schools in Knoxville, Tenn., cut blood donations to dangerous levels in Cleveland and prompted limits on hospital visitors in Wilson, N.C. More ominously, it has infected as many as 26 million people in the United States in just four months, killing up to 25,000 so far.

In other words, a difficult but not extraordinary flu season in the United States, the kind most people shrug off each winter or handle with rest, fluids and pain relievers if they contract the illness.
But this year, a new coronavirus from China has focused attention on diseases that can sweep through an entire population, rattling the public despite the current magnitude of the threat. Clearly, the flu poses the bigger and more pressing peril; a handful of cases of the new respiratory illness have been reported in the United States, none of them fatal or apparently even life-threatening.

 

[MT15]

This is really something. I wonder what other media outlets were duped, or did some check out their sources better. I would like to see more in depth reporting on this.

 

[zztop]

I would consider this gaslighting. I mean, he is even on video saying what he said, but that doesn't stop faux news

 

[nolaspe]

I would consider this gaslighting. I mean, he is even on video saying what he said, but that doesn't stop faux news

Speaking of faux news.... https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/10/media/tucker-carlson-writer-blake-neff/index.html?utm_term=link&utm_source=twCNN&utm_content=2020-07-11T16:22:05&utm_medium=social

The top writer for Fox News host Tucker Carlson has for years been using a pseudonym to post bigoted remarks on an online forum that is a hotbed for racist, sexist, and other offensive content, CNN Business learned this week.

Just this week, the writer, Blake Neff, responded to a thread started by another user in 2018 with the subject line, "Would u let a JET BLACK congo n****er do lasik eye surgery on u for 50% off?" Neff wrote, "I wouldn't get LASIK from an Asian for free, so no." (The subject line was not censored on the forum.) On June 5, Neff wrote, "Black doods staying inside playing Call of Duty is probably one of the biggest factors keeping crime down." On June 24, Neff commented, "Honestly given how tired black people always claim to be, maybe the real crisis is their lack of sleep." On June 26, Neff wrote that the only people who care about changing the name of the NFL's Washington Redskins are "white libs and their university-'educated' pets."

 

[wardorican]

Speaking of faux news.... https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/10/media/tucker-carlson-writer-blake-neff/index.html?utm_term=link&utm_source=twCNN&utm_content=2020-07-11T16:22:05&utm_medium=social

I was actually going to post a whole thread on this..

 

[CoolBrees]

This is scary stuff to me. This isn’t just some troll account that, with a bit of scrutiny can be identified. This is the work of professionals with real agendas, not for lols.

Deepfake used to attack activist couple shows new disinformation frontier

Oliver Taylor, a student at England's University of Birmingham, is a twenty-something with brown eyes, light stubble, and a slightly stiff smile.

www.reuters.com

 

[Farb]

I would consider this gaslighting. I mean, he is even on video saying what he said, but that doesn't stop faux news

I vaguely remember the actual statement, can you post the video you described?

 

[Farb]

This is scary stuff to me. This isn’t just some troll account that, with a bit of scrutiny can be identified. This is the work of professionals with real agendas, not for lols.

Deepfake used to attack activist couple shows new disinformation frontier

Oliver Taylor, a student at England's University of Birmingham, is a twenty-something with brown eyes, light stubble, and a slightly stiff smile.

www.reuters.com

I have heard about the the deep fakes but I never knew this was a thing. Disturbing indeed.

 

[zztop]

I vaguely remember the actual statement, can you post the video you described?

it was back in 2015 when he announced he was running for president https://time.com/3923128/donald-trump-announcement-speech/
there is a video there and it starts at about the 21 second mark, here is a text transcript:

"They're sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems with us. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people. "

 

[MT15]

See post 763 in this thread. This one faked out quite a few publications who posted op-eds from people who never existed.

It’s such a crazy thing. You don’t know who is real and who is a person made up to push an agenda.

 

[Farb]

Yeah, that is not what he said. Who is "they' he is referring to when he said "they are not sending" or 'they are sending" who specifically is 'they'?
They is the government of Mexico, so if Mexico is sending people, they are not sending their best. They are sending the rapist, the drug dealers, the bad people. No where in there did he lump all Mexican's together as rapist and bad people, just the ones that the Mexican government is sending over, like cartels and gang members.
That is how I took it when I first heard it and just again when re watching it.

 

[MT15]

Farb, you think the Mexican government is sending people to the US? And picking which ones they want to send?

 

[SaintForLife]

Yeah, that is not what he said. Who is "they' he is referring to when he said "they are not sending" or 'they are sending" who specifically is 'they'?
They is the government of Mexico, so if Mexico is sending people, they are not sending their best. They are sending the rapist, the drug dealers, the bad people. No where in there did he lump all Mexican's together as rapist and bad people, just the ones that the Mexican government is sending over, like cartels and gang members.
That is how I took it when I first heard it and just again when re watching it.

They know he didnt say that all Mexicans were rapists and they always leave out the part he said he assumes that some are good people. It was also like when he called MS13 gang members animals, but the media claimed he said immigrants were animals. It doesn't fit their narrative so they just gaslight the public knowing most people will believe it without checking to see if it was true.

It's just like they gaslighted the public when they claimed Trump was talking about the racists in Charlottesville when he said there are good people on both sides. In that instance he specifically said he was talking about the people against taking the statues down and he wasn't talking about the racists.