Category Archives: Fake News

Whenever a native son gets national ink without causing Louisiana to curl up in embarrassment, we should take a little bow.

All eyes are upon us whenever one of our Republican congressmen favors us with his thoughts. Those thoughts may be breathtakingly crass, as in the Clay Higgins-goes-to-Auschwitz video, or just plain stupid, as when NRA lap dog Steve Scalise asks why 9/11 didn't occasion calls to ban airplanes.

These politicians may give us reason to blush, but Bernard Pettingill from Louisiana has been in the news recently without such an effect.

He is the forensic economist, who may just have made a second presidential term for Donald Trump a little less likely. Pettingill took the stand in a Texas courtroom to catalog some of the lies told by one of Trump's earliest, and most vocal, supporters, the arch-conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.

Why Jones had any credibility to start with is quite a head-scratcher, given the preposterous yarns he spins, but he is clearly a gifted hornswoggler. The vast sums he pocketed via his Infowars website are proof enough of that.

We have a handle on just how vast those sums are thanks to Pettingill, a Jesuit graduate whose academic record includes degrees from Loyola and Tulane and who has taught at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

Pettingill was called as a witness in a defamation lawsuit filed by the parents of a 6-year-old boy who was one of 20 children murdered in the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in 2012, when six teachers also died. Jones had repeatedly claimed that Sandy Hook was a hoax dreamed up to give the federal government a pretext to restrict gun rights. The parents who sued had to endure years of abuse and death threats after Jones declared they were actors hired to perpetrate the hoax.

When Jones took the stand in Texas, he conceded that Sandy Hook was 100 percent real," but he evidently does not feel obliged to tell the truth even when he is under oath to do so. Any jury award of more than $2 million would sink us, he testified.

Waiting in the wings was Pettingill, who had the numbers to prove that Jones was still telling whoppers.

Infowars has been bringing in more than $50 million a year for many years, and Jones has paid himself an average of $6 million a year, Pettingill testified. When Jones failed to respond to a lawsuit filed in Connecticut last year, and was ruled liable by default for Sandy Hook, he began dumping $11,000 a day into a shell company that Jones set up as a clawback to pay himself, Pettingill testified.

The jury came back with a damages award of almost $50 million, and it would be a great public service if that did sink Jones and his poisonous fantasies. He has been on hand to brand every terrorist act either a hoax or a government-sponsored false flag operation, joined the chorus claiming that Barack Obama was born in Kenya and denounced Lady Gaga's halftime gig at the Super Bowl as a satanic rite. And that's just a sample of his crackpot notions.

Huge jury awards tend to get drastically reduced on appeal, however, so that, even if more Sandy Hook families are poised to sue, Jones will probably have enough in the bank to soldier on, and back Trump, should he run.

But his endorsement will be greatly devalued this time.

Email James Gill at gill504nola@gmail.com.

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James Gill: In the war on fake news, this Louisianian is a hero - NOLA.com

Jeanna Sybert grew up the child of two journalists, but resisted going into journalism as she witnessed the challenges her parents faced in the field. But as an undergraduate at the University of Pittsburgh, she found she enjoyed studying journalismhow it affects culture, politics, and global conversation.

Now a doctoral candidate at the Annenberg School for Communication, Sybert studies labor conditions for journalists in the United States. Though many see journalism as a duty or a calling or simply a pursuit of the truth, its a job like any other, Sybert says.

Journalists deal with pay cuts, job losses, mistreatment from management, career instability. Even the smallest, family-run newspapers have occupational issues, Sybert documented in a paper in Journalism, despite the popular trope of small local newspaper against the world.

In June, 2021 Sybert published a study on employee welfare at the Pittsburgh-Post Gazette. Her interviews with reporters confirmed findings from other scholars: Journalism in the U.S. is a progressively troubled field. Journalists are stressed, overworked, and demoralized. Public distrust of media, violence against reporters, and the shuttering of print newspapers are affecting journalists personally and as a group. This has consequences for how the news is presented to Americans and how they understand it.

When Sybert conducted her study, the newspaper was going through some very public problems, including clashes with ownership, layoffs, a strike, and boycotts. Her interviews with reporters revealed a tumultuous environment filled with conflict and instability. Journalists at the paper faced a crumbling job market, attacks on the credibility of the press from a sitting president, increased workloads, and the unique challenge of, as Sybert puts it, being expected to be the sense-makers of the crises they go through.

