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Category Archives: Fake News

FAKE NEWS | definition in the Cambridge English Dictionary

Posted: December 21, 2022 at 3:48 am

Ban called the attacks part of a "fake news" campaign to discredit him and his family. However, the rash of fake news is a relatively new problem. Some purveyors of fake news might regard a "disputed" tag as a badge of honor. Only a very small amount is fake news and hoaxes. Among its recommendations: plant fake news and promote exaggerated polling data. Hackers, fake news, conspiracy theories tweeted and retweeted. Does the company accept any responsibility for the propagation of fake news via its platform? Fake news exists primarily to generate profit through web traffic. People should be concerned when public officials defend the practice of spreading fake news. And then there's all of that fake news. But the growth of social media has made it possible to spread fake news farther and easier than ever before. It wasn't until the rise of web-generated news that our era's journalistic norms were seriously challenged, and fake news became a powerful force again. This is a small step, and one that won't solve the broader problem of "fake news" and the lack of faith in our institutions.

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

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FAKE NEWS | definition in the Cambridge English Dictionary

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Fake news. It’s complicated. – First Draft

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Gain mastery over vaccine misinformation with our free online workshops, perfect for journalists, researchers, academics, teachers and NGOs

This article is available also in Deutsch, Espaol, Franais and

By now weve all agreed the term fake news is unhelpful, but without an alternative, were left awkwardly using air quotes whenever we utter the phrase. The reason were struggling with a replacement is because this is about more than news, its about the entire information ecosystem. And the term fake doesnt begin to describe the complexity of the different types of misinformation (the inadvertent sharing of false information) and disinformation (the deliberate creation and sharing of information known to be false).

To understand the current information ecosystem, we need to break down three elements:

This matters. As Danah Boyd outlined in a recent piece, we are at war. An information war. We certainly should worry about people (including journalists) unwittingly sharing misinformation, but far more concerning are the systematic disinformation campaigns. Previous attempts to influence public opinion relied on one-to-many broadcast technologies but, social networks allow atoms of propaganda to be directly targeted at users who are more likely to accept and share a particular message. Once they inadvertently share a misleading or fabricated article, image, video or meme, the next person who sees it in their social feed probably trusts the original poster, and goes on to share it themselves. These atoms then rocket through the information ecosystem at high speed powered by trusted peer-to-peer networks.

This is far more worrying than fake news sites created by profit driven Macedonian teenagers.

Back in November, I wrote about the different types of problematic information I saw circulate during the US election. Since then, Ive been trying to refine a typology (and thank you to Global Voices for helping me to develop my definitions even further). I would argue there are seven distinct types of problematic content that sit within our information ecosystem. They sit on a scale, one that loosely measures the intent to deceive.

If were serious about developing solutions to these problems, we also need to think about who is creating these different types of content and why it is being created.

I saw Eliot Higgins present in Paris in early January, and he listed four Ps which helped explain the different motivations. Ive been thinking about these a great deal and using Eliots original list have identified four additional motivations for the creation of this type of content: Poor Journalism, Parody, to Provoke or Punk, Passion, Partisanship, Profit, Political Influence or Power, and Propaganda.

This is a work in progress but once you start breaking these categories down and mapping them against one another you begin to see distinct patterns in terms of the types of content created for specific purposes.

Finally, we need to think about how this content is being disseminated. Some of it is being shared unwittingly by people on social media, clicking retweet without checking. Some of it is being amplified by journalists who are now under more pressure than ever to try and make sense and accurately report information emerging on the social web in real time. Some of it is being pushed out by loosely connected groups who are deliberately attempting to influence public opinion, and some of it is being disseminated as part of sophisticated disinformation campaigns, through bot networks and troll factories. (As you can see I need to work up a 3D matrix to map my graph against the different dissemination mechanisms).

As this Buzzfeed article highlights, a group of US Trump supporting teenagers have connected online to influence the French election in April. They have shared folders of sharable meme-shells so even those who cant speak French can drop visuals into hashtag streams. Its now incredibly easy for loosely connected groups to mobilize, using free tools to co-ordinate private messaging.

When messaging is co-ordinated and consistent, it easily fools our brains, already exhausted and increasingly reliant on heuristics (simple psychological shortcuts) due to the overwhelming amount of information flashing before our eyes every day. When we see multiple messages about the same topic, our brains use that as a short-cut to credibility. It must be true we say Ive seen that same claim several times today.

On the night of the Inauguration attendees at the Deploraball boasted to This American Life they memed Trump into the White House. Listen to an excerpt.

