Month: September 2024

How to Identify Fakes in the Media

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Article by Annique Mossou from Bellingcat.com, 11/1/21 (over a year old, but still good)

Headline: A Beginner’s Guide to Social Media Verification

“How can we tell whether the posts, articles and claims we see on the internet and social media sites are true? Online conspiracies and deliberately misleading, partisan content are serious issues, after all.”

. . . “Verification doesn’t need to be difficult. It also doesn’t require any complicated algorithms or access to advanced tools or programs that automatically detect whether an image may be fake or manipulated.

“A critical mindset and a close look at the context of an image or post, allied with simple tools such as a Google search or reverse image platforms, are often all it takes to discover whether a piece of content is genuine.”

https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/2021/11/01/a-beginners-guide-to-social-media-verification/

Reporters With Benefits as The Worm Turns

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Article by Guardian Staff in The Guardian, 9/20/24

Headline: “Reporter Olivia Nuzzi on leave after alleged personal relationship with RFK Jr revealed”

Subhead: “New York magazine politics writer profiled Kennedy during his presidential run and says their talks ‘turned personal’ “

“A top politics writer for New York Magazine has taken leave at the publication after it emerged that she allegedly had a personal relationship with Robert F Kennedy Jr, a scion of the Kennedy dynasty who ran a high-profile independent campaign for the White House before endorsing Donald Trump.

“Olivia Nuzzi, who has written extensive long-form pieces about US politics, including RFK Jr, violated the magazine’s standards around disclosing conflicts of interests, the publication said in a statement.

“Our Washington Correspondent Olivia Nuzzi acknowledged to the magazine’s editors that she had engaged in a personal relationship with a former subject relevant to the 2024 campaign . . . “.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/20/olivia-nuzzi-rfk-jr-nymag

 

Groups File to Protect FCC Ownership Rules

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Article in Freepress.net by Craig Aaron, 9/20/24

Headline: “Public-Interest Groups Defend FCC’s Broadcast-Ownership Rules Promoting Competition, Diversity and Localism on Air”

“On Friday, six public-interest, media-reform, media-justice and labor organizations joined to file an amicus curiae brief defending the Federal Communications Commission’s broadcast-ownership rules against an industry challenge in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.

“The six groups are Common Cause, the Communications Workers of America-National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians, Free Press, the Future of Music Coalition, the musicFIRST Coalition and the United Church of Christ Office of Communication, Inc. (“UCC Media Justice”). All of these entities have long participated in FCC proceedings and court cases on this issue. Attorneys Cheryl Leanza and Rachel Stillwell authored and filed the brief on the groups’ behalf.

“The FCC’s media-ownership rules are designed to promote competition, viewpoint diversity, ownership diversity and the delivery of local content by broadcast stations licensed to serve communities all across the United States.”

https://www.freepress.net/news/press-releases/public-interest-groups-defend-fccs-broadcast-ownership-rules

FCC  broadcast ownership rules:

https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/fccs-review-broadcast-ownership-rules

Article on the kkfistory website from community radio pioneers Lorenzo Milam and Jeremy Lansman who protested to the FCC against duopoly and bland, monolithic radio of 1974.

https://www.kkfistory.org/lorenzo-jeremys-petition-against-god/

Media Blamed for Assassination Attempts

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Article in Mediaite by David GilmourSep 9/19/24

Headline:  “Greg Gutfeld Blames Media for ‘Their Own Role’ in Trump Assassination Attempts”

. . . another attack on the media (sigh) . . .

“Fox News host Greg Gutfeld blasted “the media” for “their own role” in the two assassination plots against former President Donald Trump.

“Trump appeared on Gutfeld’s show on Wednesday night, just days after the Secret Service foiled a second assassination plot in months, arresting an individual who sought to shoot the Republican nominee as he played golf in Florida on Sunday.

“In the wake of the plot the Trump running mate Senator JD Vance (R-OH) accused “liberals” and the mainstream media of ramping up dangerous political rhetoric that was inspiring violence by calling the former president a “danger to democracy” or a “fascist.”

https://www.mediaite.com/tv/greg-gutfeld-blames-media-for-their-own-role-in-trump-assassination-attempts/

Skeptical about the Media due to Deep Fakes?

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Article in Ars Technica by Benj Edwards – 9/19/2024

Headline:  “Due to AI fakes, the “deep doubt” era is here”

Subhead:  “As AI deepfakes sow doubt in legitimate media, anyone can claim something didn’t happen.”

“Deep doubt is skepticism of real media that stems from the existence of generative AI. This manifests as broad public skepticism toward the veracity of media artifacts, which in turn leads to a notable consequence: People can now more credibly claim that real events did not happen and suggest that documentary evidence was fabricated using AI tools.”

