Fake news

“ Media outlets like CNN and MSNBC are fake news. Fake news. And they're sitting and they're wishing, in Washington -- they're watching right now, they're watching. And they would love to be with us right here tonight. ”

“ This learning module designed to be used by journalists, journalism trainers and educators (along with their students) provides historical context for the analysis of the 21st century ‘fake news’ crisis. Relevant case studies and a timeline are designed to better inform users about the causes and consequences of ‘information disorder’– from harassment of journalists by ‘troll armies’ to the manipulation of elections and diplomatic crises. ”

“ In this environment, where trust becomes polarised around what “news” aligns with their views, many news consumers feel entitled to choose or create their own ‘facts’. Combined, these developments present an unprecedented threat level that can drown out journalism, as well as contaminate it with the implication that there is nothing to distinguish it from false and fraudulent information more broadly. ”

“ You said that the leaks are real, but the news is fake. I guess I don't understand. It seems that there's a disconnect there. If the information coming from those leaks is real, then how can the stories be fake?
TRUMP: The reporting is fake. Look, look... (CROSSTALK)
TRUMP:
You know what it is? Here's the thing. The public isn't -- you know, they read newspapers, they see television, they watch. They don't know if it's true or false because they're not involved. I'm involved. I've been involved with this stuff all my life. ”

“ While news media have historically been caught up in disinformation and misinformation, including through news hoaxes, this is not regarded as legitimate in the dominant contemporary paradigm across different news media. This explains in part why contemporary manifestations of disinformation and misinformation are mainly evident in social media systems – with grave risks to authentic journalism and to open societies more broadly. ”

“ As one-to-many communications developed in the 20th century, especially with the advent of radio and television, satirical news evolved, sometimes being mistaken as the real thing in news consumers’ minds. Finally, as this guide illustrates, the arrival of the internet in the late 20th century, followed by social media in the 21st century, dramatically multiplied the risks of misinformation, disinformation, propaganda and hoaxes. ”

“ Appreciate the historical context, causes and consequences of propaganda and news hoaxes Be able to appreciate the role and value of news satire in critiquing power-wielders, while also understanding the confusion it can cause within audiences Understand the new features of ‘fake news’ architecture (such as automated ‘bots’ and social media virality) , in contrast with historical manifestations. Be able to report on the ‘fake news’ crisis with more nuance Module Format This module is designed to be delivered face-to-face or online. ”

“ Although apparently a success from the reporter’s point of view, the “fake” story injures him more than he realizes, for it dulls his moral sense, makes less keen his appreciation of the difference between truth and falsehood. If his superiors discover the deception, they lose confidence in his reliability and may discharge him at once. If his identity is known to the victim of the “fake,” the reporter loses that man’s respect and often makes him an enemy, from whom he cannot hope to secure news in the future. ”

“ Alarmed at instances in which public authorities denigrate, intimidate and threaten the media, including by stating that the media is “the opposition” or is “lying” and has a hidden political agenda, which increases the risk of threats and violence against journalists, undermines public trust and confidence in journalism as a public watchdog, and may mislead the public by blurring the lines between disinformation and media products containing independently verifiable facts”. ”

“ News industry transformation: digital technology, social platforms and the spread of misinformation in Ireton, C & Posetti, J (Eds) Journalism, ‘Fake News’ and Disinformation (UNESCO) Forthcoming↑ Woolf, N., “As fake news takes over Facebook feeds, many are taking satire as fact”, The Guardian, fake-news-satire>. Retrieved on 01/04/18 ↑ See Posetti, J. (2018) . Combating Online abuse: When journalists and their sources are targeted In Ireton, C & Posetti, J (Eds) Journalism, ‘Fake News’ and Disinformation (UNESCO) . ”

“ What was wrong was the way that other people, including yourselves in this room, were given that information, because that was classified information that was given illegally. That's the real problem. And, you know, you can talk all you want about Russia, which was all a, you know, fake news, fabricated deal, to try and make up for the loss of the Democrats and the press plays right into it. ”

“ European Union report on ‘fake news’ In late 2017, the European Union created a high level expert group on ‘fake news’ and online disinformation which reported in early 2018 with various solutions recommended, although it did not call for state regulation. [102] The report recommended more transparency of online news and its circulation; increased media and information literacy to counter disinformation; tools for empowering users and journalists to tackle disinformation and foster a positive engagement with fast-evolving information technologies ”

“ Google, Facebook and Twitter subsequently stated that Russian accounts had been identified in connection with political content distributed during the US election. [75]
2017 – Venezuela’s President describes international media as ‘fake news’ In July 2017, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said that media “spread lots of false versions, lots of lies. This is what we call fake news today, isn’t it? The era of post-truth.” ”

“ Growing concerns about ‘fake news’ and propaganda, the inappropriate leaking of individual consumers’ data, and failure to curb online bullying and offensive content led Australia’s national journalists’ union - the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) - to call on “digital giants” like Google, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to be “regulated similarly to broadcasters and forced to contribute a percentage of their revenue towards public interest journalism.” ”

“ Both errors and fraudulent content now go viral through peer-to-peer distribution (many-to-many communication) [5] , while news satire is regularly misunderstood and re-shared as straight news by unwitting social media users [6] . We now inhabit a world with computational propaganda, state-sponsored ‘sock-puppet networks’, troll armies, [7] and technology that can mimic legitimate news websites and seamlessly manipulate audio and video to create synthetic representations of any number of sources. ”

“ Troll farms and ‘fake news’-for-profit As the US election approached in 2016, international media reports revealed a profitable troll farm run by teenagers in the small town of Veles in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. ”

