How real is fake news?

I'm actually not going to give too much of an opinion on the video, since that would be perceived as pulling at bias's. Instead, I'll let the investigative reporter do most of the talking. As far as what opinion I will give, she notes a clear truth: People seek to manipulate others based on ratings, money, etc. All forms of media IMO are manipulative, there's no such thing as a non-manipulative media outlet. What we can hope for, is a media source that has a necessity behind its credibility.

We once thought the media itself would play that role, but due to the sacrosanct view of the media it is no longer possible for them to feel as though their credibility is at risk. Meanwhile, the existence of the corporate/news media means that the WH is incumbent to report the facts(of course, whether it does so consistently or not is up for discussion.)

But frankly, this is why I support State-ran media. The State is obligated to informing the people. Some States yes, have kept their peoples docile but that's been a failed temporary measure. States that empower citizen free thought, tend to last longer.

 

Sharyl Attkisson does an excellent job of explaining the current situation. She gives example after example of "fake news" that I haven't heard about. We ALL have to be careful about getting sucked into lies and propaganda (and echo chambers).

I still haven't heard anyone talk about critical thinking skills training though. I first had a class in it at the junior high school level. The class began with the teacher stating, "Pepsi is the drink for those that ____ " And the class chimed in with "those that think young!" The obvious point was that we were all brainwashed by the Pepsi commercial at the time. Later we read Orwell's 1984 among other books. But it was an excellent course though a little too soon to start at that age.

Thanks for posting that excellent video. It's well worth the time to watch.

Steve

 

State run media?

No fascism there huh?

 

The very most amount of 'fake news' I see comes from Donald Trump himself, though he coined the phrase to attack others, and it comes from the RW, especially conservative RW sites and persons such as Briebart, Rush Limbaugh and Alex Jones.

They lie so much it is just incredible, but what's even more incredible is how gullible are those who believe them.

 

You didn't watch the video did you. I knew before watching it that liberal media coined the term "fake news." Trump just picked up on it and threw it back at them. It stuck on liberal media because it's true.

Attkisson herself worked for CBS before a story about Benghazi was barred and her computer getting hacked caused her to resign. She didn't mention it in the video.

Steve

 

Funny, if you watched the video, you clearly didn't get the message that it is both sides that are engaged in fake news to promote special interests. Could it be that you are so brainwashed by the right wing propaganda machine that you are unable to think beyond "right = good, left = bad" opinion? And then you talk about critical thinking....

 

No, I got the message alright. YOU didn't get MY message above that people should learn critical thinking skills, which you don't seem to have in any meaningful way.

The post you addressed was only addressing where the term "fake news" came from.

Steve

 

I did finally watch that nonsense.

One of the biggest problems with that is her conflation of "sloppy journalism" and mistakes with actual fake news

They are vastly different.

She points out the made up stories promulgated by the likes of the National Inquirer. And then shrugs them off by saying that nobody believes them. Well people DO believe them and with the advent of social media those people spread that nonsense. When the "fake news" is about space aliens and the like...it doesn't matter much. People can believe Hitler and Elvis are still alive and it doesn't really matter.

But what happened in the run up to the 2016 (and in the years prior) election was different. . There were stories about ISIS training camps on the Mexican border. There was the pedophile Pizzagate story. There was the story about a Federal government military exercise in Texas/Louisiana having some nefarious intent, there were completely fabricated stories about terror attacks that never happened...

THAT is fake news. And it is fabricated and embellished and promoted to influence people...to scare them...to change the way they think. It's not exactly new. In the early stages of WWI there were stories about German troops bayoneting babies in Belgium to influence and outrage the UK and the US.

What fake news is NOT...is a difference of opinion. What it is NOT is a mistake. It is intentional and that is a major difference

The difference between fake news and bad journalism or differences of opinions is huge and important.

When someone starts yelling FAKE NEWS about something that they don't like or disagree with ( Mr. Trump )...THAT is Fake News

 

The problem you are ignoring is that liberal media keeps making these so-called mistakes AGAIN and AGAIN. Retractions end up purposely buried in all the new crap. She says the media breaks the first rule of journalism time and again, DOUBLE CHECK YOUR SOURCES. That also means the people should get news from both sides. She also mentions the "echo chamber" that Ben Rhodes admittedly called it to get the Iran deal through.

But most important is, when election day comes, YOU will get SURPRISED! again.

If you don't want to get surprised again, then learn critical thinking skills.

Steve

 

Can't agree to the state run media suggestion. That would be a giant leap in the wrong direction, IMO.

What I do think is that attention must continue to be focused on calling out propaganda media so that consumers can financially drain those sources.

I also think it is far to difficult to "follow the money" in order to learn who is behind what.

Not sure how to go about that without compromising the safety of contributors, but I think it would go along way to help consumers understand who or what is attempting to feed them information.