Now, as a member of the steering committee of Annenbergs Center for Media at Risk, Sybert has observed how difficult it is to be a journalist in the late 2010s and early 2020s. Shes concerned about the critical moment in journalism history that we are now experiencing.

Journalists have had to navigate life during a global pandemic while also sharing information about that pandemic to the public. Theyve faced heightened criticism since former President Trump waged a war on media, berating journalists and newspapers alike.

This story is by Hailey Reissman. Read more at Annenberg School for Communication.

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What is it like to be a journalist during the 'fake news' era? Not easy | Penn Today - Penn Today

UPDATED at 9:10 a.m. EDT on 2022-08-10

China's military said it had wrapped up a week of war games around Taiwan on Wednesday, while Taipei cried foul over Chinese disinformation tactics as Beijing ratcheted up pressure in response to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosis Aug 2-3 visit to the self-governing island.

The joint military operations in the waters and airspace off the Taiwan had been carried out with "all tasks accomplished and the troops' combat capabilities in integrated joint operations effectively verified," said a statement by a spokesman for the Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA).

"The troops under the PLA Eastern Theater Command will pay close attention to the evolution of situations across the Taiwan Strait, continue to carry out military training for war preparedness, organize normalized combat-readiness security patrol in the Taiwan Strait, resolutely safeguarding Chinas national sovereignty and territorial integrity," said the statement. Other PLA drills are going on to the north in the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea, the PLA said last week.

Amid the conflict, a Taiwanese fact-checking organization claimed that one of the most widely used photos of the recent drills by the PLA around Taiwan turned out to be the latest fake news in Chinas disinformation campaign against the democratic island.

The photo, distributed by Chinese state news agency Xinhua, depicts a PLA soldier observing military drills in the waters near Taiwan through a pair of binoculars.

In the background, a Taiwanese warship without a hull number is clearly visible. Next to it is a chimney, later identified as the smokestack of the Ho Ping Power Plant in Hualien County on the east coast of Taiwan.

The Taiwan FactCheck Center (TFC), a Taipei-based independent organization, conducted a thorough examination of Xinhuas photo and published the findings on its website on Tuesday.

It said there are too many irregularities, calling the proportions of objects in the photo unreasonable and saying there were obvious signs of manipulation such as the lack of a hull number on the alleged Taiwanese warship and its outline, which TFC said was too clean.

Another photo released by Xinhua in the same batch clearly shows hull number 935 of the Lan Yang, a Taiwanese Navy Chi Yang-class frigate.

Experts and analysts consulted by TFC concluded that the photo is a composite of different images.

Xinhua said the photo was taken on Aug. 5, 2022, the second day of the unprecedented four-day drills conducted by the PLA Eastern Theater Command.

The photo led to widespread speculation on Chinese internet forums that a PLA Navy (PLAN) destroyer had come closer than 12 kilometers (6.5 nautical miles) from the coast of Hualien, well within Taiwans territorial waters.

A states territorial waters are defined by maritime boundaries 12 nautical miles (22 kilometers) from its coast.

Several Chinese and Taiwanese media outlets reported that PLAN destroyer Nanjing, where the soldiers photo was taken, was only 11.78 kilometers from the coast of Hualien and the Ho Ping Power Station on Friday morning.

Hybrid warfare

The Taiwanese Ministry of National Defense dismissed the news, describing it as disinformation.

No PLAN vessel has entered our territorial waters since August 4 when the PLA drill started, the Ministry said on Twitter.

China has stepped up its disinformation campaign and cyberattacks as part of hybrid warfare against Taiwan.

Hybrid warfare is a combination of conventional military actions on the ground and hacks, or disinformation campaigns, designed to attack public morale and sow confusion.

Maj. Gen. Chen Yu-lin, deputy director of the Political and War Bureau of Taiwan's Defense Ministry said earlier this week that the current wave of "cognitive operations" started even before the military drills were announced as a response to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosis visit.

Pelosi is the most senior U.S. official to visit the island in 25 years. Her visit was condemned by Beijing as a serious violation of Chinas sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Chen Hui-min, TFCs editor-in-chief, told RFA his organization had detected a 30-40% increase in fake reports online since Pelosi's visit.

The biggest difference [from the past] is that it seems to be spreading from English-language Twitter, Chen said.

The Taiwanese Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday it had been hit by 170 million cyber attacks per minute during the height of the tension last week.

China considers Taiwan a Chinese province that must be reunified with the mainland at all costs.

