How can we recognize fake news?

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Eaglerising
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How can we recognize fake news?

Post by Eaglerising »

How do people recognize unsubstantiated beliefs and fake news? What can be done to stop fake news from overshadowing or replacing substantiated facts? Over the past several years there has been a rapid growth in the number of media outlets reporting unsubstantiated beliefs and various ideologies as being factual. The growing popularity of these outlets appeals to both the educated and uneducated. Neither are able to distinguish what’s real from what is fake or inaccurate. Why aren't educated people able to recognize fake news?
Steve3007
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Re: How can we recognize fake news?

Post by Steve3007 »

I think that to answer this you have to consider the wider question of how you work out the likelihood that any narrative is true or false or somewhere in between. The usual techniques involve doing things like:

1. Examine the motives of the person/organisation telling the story. Do they appear to have a vested interest in a particular version of the story? Have they shown any signs in the past of considering other viewpoints or do they tend to always support one particular worldview? Have they previously shown themselves to be open to assigning blame and praise wherever it is due, or do they cherry pick?

2. Try to find other accounts of the same alleged facts by different people, preferably with a different worldview. If different people with different motives and interests are telling broadly the same story then that increases the probability that there is some truth there. The snag: If they're telling completely different stories then this doesn't help.

3. Find an example of something that you personally know to be true or false and then look at a few stories to see how it's reported by various sources. If you can do it, this is the best option. But unfortunately the vast majority of us have no direct personal experience of the stories we see on the news and whose truth or falsehood we're trying to assess.
Eaglerising
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Re: How can we recognize fake news?

Post by Eaglerising »

I like you suggestions. What bothers me is the growing popularity of people believing in unsubstantiated believes and ideologies, especially the college educated. I wonder why?
Fooloso4
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Re: How can we recognize fake news?

Post by Fooloso4 »

We do not have to worry about recognizing fake news, Trump tells us when it is fake news.

Seriously, Steve is on the right track. There are reputable fact-checking sources that go into depth. Comparing what they say is good practice. If it has not already happened, I suspect we will find sites cropping up pretending to be independent, objective fact-checking sources that are not.
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Felix
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Re: How can we recognize fake news?

Post by Felix »

If it has not already happened, I suspect we will find sites cropping up pretending to be independent, objective fact-checking sources that are not.
I have seen numerous sites that pretend to be impartial but are actually a propaganda vehicle of paid lobbyists. Determining who hosts the site and the source of their revenue can reveal their true identity (admittedly not always easy). The sort of ads that appear on a site can also be a major clue. For example, during the last US election, a great deal of fake news re: Clinton and Trump was published on blogs that were financed by Google ads. Perhaps you heard the stories of enterprising teenagers in Eastern Europe making thousands of dollars a month from Google Adwords on their fake news blog sites.

When it comes to internet news, assuming guilt (a lie) until proven innocent (a fact) is probably the most sensible stance to take.
"We do not see things as they are; we see things as we are." - Anaïs Nin
Eaglerising
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Re: How can we recognize fake news?

Post by Eaglerising »

Two reliable sources are BBC and HBO's VICE nightly news. Neither involve advertising.
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Sy Borg
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Re: How can we recognize fake news?

Post by Sy Borg »

This has long been the problem on the internet, long before . For many years my approach was to check information by adding the terms site:edu or site:edu.au to capture information from educational institutions. It's far from infallible, but it was helpful at times.

Ultimately this is about judgement. Caveat emptor. For instance, with Dr Google "in surgery" 24/7 the information can range from risk-managed advice with potential lawsuits in mind to the tinfoil conspiracy theory myths that the hard right and left find so emotionally satisfying.
Eaglerising
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Re: How can we recognize fake news?

Post by Eaglerising »

Steve3007 provided 3-logical ways for checking the validity of a story, which is fine if the end result is logical. Greta pointed out, it's all about judgment. Unfortunately, the end result is illogical, which suggests that the source and transmission of fake news is illogical. I say this, because the end result is the same as what we start with, regardless of what it is called. If the end result is illogical, the source be illogical.

