Fake News

[Danny Bateman]

Yahoo is kind of in the toilet right now anyway, aren't they? The only Yahoo news I've been hearing about is the multiple hacks they've undergone and how apparently their CEO or some other powerful corporate leader lied to people about how well the site was doing. Sadly, Yahoo seems to be a shell of what it used to be to me.

 

But I digress. I think Moiraine as the correct definition. We shouldn't conflate fake and biased news, since they're two separate things altogether. Your definition kind of blurs the lines a bit Enhance, when you say that it can be something that is so heavily biased that it creates a false narrative, but I like it. Aren't Fox News, Breitbart, etc. essentially guilty of that heavy manipulation trick to create their own narratives all the time? To be sure, I consider Fox News a far more credible source than Breitbart.

 

But I feel the same way about Fox News clowns like Hannity and O'Reilly that I do guys like Rush and other prominent GOP radio hosts. They essentially LIVE in their own narrative, and they suck people into that bubble with them. It's a bubble of being angry and marginalized and being told the government is selling you out at every opportunity. But people live and breathe this stuff, and apparently it becomes the sole source of news for far too many Americans.

 

And at the end of the day, checks keep rolling in for those guys. They're monetizing anger and distrust in our institutions. These figures are the ones that are selling out America.

[Enhance]

Good post dudeguyy and good point on the definition I threw out - it does blur the lines a bit. I think the best way to describe "fake news" is that it really depends on the story and what the intent is, and that sometimes, the lines really are blurred. False information doesn't necessarily mean news is fake... i.e. if 50 people are killed in a train bombing overseas, but a news outlet reports 100 died, is it "fake"? Not entirely, but it is misleading and a lie.

 

As a counter, taking a few bits of information, twisting them and presenting them to fit a narrative can't really be considered "news." But, does it go so far to be "fake?"

 

"Fake news" appears to have a fairly large brush stroke for many people right now.

[zoogs]

You can be a biased and garbage source of low-grade content without being The Denver Guardian, for example, which does not exist.

[HuskerNation1]

Forgive me if this was discussed on one of the earlier pages and I forgot and/or missed it - what kind of definition do people operate under with the term "fake news?"

 

It seems a lot of people, as the article I quoted suggests, use the term "fake news" to describe anything that may have some manner of bias or does not align with their point of view.

 

For me, something is only "fake news" if the whole premise is 100% fabricated or the facts have been heavily manipulated to create a false narrative. Based on this, 84HuskerLaw, are you suggesting that Yahoo was deliberately creating stories that were entirely or almost entirely false?

 

I honestly don't think it makes a difference in impact if we discuss fake news vs biased news. A biased (50% fake or slanted) can have just as much impact as a completely made up story (100% fake), and I think the greater damage is done by those articles that seem more realistic where viewers might buy into what they are reading or hearing, vs something that seems so far fetched and would be seen in the Enquirer. This is where the MSM bias comes into play as many viewers still feel what they are hearing and reading from MSM outlets is actually accurate without any slanting involved. This is where it becomes crucial for voters to have a brain and decipher what really is happening, and often times with Presidential elections, a person's vote is based less on the stories they are reading and more on their own personal situation and their own pocketbook. A blue collar worker does not need to watch the nightly news to know if they are better or worse off than before.

 

Now the other issue I have with this focus on fake news is the supposed honest "fact checkers" being employed. Both Politi-fact and snopes have been shown time and again to have a liberal bias, and yet sites like facebook may use these "fact checkers" to try to persuade its viewers. I think for it to be successful, a site like facebook should use two opposing fact check sites (one that leans more to the left and the other more to the right) to offer a spectrum of views, and maybe that is what facebook will end up doing.

[Enhance]

Here's the rub though - hard-working, dedicated journalists are being accused of producing "fake news" BECAUSE people don't want to try and differentiate between what's fake, what may be biased and what may be true but uncomfortable to read. This rallying cry to broadly brush major news outlets, and even local ones, as "fake news" providers is unfair because I think most people understand fake to mean completely untrue.

 

We also have a sincere number of people in this country who don't understand or want to understand what editorialism is.

 

I'm glad Politifact was brought up. I agree that it tends to have a more leftist slant, but as someone who is neither Republican nor Democrat, I consider Politifact to be the best fact checker out there. I thought they did a pretty fair job breaking down both major candidate claims this last election. I noticed they tended to be harsher towards Trump's claims, but that's because Trump said far more outlandish, ridiculous and untrue things this last election than Clinton. I don't think that's Politifact's fault.

[Danny Bateman]

This is what Fake News is doing to us.

 

https://twitter.com/Deplorable4L/status/813395122041790464

 

With quotes I culled from the article:

 

 

A Donald Trump voter stormed into a Philadelphia cathedral and repeatedly shouted "Pizzagate is real!" as scores of parishioners celebrating Christmas mass looked on in shock, a video shows.

 

Howard Caplan, 47, tells the Daily News he decided to enter The Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul during the Sunday mass since "so much is being covered up" about the so-called "Pizzagate" scandal — an online fringe theory claiming that Hillary Clinton is involved in a child sex ring based out of a popular Washington, D.C. pizzeria.

 

"It was basically my Christmas gift to the people at the church," Caplan told the Daily News of the stunt, which he videotaped and posted to Twitter.

 

-------

 

When asked why he subscribes to the conspiracy, Caplan told The News, "it's just obvious."

 

"To be perfectly honest, I know how they do it," he said without specifying. "They're all in on it. It's overwhelming. We know what they're doing."

 

Caplan prides himself on having stood at a major intersection in Philadelphia with a "Hillary 4 Prison" sign for three straight weeks ahead of the election.