Meanwhile only two percent of 23.5 million Taiwanese people identified themselves as Chinese, down from 25 percent three decades ago, according to a new study by Taiwans National Chengchi University.

UPDATED with an announcementfrom China's military that war games around Taiwan had wrapped up.

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China says it has wrapped up war games around Taiwan, as Taipei hits out at fake news - Radio Free Asia

Mysore/Mysuru: Maintaining that creation of fake news has turned out into an industry, senior writer Prof. Rajendra Chenni bemoaned that the civil society is not questioning fake news.

He was delivering the valedictory address of the two-day Swatantra Amrutha Mahotsavada Nadige, Prabuddha Bharatada Kadege State-level seminar organised by University of Mysores Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Research and Extension Centre at Vishwagnani auditorium in Manasagangothri campus here on Saturday.

Lashing out at the NEP-2020 (National Education Policy) Prof. Channi alleged that it is nothing but a new form of Manusmriti. Arguing that the aspirations of the majority population have not been met even after 75 years of independence, he contended that all the hopes that the country had during the time of independence have been dashed, with the majority population still fighting for their rights.

Prof. T.R. Maruthi in his address, said that those who are speaking about changing the constitution seems to have no idea of any alternatives. It is foolish to talk about changing the Constitution in the absence of ideas, he added.

Centre Director Dr. S. Narendrakumar, faculty Dr. J. Somashekar, Prof. Shabbir Mustafa, Prof. R. Indira and others were present.

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Fake news creation has turned out into an industry: Writer - Star of Mysore

Catholic bishops have urged Kenyans to be cautious of fake news as the IEBC concludes the verification and tallying of presidential results.

Nyeri Archbishop Anthony Muheria, in a statement Sunday on behalf of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops, advised Kenyans to guard against falling victim to fake news, especially on social media.

The statement, which was signed by conference chairman Martin Kivuva, said some people want to cause unnecessary panic.

The clerics urged Kenyans to treat any suspicious or alarming text, image or video they receive on social media with caution.

Cross-check messages you doubt with mainstream media. Let us join hands in preventing any form of incitement, the statement read.

The bishops also asked IEBC to expedite the tallying process to avoid causing more anxiety among Kenyans due to the length of time the process is taking.

The delay, they said, could generate unnecessary tension, rumours and hard feelings among Kenyans.

We understand the need for IEBC to be thorough in ensuring the process is credible. While we commend this effort, we also encourage IEBC to do whatever it takes to conclude the tallying process.

Commending candidates who have accepted results with dignity, the bishops asked them and their supporters to celebrate victory with respect and humility and the unsuccessful ones with grace.

The election has no loser because a successful democratic process is a win for all Kenyans, they said.

The clerics said Kenyans should endeavour to build a country whose democracy encourages competition among politicians and so unsuccessful candidates should not be regarded as losers but as Kenyans who have participated in the expansion of the countrys democratic space.

The bishops advised young people to reject any attempt to be used to cause skirmishes.

The contenders have a way to solve any dissatisfaction in the process through the courts. We remind you that engaging in unlawful acts does not help you in any way to build your future, the statement read.

Negative behaviour because of political differences will hurt you, your neighbour and the country. Be wise and stay focused on protecting your future.

They commended Kenyans and presidential contenders for showing patience, saying it is a lesson for Africa and the world.

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Be wary of fake news, Catholic bishops caution Kenyans - The Star Kenya

Nottingham Forest have not made a bid for Fiorentina left-back Cristiano Biraghi.

That's according to Fiorentina sporting director Daniele Prade, who dismissed the claim as "fake news" while talking to an Italian journalist about his club's summer transfer business.

It was reported yesterday (Tuesday) that Forest were in "advanced talks" to sign the Fiorentina captain, with a report in Italy saying Reds officials had met with the player's agent Mario Giuffrida. It was said Forest had tabled an eight-figure bid, while offering the player a four-year contract.

READ MORE: Club reject Nottingham Forest transfer offer for 55m Arsenal target

READ MORE: Nottingham Forest learn Keinan Davis transfer update amid Aston Villa talk

Head coach Steve Cooper is said to be interested in a number of left-backs to provide competition to Harry Toffolo, given the injury to summer signing Omar Richards. Real Betis' Alex Moreno was among those linked, but he turned down the opportunity to stay in Spain.