This indicates the source of our news has changed. We can see this if we examine the changes which have occurred in our lives and source of our news over the past 20-years. We have become more complacent due to all the conflict associated with polarization, especially during elections. Unemployment, underwater mortgages, hate crimes, and uncertainty has increased our anxiety level, causing us to be more irrational. If that isn’t bad enough, Twitter, Facebook, blogs, and various social networks conceal the original source of our news. Thus, our closest source is often one of our friends and co-workers. We listen and trust them more, making a social media feed fertile ground for fake news to invade into our consciousness. We can’t distinguish between real news and fake news because we don’t even question the credibility of the source of news when we are online. Why would we, when we think of ourselves or our friends as the source?
Eduk
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Re: How can we recognize fake news?

Post by Eduk »

How do people recognize unsubstantiated beliefs and fake news? What can be done to stop fake news from overshadowing or replacing substantiated facts?
I'm not convinced anything is different now than it has ever been regarding what and why people believe things?
If you are asking how do I recognise fake news I can give many tools and examples in the manner which Steve did. But I don't think that is the question you are asking? I think you are asking how can I stop other people from unreasonable beliefs?
That is a genuinely tough question to answer. Being reasonable in your beliefs is a good start and teaching others by example. Being the change you want to see in the world to quote Gandhi. Those are realistic things you can do, it might seem like that only offers small influence but I believe the influence is profound in the long run.
Ultimately I wouldn't give up and I wouldn't expect too much. At the end of the day reality is reality and it will correct the worst excesses of unreasonableness eventually (or kill us all I guess).
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Eaglerising
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Re: How can we recognize fake news?

Post by Eaglerising »

Obviously, how most view and respond to news and other information have changed over the past 20 years. Are you saying that those changes hasn't had any affect on how view news and information?

Yes, I am wondering if anything can be done to curb the growth of fake news. I brought this subject up because of how it affecting every aspect of our lives. Half the public and the didn't think Donald Trump had a chance of being President. English voters surprised Europe by voting for Brexit. These are just two examples.
Eduk
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Re: How can we recognize fake news?

Post by Eduk »

I'm not arguing that technology hasn't changed news, or that society hasn't changed with it. But I would argue we are human and basically the same humans as we were probably thousands of years ago, evolution is a slow process. Like I said I can give many tools to aid against fake news for those who are interested in learning those tools, but I can't force their use upon others. More to the point I can't force their use upon cultures and groups.
Again like I said the best you can do is be what you want others to be. Over time you will change people, you do have an influence. You will be unlikely to influence the billions of people you would like to, you'll just have to settle for a handful :)
I'm also not convinced that written words alone are the best tool, I prefer actual real world interaction, face to face. Unfortunately all the groups I know of who I could possibly influence are groups diametrically in opposition of rational thought, or uninterested, or already rational :) So I have to make do with piecemeal influence as it comes.
Unknown means unknown.
Eaglerising
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Re: How can we recognize fake news?

Post by Eaglerising »

I find it alarming that those who are able to recognize fake news are unable to see see how it affecting those who believe it. The problem will probably continue to get worse and nothing is going to stop it. The illogical are not interested logic or common sense. They are attracted to gossip and paranoia. In turn our country becomes more fearful and polarized.
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Sy Borg
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Re: How can we recognize fake news?

Post by Sy Borg »

Generally, a propaganda war will precede a physical war. A propaganda war helps each side to objectify the other enough to sanction violence against them.
Eduk
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Re: How can we recognize fake news?

Post by Eduk »

Propaganda isn't required to be equal on both sides. Rounding people up and killing them on mass requires propaganda, being round up and murdered on mass doesn't require any propaganda.
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Steve3007
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Re: How can we recognize fake news?

Post by Steve3007 »

Greta:
Generally, a propaganda war will precede a physical war. A propaganda war helps each side to objectify the other enough to sanction violence against them.
This is true. It's interesting and instructive to look at examples to see how this works in practice and to remind us of the "banality of evil" - the fact that monstrous acts of inhumanity between peoples are not things that are done by monsters, possessed by some kind of devil, but by ordinary people like you and me. We cannot and should not try to comfort ourselves by pretending otherwise. For example, look at the Hutu/Tutsi genocide in Rwanda which was preceded by radio broadcasts in which Tutsis in general were labelled as cockroaches and rats. Compare it to the similar labelling of Jews in 1930s Germany (or of Mexicans in 2016 US Republican party campaigning?)
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