 

Interesting that you would suggest news is opinion: "What fake news is NOT...is a difference of opinion."

News isn't opinion. An opinion offered as news, unless otherwise labeled as such, is fake news, as it contains the author's, or perhaps organization backing the author's "slant" on what is being reported.

The left's MSM, along with specialty outlets like any of David Brocks operations, as well as ThinkProgress, Salon, etc., etc., are all to one degree or the other, purveyors of fake news.

 

A difference of opinion is NOT fake news as explained above

Fake news has little if any basis and is intentionally false..

 

Isn't Attkinson the one who had a stuck key and thought it was someone hacking into her computer?

 

That's more "fake news."

Attkisson said, "CBS News told the OIG that they did not conduct any analysis on her personal computer." She resigned.

Steve

 

She was...and THAT was fake news

 

A former CBS investigative reporter was not hacked by the Justice Department for writing critical stories about the Obama administration, according to an investigation by an independent watchdog.

An inspector general report concluded that Sharyl Attkisson's merely had her “delete” key stuck when text disappeared from her computer, and said there's no evidence that government officials erased stories.





In her book Stonewalled, Attkisson claims that the Justice Department broke into her computer to steal information about her reporting on the botched “Fast and Furious” gunrunning operation as well as the 2013 terrorist attack on an American compound in Benghazi, Libya.
To back up her claim, Attkisson has posted a video seeming to show text she was working on being deleted remotely, presumably by a malicious hacker.

Now that could have been fake news...or just a really stupid paranoid person...but she loses a WHOLE bunch of credibility because of it

 

Opinion offered as news, which is the death nail of news journalism these days, is fake news.

News is news. It rained today, if indeed it did, is news. It rained today because of global warming, is fake news.

 

http://thehill.com/policy/technolog...bs-reporter-wasnt-hacked-had-delete-key-stuck

CBS declined to hand over to the watchdog two additional computers that it and Attkisson said had also been hacked.

While attempting to do an analysis of her computer, researchers found that a technician hired by CBS to investigate the reported hack had used “not forensically sound” methods to search her computer, “which altered file information.”​

 

No. It is not. It may be bad journalism but it is NOT fake news (as explained above)

What you are doing is defending Trump's claim that anything he doesn't like is fake news.

False and dishonest

 

was that quote supposed to prove or disprove something?

 

LOL

Your claim about my motivation is fake news.

Bad journalism?

So I guess you want everyone to understand that all the manipulation, propaganda, misrepresentation, and opinion parading as fact, isn't fake news, it's not intentional, it's just bad journalism.

What a poorly thought out defense of fake news...

 

From YOUR link

A summary of the Justice Department’s inspector general report obtained by The Hill and other outlets disputes her claims, at least with regard to her personal laptop. CBS declined to hand over to the watchdog two additional computers that it and Attkisson said had also been hacked.

The elimination of text in the video she posted “appeared to be caused by the backspace key being stuck, rather than a remote intrusion,” the DOJ report said.

When conducting searches of computer, the department “did not find evidence of remote or unauthorized access,” it said, nor did it find evidence that any suspicious Internet protocol (IP) addresses had gained access to her compiuter, as a previous technician employed by Attkisson had said.

Attkisson had previously raised alarms about a “suspicious” cable attached to the Internet service provider’s box on her house.

That, too, was nothing to fear, the investigation found. It was just “a common cable used by the provider,” it found, and “could not be used to monitor or otherwise affect the phone or Internet service at her residence.”

Given how nuts her claims were on the computer that was checked...I don't blame CBS for not wanting sensitive reporting to be potentially made public.

She's a kook..

 

Fake news is not "anything you want it to be"

If you have a problem with an opinion piece of think that something is opinion when it is presented as factual news...then feel free to take that on and point out that it is opinion or that you disagree with that opinion or that is is shoddy reporting.

But fake news is based on either something completely innocuous or simply nothing at all and is INTENTIONALLY false...ala Pizzagate and ISIS training camps.

Conflating fake news with things you take issue with...is dishonest Trump turd polishing

 

My link? The paragraphs I posted were from YOUR link.

And nice excuse for CBS's screw up and refusals.

In the end, the issue is fake news. It permeates throughout the multitude of media outlets.

For example, a thread on this site was started with a gross misrepresentation of facts. It was so egregious, it is difficult not to conclude this misrepresentation was not done on purpose.

That's how it works in the liberal media today. Out of context comments paraded as definitive, which misrepresents the actual facts. It's call dog whistle/click bait journalism, and it is the foundation of the news media today.

 

Attkinson did a great service with her evenhanded presentation.. it forced people to think. It forced all of us to examine the source and validity of our opinions and beliefs. Her investigative style of "Follow the money" is a great tool that also makes one think about her examples. Very nice job and a great demonstration of presentational skill. I advise everyone to watch the video.