They understand that were much less likely to be critical of visuals. Were much less likely to be critical of information that supports our existing beliefs. And, as information overload exhausts our brains, were much easier to influence.

We all play a crucial part in this ecosystem. Every time we passively accept information without double-checking, or share a post, image or video before weve verified it, were adding to the noise and confusion. The ecosystem is now so polluted, we have to take responsibility for independently checking what we see online.

In the weeks after the US election, we saw journalists track down fake news creators.One consistent element was that creators talked about trying to create news that would fool people on the Left and how they failed. As fake news creator Jestin Coler told NPR, Weve tried to do similar things to liberals. It just has never worked, it never takes off. Youll get debunked within the first two comments and then the whole thing just kind of fizzles out.

But liberal debunking primacy was short lived. Since Trumps inauguration, were seeing both sides falling for and sharing false information.Whether its the rogue Twitter accounts that no one has been able to independently verify, the Trump executive order meme generator, users re-tweeting a post by Jill Steins parody account desperately wanting it to be real, or claiming Vice-President Pence has deleted a tweet condemning the Muslim ban when it was still sitting on his timeline from December, the Left is showing that it is just as human as the Right. When humans are angry and fearful, their critical thinking skills diminish.

Craig Silverman was a guest on the On The Media radio show and talked about the need for emotional skepticism. I couldnt agree more. This isnt just about funding more news literacy projects, this is about teaching people to second guess their instinctual reactions. If you find yourself incredibly angry at a piece of content or feeling smug (because your viewpoint has been reaffirmed), take another look.

In the same way that youre told to wait 20 minutes before you reach for a second helping of food, because you need to wait for your brain to catch up with your stomach, the same is true with information. Maybe you dont need to wait 20 minutes before clicking the share button, but two minutes is probably sensible.

This is a crucial time. If were going to truly understand the situation we find ourselves in, we need to understand the severity and we need to understand what were fighting. Throwing the term fake news around, even with air quotes, is getting us nowhere.

If you are interested in this topic. I have created an ongoing reading list.

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Fake news. It's complicated. - First Draft

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Fake news: What is it? And how to spot it – CBBC Newsround

Posted: at 3:48 am

Lots of us like to share things on social media or talk to our friends about things we've seen online, but do you always make sure it's true before you share it?

Many of us like to share news and stories on social media with our friends.

We all share things for different reasons. Perhaps it's an interesting story, news about a celebrity that you like, or something that made you laugh.

But when you see something you like online, do you check to make sure that it's true before you share it?

Not everything that we read or see on the internet is true - and if it isn't, and we share it, we could be making more people believe something that is actually made up.

Stories like this are called fake news and they can be a problem.

What is fake news?

Fake news is news or stories on the internet that are not true.

There are two kinds of fake news:

It is happening a lot at the moment, with many people publishing these stories in order to get as many shares as possible.

To enjoy the CBBC Newsround website at its best you will need to have JavaScript turned on.

Now that we have social media, it is much easier for these stories to spread quickly, which can be a problem.

It is also easier than it used to be to edit photos, and create fake websites and stories that look realistic.

Why is it a problem?

Fake news is a problem for different reasons.

The first kind of fake news - deliberate lies - is a problem because it can make people believe things that are completely untrue.

The second kind - when people publish something without checking that it's completely right - can make people have less trust in the media, as well as make everyone believe something that might be inaccurate.

People also only tend to share things that they agree with. So if people are sharing a lot of fake news, and lots of people believe it, it's easy to get sucked into a bubble that is actually completely different to the real world - and a long way from the truth.

If you're sure if a story is accurate or not, speak to an adult you trust about it

When is fake news not fake news?

Sometimes, a story might be called fake news (when actually it isn't) by someone, or a group of people, who don't want to accept that the news is true - even if it might be.

They will tell people that a story is fake, just because they don't want it to be true.

Some people will call things fake news, when really they just have a different opinion.

Calling something fake news, when it isn't really, is a problem as it can mean some people don't know what to believe anymore.

Why are we talking about it?

Fake news has become a big issue recently - especially following the US election.

One of the most shared stories during the US election was about Donald Trump, who is now president of the US.

One of the most shared stories during the US election about Donald Trump turned out to be completely fake

Many people reported that he had called his own Republican voters "the dumbest group of voters in the country". But he never even said it.

There were also lots of fake news stories written about his opponent Hillary Clinton.

Some people say that fake news stories can have an effect on how people vote, which - if true - is also a serious problem.

