EDWARD'S LECTURE NOTES:
More notes at http://tanguay.info/learntracker
C O U R S E
Fake News, Facts, and Alternative Facts
Josh Pasek, University of Michigan
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C O U R S E L E C T U R E Seven Types of Inaccurate News Notes taken on January 8, 2018 by Edward Tanguay |
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being able to produce a corpus of information that's accurate
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which expresses what's out there in a reasonable way
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is important to allow citizens to render an effective decision
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when people have information that they encounter which isn't accurate
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the results can end up making decisions that are sub-optimal
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example
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the fake news that Pope Francis endorsed Trump
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because people are prone to using heuristics, who the Pope endorses is a good measure of who might be a moral candidate
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this may cloud people's view
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correct news out of context can influence as well, e.g. FBI Director Comey's discovery of additional emails relating to the Clinton campaign on the home computer of Andrew Weiner
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this made people think that there might be an additional scandal
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not much came up it, but it still had the potential to influence people in substantive ways
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propaganda
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during the Cold War, the impressions of what was going on in Russia was more negative than it ostensibly is now
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environment
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an ideal or sub-optimal news consumer
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their views and how they vote can be based on something that's wrong
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this leads to electing candidates that aren't necessarily those who will best enact what people want
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people say they are for a particular thing, when in fact, if they knew more about it they would be against it
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these kinds of biases can be pernicious to a democracy
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seven types of inaccurate news
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1. satire or parody
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no intention to cause harm but has the potential to fool
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point is to highlight ridiculousness
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to hold people accountable
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to pass judgment
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intention is to be funny
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e.g. The Onion
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often outrageous
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intention is not to deceive but to be funny
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2. fake connection
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when headlines, visuals or captions don't support the content
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also called click-bait
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purpose is to get people to click on the headline in order to get visitors to the site
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examples
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"top ten reasons for this or that"
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"you won't believe what happens next"
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3. misleading content
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misleading use of information to frame an issue or individual
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uses information to frame a particular issue or person
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example
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Trump portrays Clinton saying that she acid washed e-mails
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the Clinton team actually used a software called Bleach Bit
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but acid washed sounds more severe
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Pence claimed FBI found 15,000 more emails detailing national security
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actually they found 14,900 e-mails but only three contained classified information
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so statements are misleading and don't provide the full context of what is happening
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use fact-checking services
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factcheck.org
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politifact.com
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provide more nuance and context to a given quote
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4. fake context
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when genuine content is shared with false contextual information
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we see a picture or quote by a politician but that is taken out of context
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examples
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a picture of dozens of buses in Austin, Texas
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in the vicinity of an anti-Trump protest
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it was written that these people were paid to come protest the Trump rally
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actually these were just typical coach buses which had nothing to do with protesting Trump rallies
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5. imposter content
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when genuine sources are impersonated
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examples
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impersonating ABC News
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logos are similar but different
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URLs are similar but different
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if people think they are getting news from ABC News, they are more likely to believe it
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6. manipulated content
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when genuine information or imagery is manipulated to deceive
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purpose is to distort the truth
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example
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image of Donald Trump and his parents
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photoshopped to make it look like parents were wearing robes of the Ku Klux Klan
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very easy to change pictures like this
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7. fabricated content
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new content that is 100% false, designed to deceive and do harm
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fake news
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completely made up information
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examples
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Pope Francis endorsed Donald Trump for President
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shared several hundred thousand times
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Obama banning the Pledge of Allegiance
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reason is that there is money to be made
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people may be doing this
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tips to identify these
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be skeptical
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do research if it is real or not
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read more than the headline
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think about who created the story and why
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consider what's missing
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is there another side to this story
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who would this article need to talk to in order to get the other side of the story
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see if other news sources are covering the same story
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be aware of biases
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why am I believing this news
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because I want it to be true
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because I have evidence that it is true