“ No newspaper worthy of the name will knowingly print fake stories. If for no other reason than self-interest, the correspondent should hew close to the narrow line of truth, for the faker cannot hope long to escape detection and dismissal.154 Neither should the correspondent try to win favor by inserting in his stories “puffs” of persons to whom he feels indebted for information. The writer who seeks to use the columns of a newspaper for personal ends is unfaithful to the trust reposed in him as the newspaper’s agent. Newspapers are in the business of buying and selling news. ”

“ The content included viral fake stories about the Pope endorsing candidate Donald Trump and the ‘imminent indictment’ of Democratic Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton. The operators of the fake news sites profited significantly from automated advertising engines (e.g. Google AdSense) tracking their sensationally false content. In the final weeks of the election campaign President Obama talked at length about the “digital gold rush” experienced by Veles’ fake news’ farm. ”

“ National elections in France and Germany France: The British newspaper, The Independent reported that an Oxford University study found that “up to a quarter of the political stories shared on Twitter in France were based on misinformation”. [84] Thirty-seven news organisations and technology partners collaborated in an initiative called CrossCheck to verify and debunk ‘fake news’ stories in the lead up to voting. [85]
Germany: In stark contrast to the 2016 US election, the German election campaign was largely unaffected by ‘fake news’. ”

“ Power, S. (2017) . Samantha Power: Why Foreign Propaganda Is More Dangerous Now, The New York Times. Accessed 29/03/18: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/19/opinion/samantha-power-propaganda-fake-news.html
Rodny-Gumede, Y. (2017) . Fake news: the internet has turned an age-old problem into a new threat, The Conversation. Accessed 29/03/18 https://theconversation.com/fake-news-the-internet-has-turned-an-age-old-problem-into-a-new-threat-7211118
Soll, J. (2016) . The Long and Brutal History of Fake News, Politico Magazine. ”

“ This content included disinformation material created to mimic legitimate news content, with the badges of media houses like BBC, CNN and NTV Kenya being misused to attach credibility to false news. [83] Misinformation and propaganda are not new in Kenya, however: “This election season has seen these migrate to popular social media platforms, to either play at existing beliefs, fears and biases, or to sway perceptions and even votes.” ”

“ In May, Kenya’s president signed into law the Computer and Cybercrimes Bill which states that if a person “intentionally publishes false, misleading or fictitious data or misinforms with intent that the data shall be considered or acted upon as authentic,” they can face a penalty of up to almost US$ 50 000 or two years in jail. [113]
Singapore issued a Green Paper on the challenges and implications of deliberate online falsehoods in January 2018, and the parliament held public hearings on the topic in March. The Philippines had three Bills against ‘fake news’ pending before its legislature. ”

“ Hyperpartisan ‘news’ sites that deal in misinformation for profit are also prevalent in the USA. In 2017, a BuzzFeed investigation revealed that confected outrage feeding massive Facebook engagement was the basis of the business model of one Florida-based company that produced false and misleading content targeting both liberals and conservatives, across a number of websites. ”

“ Retrieved on June 15, 2018 ↑ Shuster, S. (2017) , “Russia Has Launched a Fake News War on Europe. Now Germany Is Fighting Back”, TIME, fake-news-angela-merkel/> 1 2 Salisbury, P. (2017-10-20) , “The fake news hack that nearly started a war this summer was designed for one man: Donald Trump”, Quartz, ↑ Boburg, S. ”

“ Where disinformation campaigns have been exposed, the result has been major damage to the actors involved – both the implementing agencies and their political clients (see the cases of Bell-Pottinger and Cambridge Analytica below) .
Propaganda, hoaxes and satire as historical features of the communications ecology A selected timeline of ‘Information Disorder’ through the ages [8] Circa 44 BC – Mark Antony smear campaign Octavian’s propaganda campaign against Antony deployed Twitter-worthy slogans etched onto coins to smear Antony’s reputation. ”

“ A good reporter usually plans his story, lead and details in his head on his way to the office.
NEVER GUESS.
KNOW WHAT YOU ARE WRITING ABOUT.
When you turn in a story KNOW that everything in that story is true—and if you feel there is a statement you can not prove, call your city editor's attention to it.
To color or fake a story is not newspaper work—it is prostitution of the profession of journalism.
Be sure of your sources of information. Never take anything for granted—find out for yourself. ”

“ Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Regional Court of Justice finds against ‘false news’ laws in Gambia In February 2018, in an historic ruling by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Regional Court of Justice, Gambia’s laws on sedition, false news and criminal defamation were found to violate the right to freedom of expression [103] . ”

“ War of the Worlds radio drama The War of the Worlds radio drama in the USA fooled many unwitting listeners into believing that Earth was being attacked, foreshadowing 21st-century responses to news satire. “No one involved with War of the Worlds expected to deceive any listeners, because they all found the story too silly and improbable to ever be taken seriously.” [16]
1939-1945 – World War II Edward Herzstein, in his book The War that Hitler Won (1978) , described the Nazi propaganda campaign as “the most infamous propaganda campaign in history.” ”

“ The New York Times issues apology over reporting of weapons of mass destruction “Editors at several levels who should have been challenging reporters and pressing for more skepticism were perhaps too intent on rushing scoops into the paper. Accounts of Iraqi defectors were not always weighed against their strong desire to have Saddam Hussein ousted.” This was the reflective critique of The New York Times’ editorial board about the paper’s coverage of ‘weapons of mass destruction’. “We consider the story of Iraq’s weapons, and of the pattern of misinformation, to be unfinished business. ”