As a result of the rise of fake news, the UK Parliament launched an investigation into it.

To enjoy the CBBC Newsround website at its best you will need to have JavaScript turned on.

The group behind the investigation looked at where fake news comes from, how it spreads and what impact it has.

It particularly wanted to look at the effect - if any - that fake news can have on important political decisions, like elections.

How to spot fake news

If you want to try to make sure that you don't get caught out by fake news, there a few things you can look out for.

Ask yourself:

If the answer to any of these questions is 'no', you might want to check it out a bit more, before spreading the word.

If you're at all unsure, speak to an adult that you trust about the story to find out a bit more about it.

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Kangana Ranaut reacts to reports about Emergency allowed to be shot in Parliament: Its fake news – Bollywood Hungama

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Kangana Ranaut reacts to reports about Emergency allowed to be shot in Parliament: Its fake news  Bollywood Hungama

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Kangana Ranaut reacts to reports about Emergency allowed to be shot in Parliament: Its fake news - Bollywood Hungama

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Due diligence was required, or a Google search: The Quint CEO pulls up Ravish Kumar on his claims of Adani owning the organisation – OpIndia

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Due diligence was required, or a Google search: The Quint CEO pulls up Ravish Kumar on his claims of Adani owning the organisation  OpIndia

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Due diligence was required, or a Google search: The Quint CEO pulls up Ravish Kumar on his claims of Adani owning the organisation - OpIndia

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Fake news: How to spot misinformation : Life Kit : NPR

Posted: December 2, 2022 at 3:34 am

Fake news has consequences.

Back in 2016, before the term was even part of our national vocabulary, it threw the government of Twin Falls, Idaho, into chaos.

Rumors of a government cover-up involving child molestation and Syrian refugees swirled. They soon leaped from the fringes of the Internet to kitchen tables and the mainstream media.

"Members of the local government, the mayor, the city council members, local judges, the county prosecutor, they were basically inundated for months on end with threats," says Caitlin Dickerson, who covered the story for The New York Times. "Violent threats. Very visceral and descriptive threats from all over the world."

But the outrage was not based on facts. The details were blurred in some cases, completely fabricated in others, depending on the storyteller and their agenda.

It was a grave example of how misinformation can have a terrifying real-world impact. But falsehoods aren't hard to come by in today's information landscape.

Here are five tips to help you spot misinformation. (Or if you would rather listen, check out the Life Kit podcast here.)

1) Exercise skepticism

Take in any new information, whether it's the news or on social media or from a buddy at happy hour, with a bit of doubt. Expect the source to prove their work and show how they came to their conclusion. And try to compare information from a number of different outlets, even if you have a favorite.

2) Understand the misinformation landscape

Misinformation, as a concept, isn't new. But the social media platforms for engaging with it are constantly changing and increasing their influence in the media world. Those platforms have no financial obligation to tell the truth their business models depend on user engagement. Reducing your dependence on social media will be good for your news judgment (and your sleep).

3) Pay extra attention when reading about emotionally-charged and divisive topics

Misinformation is most effective on hot-button issues and immediate news. Ask yourself: Is this a complicated subject, something that's hitting an emotional trigger? Or is it a breaking news story where the facts aren't yet able to be assembled? If the answer is yes, then you need to be ultra-skeptical.

4) Investigate what you're reading or seeing

What does that skepticism look like in practice? It means asking some questions of what you're reading or seeing: Is the content paid for by a company or politician or other potentially biased source? Is there good evidence? And are the numbers presented in context?

(The News Literacy Project created an app to help people test and strengthen their media literacy skills.)

5) Yelling probably won't solve misinformation

It's important to value the truth, but correcting people is always delicate. If someone in your life is spreading objective falsehoods and you want to help, be humble. Don't assume bad intentions or stupidity, just meet the other person where they are and be curious think about opening with common ground and a question. Try to have the conversation in person or at least in a private online setting, like an email.

If you want more resources, Media Literacy Now is a good place to start.

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How the US Government Used Propaganda to Sell Americans on … – HISTORY

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When the United States declared war on Germany in April 1917, President Woodrow Wilsonfaced a reluctant nation. Wilson had, after all, won his reelection in 1916 with the slogan, He kept us out of the war. To convince Americans that going to war in Europe was necessary, Wilson created the Committee on Public Information (CPI), to focus on promoting the war effort.