 

"Then after the election, I felt a bit lost," Caplan said. "But then 'Pizzagate' showed up."

 

Honestly it kind of disturbs me there are people this deranged out and walking around in society. This is the kind of environment Trump's rise has cultivated. The conspiracy theorists have been totally empowered. Fake news allows people to craft their own reality.

 

We've got to defuse the notion that all media is inherently untrustable, even if it is often biased. We've got to teach people how to cut through bias to still gather good information, rather than disregard news altogether as useless in favor of fake news or conspiracy theories or propaganda from Trump himself. The guy's proven he's never going to give you the full truth.

 

As Obama has said, we absolutely must have a common set of facts or everything else becomes nigh impossible.

[cornstar]

Pretty much all reported news is fake news.

 

Just watched a local news report about raccoons being illegally trapped in the city. The local fake news reported that the "coon cuff" traps they showed on TV were dangerous to pets and humans.

 

Either they are stupid or liars, take your pick. Most likely both.

 

In other fake news, the White House keeps telling us that Russia hacked the last election, yet they have not provided any proof.

[Moiraine]

Pretty much all reported news is fake news.

 

Just watched a local news report about raccoons being illegally trapped in the city. The local fake news reported that the "coon cuff" traps they showed on TV were dangerous to pets and humans.

 

Either they are stupid or liars, take your pick. Most likely both.

 

In other fake news, the White House keeps telling us that Russia hacked the last election, yet they have not provided any proof.

 

Provide quotes where the White House says the election was hacked. I don't recall hearing them say that.

 

Also, what would proof that the Russians interfered with the election look like to you, the layman?

 

To me it would look like the CIA and FBI saying they interfered.

[Making Chimichangas]

 

Pretty much all reported news is fake news.

 

Just watched a local news report about raccoons being illegally trapped in the city. The local fake news reported that the "coon cuff" traps they showed on TV were dangerous to pets and humans.

 

Either they are stupid or liars, take your pick. Most likely both.

 

In other fake news, the White House keeps telling us that Russia hacked the last election, yet they have not provided any proof.

 

Provide quotes where the White House says the election was hacked. I don't recall hearing them say that.

 

Also, what would proof that the Russians interfered with the election look like to you, the layman?

 

To me it would look like the CIA and FBI saying they interfered.

 

 

Come on Moraine, the FBI is just tasked with protecting the US domestically while the CIA protects us abroad (and pushes crack into the inner cities)...what could they possibly know?!

[Making Chimichangas]

Every day, I wake up and hope to see a story about how Drumpf winning the Presidential election was fake news.

[cornstar]

 

Pretty much all reported news is fake news.

 

Just watched a local news report about raccoons being illegally trapped in the city. The local fake news reported that the "coon cuff" traps they showed on TV were dangerous to pets and humans.

 

Either they are stupid or liars, take your pick. Most likely both.

 

In other fake news, the White House keeps telling us that Russia hacked the last election, yet they have not provided any proof.

Provide quotes where the White House says the election was hacked. I don't recall hearing them say that.

Heard it on the national news, ABC. Not sure how to provide that quote.

 

Also, what would proof that the Russians interfered with the election look like to you, the layman?

 

To me it would look like the CIA and FBI saying they interfered.

I'd say to describe exactly how they interfered and how that interference affected the election outcome. Also, maybe show how they were able to find this info. Some specifics would be nice.

 

Right now, just a "take our word on it" doesn't hold much water to me.

[cornstar]

Every day, I wake up and hope to see a story about how Drumpf winning the Presidential election was fake news.

This made me chuckle.

[Moiraine]

 

 

Pretty much all reported news is fake news.

 

Just watched a local news report about raccoons being illegally trapped in the city. The local fake news reported that the "coon cuff" traps they showed on TV were dangerous to pets and humans.

 

Either they are stupid or liars, take your pick. Most likely both.

 

In other fake news, the White House keeps telling us that Russia hacked the last election, yet they have not provided any proof.

Provide quotes where the White House says the election was hacked. I don't recall hearing them say that.

Heard it on the national news, ABC. Not sure how to provide that quote.

 

Also, what would proof that the Russians interfered with the election look like to you, the layman?

 

To me it would look like the CIA and FBI saying they interfered.

I'd say to describe exactly how they interfered and how that interference affected the election outcome. Also, maybe show how they were able to find this info. Some specifics would be nice.

 

Right now, just a "take our word on it" doesn't hold much water to me.

They have described it for the layman. They hacked into the DNC/Podesta and released everything they possibly could that was negative about Clinton and nothing negative about Trump. Additionally, they created all sorts of fake news headlines and articles using various fake internet accounts. All negative about Clinton.

 

Do you really think you'd understand a detailed explanation of how the hacking occured? Do you think we should let other countries know how it occurred?

 

Lastly - I've yet to see the White House says the Russians hacked the election. That's the headline some channels/newspapers are using, probably because it's short, but I haven't found a single quote from the WH saying it. If you're gonna say they said it, you should find the quote. Surely if the WH said it you'll be able to find it.

[Enhance]

Pretty much all reported news is fake news.

This is one of the must unfounded, bold and absurd claims I've ever seen on this board.

[Danny Bateman]

I fail to see how someone could deny what Moiraine described had an effect on the election. If we set aside the fact that Russia likely didn't hack voting machines themselves, how could you not think pushing propaganda glorifying one side and trashing the other affected the outcome? Apparently there were a whole lot of Americans that for whatever reason were eager to gobble that outside influence up.

 

Regardless, they did describe exactly how Russia hacked us. Here is the Joint Analysis Review from the DHS and FBI.