Google Initiative

With fake news becoming a bigger and bigger issue, google has decided to create programs in place to combat fake news stories. By putting these in place, Google will become a safer place for users to get their news. For example they are creating an option to subscribe to news sites such as the new york time “to help publishers promote content and drive subscriptions, following various efforts last year to identify new possible subscribers and offer more flexible free article rules. Through Google news initiative, fake news will be fought by highlighting journalists accurate news articles. This will be google initiative’s biggest goal and “is working to be better at recognizing breaking news and displaying more accurate results.” [1 image, 2 links, 2 quotations, 119 words]

More Fake News Than Real

CNN media addresses in an article called, “Fake news spreads much faster on Twitter than true news, study finds” to analyze certain data to compare how fake news spreads. Sinan Aral is alarmed by the “potential consequences” our media creates by feeding into fake news. Data collected over 2 years shows that researchers, “found that it took true news stories about six times longer to reach 1,500 people on Twitter than stories that were false.” Although twitter does a good job at verifying users, most people spreading these articles are low profile; meaning they do not have a lot of followers themselves. Users need to be cautious of who they see the news from to prevent fake news overpowering real news. The article suggests to compare looking at news like you would a food label before retweeting or sharing. [1 image, 1 link, 1 quotation, 146 words]

Michelle Obama Diagnosed With Fake News

Earlier this month a fake news story emerged that "Michelle Obama Just Received LIFE-SHATTERING News From The Doctor."  This story was covered and reviewed by multiple websites and media outlets and was deemed as fake news. The original article states how Michelle Obama supposedly claimed "in her campaign of hate against the country was that America is a racist nation," and goes on to describe other statements supposedly made by her against the country, without any actual quotes or going into detail what the true diagnoses was, (NY FOX News). The article is littered with bias statements by the use of words such as desperately, nasty, pathetic, and statements like, "the arrogant woman," and "Much of the county is happy to have her and her husband out of politics," (NY FOX News). Other articles on sites like the weekly Standard and Politifact state that the article is a hoax, and both articles state the blog has "no real affiliation to Fox News, a Fox News spokesperson confirmed," (Soellner). These sites also explain how the "diagnosis" was from "a 2016 interview between Princeton lecturer Dr. Lauren Wright and Breitbart's editor in chief Alex Marlow," and their discussion on Wright's book On Behalf of the President, (Lybrand). The non-affiliated Fox News site, NY FOX News, then manipulated the interview to make it appear as though Michelle Obama was acting as an "attack dog," and that Wright had actually "diagnosed" her with something, when this is false and taken out of context. Another indication that this is fake news is that the "website appears to have started publishing on Feb. 28,2018," confirming the lack of credibility, (Soellner).  [1 image, 3 links, 5 quotations, 274 words]

Let the Truth Sand up!

In the article, “How real news can stand up to disinformation on Facebook” by David Cicilline from CNN. Cicilline talks about Facebook and other Social medias, how fake news is thriving in those medias, and how to prevent it from happening further. Cicilline says “…we risk permanently compromising the news organizations that are essential to uncovering corruption, holding the government and powerful corporations accountable and sustaining our democracy.” After this, Cicilline goes on to discuss a bill he had introduced to congress that will help organize the news on social media platforms and provide the “best” news to the public. Read more at:  https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/15/opinions/free-press-battling-google-facebook-opinion-cicilline/index.html

[1 image, 1 quote, 1 link, 103 words]

Spot The Fake

In the article “BBC game challenges young people to spot "fake news"” by an author from BBC News. The author discusses the game and it functions. “It is a "choose your own adventure" game, created by Aardman Animations” say the author. The game sets you as a BBC reporter allowing you to make decisions in making news stories. The author also discusses all the places the game has been issued and provides videos on how to spot fake news. As well as providing info on the “Evidence Toolkit” a program that aims to help “identify the claims made and the reasoning in any news article and how the two are connected.”  Read more here: http://www.bbc.com/news/school-report-43391188?intlink_from_url=http://www.bbc.com/news/topics/cjxv13v27dyt/fake-news&link_location=live-reporting-story

[1 image, 1 link, 2 quotes, 114 words]

Fake News, Real Consequences

There has been a number of school shooting this year, including bomb threats and other terrorist threats. An article from The New York Times titled "After Parkland, a Flood of New Threats, Tips and False Alarms," describes how after school shootings, in particular the shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, there are a number of tips, threats, false alarms and other related incidences occur the following days throughout the week. Police chief Aaron Chapin stated the they "have to treat every situation as if it's real," and that when they are "constantly fielding non-actual threats, at some point there's exhaustion," (Bosman). Fake news like a false threat of a bomb or a school shooting can cause the police department to put a lot of effort and man power into a situation that is not real, and can take away from their efforts in stopping real crime and terrorist activities. The article describes the increases in threats and discusses how most police handle these situations. One situation that is described is about a high school student who stated anonymously online that a high school was not safe and that he would personally shoot up the school. The "boy who police say wrote the Twitter post was arrested and charged as a juvenile with making terroristic threats," (Bosman). This is an example of how fake news can cause fear and panic in a city or society, and can have tremendous consequences even if it was a joke or prank.  [1 image, 1 like, 2 quotations, 249 words].

The Impact of Fake News

Fake news is a problem that could be never ending as long as people can lie. Many people have a different view on what fake news is. A study conducted by Team LEWIS surveyed more that 1,000 Americans to study the impact of fake news and how it has affected media consumption. From the article "Fake News, Real Impact" on U.S. News, it stated that some people think an article is, "fake news if it purposefully misrepresented facts...fabricated information...(or) lack of a credible source," (Lardieri). The article explained how fake news can spread "quickly on social media networks...because it is easy to share news," (Lardieri). The article states that "Seventy-eight percent of those surveyed say fake news has damaged the credibility of the media industry," (Lardieri). This has caused a drop in the trust level that people have for the media. The article states that most people believe it is everyone's responsibility to stop the spread of fake news, and discusses how some social media sites such as Facebook are designing ways to flag and stop fake news. Unfortunately the large amount of fake news spreading around takes away the true purpose of media, which should be to spread truthful information to educate the public about a subject. Fake news has caused a large amount of distrust in people, leaving most people skeptical about all news. [1 image, 1 link, 3 quotations, 226 word].