To head up the committee, Wilson appointed a brilliant political public relations man, George Creel. As head of the CPI, Creel was in charge of censorship as well as flag-waving, but he quickly passed the censors job to Postmaster General Albert S. Burleson. The Post Office already had the power to bar materials from the mail and revoke the reduced postage rates given to newspapers and magazines.

George Creel, head of the Committee on Public Information, at the War Exposition in Chicago in 1918. (Credit: Library of Congress/Corbis/VCG/Getty Images)

Creel dispatches positive news to stir a war-will among Americans

Handsome, charismatic, and indefatigable, Creel thought big and out of the box. He disliked the word propaganda, which he associated with Germanys long campaign of disinformation. To him, the CPIs business was more like advertising, a vast enterprise in salesmanship that emphasized the positive. A veteran of Wilsons two successful presidential campaigns, Creel knew how to organize an army of volunteers, and 150,000 men and women answered his call. The Washington office, which operated on a shoestring, was part government communications bureau and part media conglomerate, with divisions for news, syndicated features, advertising, film, and more. At Wilsons insistence, the CPI also published the Official Bulletin, the executive-branch equivalent of the Congressional Record.

Creels first idea was to distribute good news and disclose as many facts about the war as he could without compromising national security. His M.O. was simple: flood the country with press releases disguised as news stories. Summing up after the war, Creel said he aimed to weld the people of the United States into one white-hot mass instinct and give them a war-will, the will to win.

The Committee on Public Informations Official Bulletin. (Credit: The National Archives)

During the 20 months of the U.S. involvement in the war, the CPI issued nearly all government announcements and sent out 6,000 press releases written in the straightforward, understated tone of newspaper articles. It also designed and circulated more than 1,500 patriotic advertisements. In addition, Creel distributed uncounted articles by famous authors who had agreed to write for free. At one point, newspapers were receiving six pounds of CPI material a day. Editors eager to avoid trouble with the Post Office and the Justice Department published reams of CPI material verbatim and often ran the patriotic ads for free.

Propaganda describes the enemy as mad brute

For the first two months, nearly all of the information generated by the CPI consisted of announcements and propaganda of the cheerleading variety: salutes to Americas wartime achievements and American ideals. At Creels direction, the CPI celebrated Americas immigrants and fought the perception that those who hailed from Germany, Austria, and Hungary were less American than their neighbors. Creel thought it savvier to try to befriend large ethnic groups than to attack them.

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But after two months, Creel and Wilson could see that popular enthusiasm for the war was nowhere near white-hot. So on June 14, 1917, Wilson used the occasion of Flag Day to paint a picture of American soldiers about to carry the Stars and Stripes into battle and die on fields soaked in blood. And for what? he asked. In calling for a declaration of war, he had argued that the world must be made safe for democracy, but with his 1917 Flag Day speech, he trained the countrys sights on a less exalted goal: the destruction of the government of Germany, which was bent on world domination.

World War I US Army enlistment poster Destroy this Mad Brute. (Credit: Photo12/UIG via Getty Images)

After Flag Day, the CPI continued to churn out positive news by the ton, but it also began plastering the country with lurid posters of ape-like German soldiers, some with bloody bayonets, others with bare-breasted young females in their clutches. Destroy this mad brute, read one caption. It also funded films with titles like The Kaiser: The Beast of Berlin and The Prussian Curse.

Vigilantes inflict terror on suspected skeptics of the war

The CPIs happy news sometimes downplayed the shortcomings of the U.S. war effort, but the demonizing of all Germans played to low instincts. Thousands of self-appointed guardians of patriotism began to harass pacifists, socialists, and German immigrants who were not citizens. And many Americans took CPIs dark warnings to heart.

Even the most casual expression of doubt about the war could trigger a beating by a mob, and the humiliation of being made to kiss the flag in public. Americans who declined to buy Liberty Bonds (issued by the Treasury to finance the war) sometimes awoke to find their homes streaked with yellow paint. Several churches of pacifist sects were set ablaze. Scores of men suspected of disloyalty were tarred and feathered, and a handful were lynched. Most of the violence was carried out in the dark by vigilantes who marched their victims to a spot outside the city limits, where the local police had no jurisdiction. Perpetrators who were apprehended were rarely tried, and those tried were almost never found guilty. Jurors hesitated to convict, afraid that they too would be accused of disloyalty and roughed up.

Both Creel and Wilson privately deplored the vigilantes, but neither acknowledged his role in turning them loose. Less violent but no less regrettable were the actions taken by state and local governments and countless private institutions to fire German aliens, suspend performances of German music, and ban the teaching of German in schools.