Forest had seemingly turned their attention to Biraghi by making a bid. Now, according to Prade, that is not true. Nottingham Forest have not sent any bid for Biraghi - fake news, he told Fabrizio Romano.

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Nottingham Forest transfer claim dismissed as 'fake news' by club chief - Nottinghamshire Live

In a shocking turn of events, Mike Tyson lately called out the popular online streaming platform Hulu. He accused them of stealing his life rights. Hulu was all set to release an 8-episode limited series called Mike on the 25th of August. Inspired by the life and struggle of the former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson, Mike promised to explore the tumultuous ups and downs of Tysons boxing career and personal life.

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However, with less than a month remaining, Tyson took to Twitter and besmirched Hulu, accusing the latter of stealing his story and calling them out in public. Tysons message was direct and indignant and it informed that he was not a black man Hulu thought they could sell at an auction.

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Watch This Story Movies and Documentaries About Mike Tyson Every Fan Must Watch

In a recent conversation with ESNEWS, Mike Tyson talked about what he thought of Hulus portrayal of him. He said, Its all fake stuff. They got probably most of the BS from the headlines of the stuff that I wrote. But they have no real significance and stuff. Not that I know of.

Here is what Tyson added next about Hulu and his individual documentary projects concerning his own life.

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Even after Mike Tysons protests and condemnation and the backlash that Hulu received from the fans, they are planning to go ahead with their controversial project. Tyson is in no mood to appreciate such greedy and exploitative behavior. On being asked if Hulu was still planning to go forward with their production of Mike, Tyson replied, I believe so, yeah. Further criticizing and expressing his disapproval, he added, Have you seen him jump ropes and train? Do you think the guy had two amateur fights?

Reportedly, Tyson is also working on his own story. So, when can the fans see that? Tyson replied saying, As soon as the fake news stuff is over. Then you will have the real exclusive story from my mouth.

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What do you think of Tysons take on Hulus portrayal of Mike? And will you look forward to seeing Tysons own, exclusive, and real project? Let us know in the comments.

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56-Year-Old Mike Tyson Launches Triade Against Multi-Billion-Dollar Corporation: As Soon as the Fake News is Over - EssentiallySports

"In the age of fake news and disinformation, we need journalists more than ever to document the unseen and expose the fault lines in our society", Justice D. Y. Chandrachud has remarked.

The Supreme Court judge was delivering his address at the 11th Convocation and Founder's Day Ceremony at the O. P. Jindal Global University.

Following are the excerpts from his address :

"As I reach out to the parents across the stadium, I reach out to my own parents. You are fortunate to have your parents in the stadium. My parents are way above the twinkling stars. But I am today where I am and I exist today because of the unstinted dedication, the care, the love and the compassion which my mother showed to me as a sickly, young child who was given a wrong antibiotic in the 1960s and I survived to see the day thanks to just the love and affection which my parents gave me. I would like to congratulate your resilience in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic which has transformed our lives. These unprecedented times have also made us aware of our innate ability to adapt and to be empathetic to others. We count on the blessing of life itself, countless others across the world have not been as fortunate", expressed Justice Chandrachud.

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In The Age Of Fake News, We Need Journalists More Than Ever To Document The Unseen & Expose Fault Lines... - Live Law - Indian Legal News

MUMBAI : Imlie has done well on the TRP charts since it hit the screens.

Also read:Imlie: OMG! Imlie loses her child, Aryan is shaken up

The audience is in love with the chemistry between Aryan and Imlie. Aditya is still disturbed by their relationship. Cheeni and Aryan's camaraderie has become the talk of the town.

Aryan asks Malini to get the footage and go to the police station with him and she gives the footage to the officer.

Just as she is about to speak against Imlie, Aryan interrupts her and tells the officer that Imlie is innocent. He convinces the officer that Imlie is being framed and that it werent her laddoos but the caterers laddoos that made the children sick. Malini is stunned by this and doesnt know what to say.

Imlie confronts Aryan to know why did her first get her arrested and then save her. He didn't even like the laddus then why did he take more. Just then Aryan reveals that she is out from this one but how will she prove her innocence in the fake news matter. Imlie challenges him that the truth will come out sooner or later.

Police brings Girish to the custody, Imlie sees him and starts beating him, Aryan intervenes and confronts him to confess his crime, he asks him to tell the truth about who bribed him to frame Imlie, when he is about to say the name, Malini attacks him and he falls unconscious. Malini asks Aryan to return to Delhi with her, Aryan apologises to Imlie and tells her that he never wants to see her again.