. . . “When we are evaluating the veracity of online media, it’s important to rely on multiple corroborating sources, particularly those showing the same event from different angles in the case of visual media or reported from multiple credible sources in the case of text. It’s also useful to track down original reporting and imagery from verified accounts or official websites rather than trusting potentially modified screenshots circulating on social media. Information from varied eyewitness accounts and reputable news organizations can provide additional perspectives to help you look for logical inconsistencies between sources.”

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2024/09/due-to-ai-fakes-the-deep-doubt-era-is-here/

Repeating a Lie in the Media Doesn’t Make it True

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Article in Daily Kos by Xaxnar, 9/19/24

Headline: “Must-Read from Jamison Foser – How the media fails us by “Privileging the lie”

“When a news report treats the truthfulness of a lie as an open question, it privileges the lie. When a news report devotes more and more prominent space to recounting the lie and the liar’s defense of it than it does making clear that it’s a lie, the article privileges the lie. When a news report focuses on the target of a lie’s struggle to deal with the impact of the lie, the article privileges the lie. And when a news report focuses on the topic of the lie — even if it does a good job of making clear the lie is a lie — it privileges the lie, because it allows the liar to set the topic of conversation, and thus increases the electoral salience of a topic the liar believes is to his benefit.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/9/19/2270386/-Must-Read-from-Jamison-Foser-How-the-media-fails-us-by-Privileging-the-lie?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web

Going, Going, Gone!?

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Article by Don Jacobson on UPI, 9/19/25

Headline: “Trump Media shares reach new low as lockup period set to expire”

“Trump Media, which trades under the ticker symbol DTJ, is the parent company of the GOP nominee’s Truth Social social media platform.

“Thursday’s drop-off continued a six-day slide that has seen Trump Media shares fall more than 10%, wiping out billions in value as retail investors nervously eyed the expiration of the lockup period, under which early investors, including the former president himself, were barred from selling shares following a merger with publicly traded shell company.”

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2024/09/19/Trump-Media-shares-reach-new-low-lockup-period-set-expire/4501726765890/

Social Media Are Spying on You – Surprised?

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Article in the New York Times by Cecilia Kang, 9/19/24

Headline:  “F.T.C. Study Finds ‘Vast Surveillance’ of Social Media Users”

Subhead:  “Meta, YouTube and other sites collected more data than most users realized, a new report by the Federal Trade Commission finds.”

“The Federal Trade Commission said on Thursday it found that several social media and streaming services engaged in a “vast surveillance” of consumers, including minors, collecting and sharing more personal information than most users realized.”

. . . “The F.T.C. found that the companies voraciously consumed data about users, and often bought information about people who weren’t users through data brokers. They also gathered information from accounts linked to other services.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/19/technology/ftc-meta-tiktok-privacy-surveillance.html

And in Reuters – Headline:  “Social Media Users Lack Control Over Data Used bu AI, US FTC Says”

https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/social-media-users-lack-control-over-data-used-by-ai-us-ftc-says-2024-09-19/

 

 

Nobody Will Notice if Media Don’t Fact Check

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AP photo (edited)

Article in The Guardian by Alice Herman 8/17/24

Headline: “JD Vance defends pet-eating remarks: ‘The media has a responsibility to fact-check’”

Subhead: “Republican VP nominee claims at Wisconsin rally that constituents told him ‘they’d seen something in Springfield’”

OK to lie – if you can get away with it?

“JD Vance defended his comments about Haitian immigrants eating pets during a Tuesday rally, saying that ‘the media has a responsibility to fact-check’ stories – not him.

“The rally in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, came two days after the Ohio senator told CNN host Dana Bash it was OK ‘to create stories’ to draw attention to issues his constituents care about, regarding inflammatory and unfounded claims that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, had eaten residents’ pets.”

. . . “ ‘When I said – and the media always does this, they’re very dishonest – when I say that I created a story, I’m talking about the media story, by focusing the press’s intention on what’s going on in Springfield,’ said Vance.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/17/jd-vance-wisconsin-rally-immigrants-media

Pulling False Fire Alarms Distract Media

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Article in Daily Kos by James Jarmess, 9/16/24

Headline: The Sick Worn-out Trick That the Media keep Falling For — Every time

“(Rachel) Maddow just told the story of this kid who knows he is failing his Exam, in the middle of taking it. Desperate, he manages to pull the school’s Fire Alarm. Granted, he gets caught, and he catches hell for that stunt. But he is no longer ‘failing the Exam’ — everyone is now focused on his ‘bad behavior.’ Side benefit — the Exam was cancelled.

“Then Maddow draws that as an analogy of what Trump did in the Debate: When he realized he was ‘failing his Exam’ — before a national audience — he does something so unthinkable, it will change for discussion for days. Trump vehemently tells the made-up urban legend of Haitian immigrants stealing and eating pets.”

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/9/16/2270846/-The-sick-worn-out-Trick-that-the-Media-keeps-Falling-For-time-after-time?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web