In their effort to unify the country, Wilson and Creel deployed their own versions of fake news. While the worst that can be said of the sunny fake news flowing out of the CPI was that it was incomplete, the dark fake news, which painted the enemy as subhuman, let loose a riptide of hatred and emboldened thousands to use patriotism as an excuse for violence.

Patricia OToole is the author of five books, including The Moralist: Woodrow Wilson and theWorld He Madeand TheFive of Hearts: An Intimate Portrait of Henry Adams and His Friends, which was a finalist forthe Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award.

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TMCs Saket Gokhale spreads fake report claiming 30 crore was spent on PMs Morbi visit citing RTI response that does not exist – OpIndia

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TMCs Saket Gokhale spreads fake report claiming 30 crore was spent on PMs Morbi visit citing RTI response that does not exist  OpIndia

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Fighting Misinformation, Meet Andy Norman, Who is Empowering People to Combat Fake News – News18

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Fighting Misinformation, Meet Andy Norman, Who is Empowering People to Combat Fake News  News18

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Fake News: Why People Believe, How It Spreads, and What You Can Do …

Posted: October 2, 2022 at 4:30 pm

From loose tigers to voter fraud, news outlets and social media have contributed to the explosive growth of fake news stories and false information in recent years.

But if one thing has become increasingly clear, its that fake news can have very real, very dangerous consequences.

We spoke to Jeff Hemsley, Josh Introne, Bei Yu, and Lu Xiao each of them a professor here at the Syracuse University School of Information Studies to dig into the nature of fake news and what we can all do to mitigate its impact.

Looking for a program that lets you study informations effect on society? Check out our undergraduate and graduate programs at the iSchool.

Its one thing to hear something that isnt true. Its another to believe it. Its these beliefs that lead to action, which can have both positive and negative repercussions.

Josh Introne, Assistant Professor of Information Studies at the iSchool, studies how our belief systems impact the stories and information we choose to accept as true.

His research examines belief systems pools of interconnected beliefs that are likely to occur together within certain populations.

He says, for example, that a person who believes that the Affordable Care Act was an important step in improving healthcare is also likely to support gun control as a means of addressing gun violence.

Introne attributes peoples individual susceptibility to false information to their belief systems and tribalism a state where the identity of the group becomes more important than the identity of the individual.

Read the full story: How our Belief Systems Make us More Susceptible to Misinformation

Fake news isnt just some online phenomenon. As events like Pizzagate and the 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol make clear, a popular fake news story can result in violent action and fatal consequences.

Jeff Hemsley, Associate Professor of Information Studies at the iSchool, argues that many instances of fake news, such as those peddled by President Trump, are really just propaganda distorted information thats published for someones political gain.

And whether its a wartime newspaper ad or a seemingly innocent social media post, propaganda is only successful to the extent that it spreads.

The things that tend to spread are things that are remarkable, he said, Remarkable just means people are talking about it. And thats virality.

Fake news gets shared because its often inflammatory in some way. That makes it exciting and worth talking about it.

The world can change as the result of viral events, Hemsley said.

If it turns out that the lie is sexier than the truth, then were in danger of undermining our very democracy.

Read the full story: When Fake News Turns Into Conspiracy Theories: The viral factor in todays media landscape, and what we can do to stop it

Some false information is the result of an honest mistake. Most fake news stories, on the other hand, are produced with the intent to deceive.

This is the difference between mis-information (honest) and dis-information (deceptive).

Bei Yu and Lu Xiao, both Associate Professors of Information Studies at the iSchool, study techniques of persuasion and how they are used to proliferate instances of disinformation.

Heres a few things they say you can do to spot fake news online

Here, they share five techniques they recommend for easily identifying when a piece of information is false or has been produced to deceive, and how to make sure your own bias doesnt get in the way of knowing when information is not true.

Read the full story: 5 Ways to Spot Misinformation and Disinformation Online

The prevalence of fake news, along with the sheer volume of information we interact with every day, can make it difficult to figure out whats true and whats not. When it comes to false information and especially disinformation, the consequences can be fatal.

Here are a few simple actions we can all do to take control of information in our own lives and reduce the impact that fake news can have in the real world:

When we make the effort to seek out truth, we commit to advancing a world built on honesty, transparency, and perhaps most importantly of all, trust among each other.

Looking for a program that lets you study informations effect on society? Check out our undergraduate and graduate programs at the iSchool.

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Fake News: Why People Believe, How It Spreads, and What You Can Do ...

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