At home, Meethi tells Cheeni about everything that happened at the police station. Cheeni insists on knowing the truth about Imlie and Aryan, Meethi finally reveals that 6 years ago they got married but something happened and they got apart. Cheeni promises Meethi that she will bring them together no matter what. And if anyone tries to separate them then she will not spare the person.

What will happen now?

Also read:EXPLOSIVE! Aryan comes to know Malini's true face; Imlie traps her in a new plan

For more exciting updates, stay tuned to Tellychakkar.com

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HIGHPOINT DRAMA! Aryan apologises to Imlie for the fake news matter; Cheeni decides to unite Arylie after knowing the truth in StarPlus' Imlie -...

In this photo illustration, the People's Republic of China flag logo is displayed on a smartphone screen on 25 July 2022. A Chinese marketing firm hosted a ring of at least 72 fake news sites in 11 languages with corresponding fake social media personas that pushed Chinese government talking points, according to research published Thursday.

Budrul Chukrut | Lightrocket | Getty Images

A Chinese marketing firm hosted a ring of at least 72 fake news sites in 11 languages with corresponding fake social media personas that pushed Chinese government talking points, according toresearchpublished Thursday.

NBC News has viewed the English-language sites, which obscure their ownership and authors. Their articles frequently criticized the U.S. and the West, and appeared to attempt to smooth over concerns in those countries, such as Chinalimiting democracy in Hong Kongandputting ethnic minority Uyghur citizens into detention camps.

According to Mandiant, the company that produced the report, the sites were hosted on internet infrastructure owned by a Chinese marketing company, Shanghai Haixun Technology.

It's unclear who would have organized the campaign, and neither a spokesperson for China's embassy in Washington nor Shanghai Haixun Technology responded to requests for comment. According to Shanghai Haixun'swebsite, the company offers clients in China the opportunity to get their talking points published on news sites in more than 40 languages and in more than 140 countries, and it boasts that it's gotten clients covered in English-language news outlets like The Associated Press and Reuters.

The report adds to a growing list ofexamplesofdisinformation operationsattributedto China, many of which have failed to gain much traction. Dakota Cary, a China analyst at the Krebs-Stamos Group, a cybersecurity company, said the ring of news sites appeared to be a clumsy attempt by a pro-China group to influence Western conversation.

"The campaign observed by Mandiant is another example of how China is unable to influence cultural narratives with inauthentic accounts and forged documents," said Cary, who was not involved in Mandiant's research.

In at least one case, the campaign appeared to have leveraged forged letters to smear an anthropologist, Adrian Zenz, who has publishedsignificant researchon China's treatment of Uyghurs.

The letters appear to have first surfaced online in December, when photographs of them were posted by the Twitter account of a persona named Jonas Drosten. That account has since been suspended, though Google has acached versionof theaccount that is still visible.

A Twitter spokesperson told NBC News it had suspended multiple accounts related to the campaign, but declined to share specifics.

The three letters all concern the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, the Washington think tank where Zenz works. The first, purportedly from the desk of Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., thanks Zenz and appears to tie him to former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, referred to simply as "Bannon." The other two appeared to be evidence of the foundation paying Zenz more than half a million dollars for his research.

Read more of CNBC's politics coverage:

Spokespeople for Rubio's office and the foundation confirmed to NBC News that the letters are fake. However, they were treated as authentic in several articles about Zenz in the Shanghai Haixun news ring. China Daily, the country's primary state-sponsored English news outlet, alsowrote an articletreating them as authentic in May. Neither China Daily nor the author of that article, Mark Pinkstone, responded to requests for comment.

The use of forged U.S. government letters and fake social media profiles echoes a previous information operation that another cybersecurity firm, Recorded Future, hasattributed to Russia. In that campaign, the forged letters appeared designed to erode support for NATO, the U.S.-led military alliance.

Zenz is a common target for Chinese officials. Last year, the Chinese Communist Party's head of propaganda, Xu Guixiang, held anews conferencededicated to trying to discredit him.

Zenz told NBC News that while he is used togetting criticism from China for his work, this is the most elaborate effort to date.

"I've been subjected to lots of smear campaigns," Zenz said in a phone call. "This one seemed to be slightly more sophisticated because it tried to build a credible argument, with connections, using even fake documents, trying to build a narrative that some people could believe."

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Dozens of fake news websites and social media accounts pushed pro-China talking points - CNBC