3 ms·

I'm not at all worried about "fake" news becoming such a problem that it substantially distorts the public's perception of reality. That might have been an issu

I'm not at all worried about "fake" news becoming such a problem that it substantially distorts the public's perception of reality. That might have been an issue 100 years ago when information traveled slowly, but with the speed of communication and the ease of fact checking today any blatantly false news is pretty quickly snuffed out (and the reporter's reputation so damaged that they quickly become irrelevant). Much more of a threat is a MSM (which is highly coordinated and have a mutual interest in maintaining their control) branding independent sources as "fake"

mtberatwork 10y ago
> I'm not at all worried about "fake" news becoming such a problem that it substantially distorts the public's perception of reality. I am and it's happening. [1] [1] http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/21/technology/fact-check-this-pizzeria-is-not-a-child-trafficking-site.html?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/21/technology/fact-check-this...
- cloakandswagger 10y ago
  That would be more correctly termed as a conspiracy theory, which have existed forever. Has Breitbart or any other major independent news source covered this?
btilly 10y ago
You are an optimist. About half of what I see reported as news on FB is made up. On both sides. For example see http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/benghazi.asp http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/benghazi.asp for a fact check of widely believed and reported statements about Benghazi. On the other side, see http://www.snopes.com/1998-trump-people-quote/ http://www.snopes.com/1998-trump-people-quote/ for a debunk of a widely shared statement that Trump purportedly made in 1998 about how he'd run as a Republican because Republican voters are so dumb. Try this exercise. Every news story that you see on social media for a day, try to fact check it. Try to track down an authoritative source. I predict that you'll be shocked at how much stuff we hear that just ain't so.
croon 10y ago
> I'm not at all worried about "fake" news becoming such a problem that it substantially distorts the public's perception of reality. > Much more of a threat is a MSM (which is highly coordinated and have a mutual interest in maintaining their control) branding independent sources as "fake" So which is it?

mtberatwork 10y ago

> I'm not at all worried about "fake" news becoming such a problem that it substantially distorts the public's perception of reality. I am and it's happening. [1] [1] http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/21/technology/fact-check-this-pizzeria-is-not-a-child-trafficking-site.html?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/21/technology/fact-check-this...

cloakandswagger 10y ago
That would be more correctly termed as a conspiracy theory, which have existed forever. Has Breitbart or any other major independent news source covered this?

btilly 10y ago

You are an optimist. About half of what I see reported as news on FB is made up. On both sides. For example see http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/benghazi.asp http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/benghazi.asp for a fact check of widely believed and reported statements about Benghazi. On the other side, see http://www.snopes.com/1998-trump-people-quote/ http://www.snopes.com/1998-trump-people-quote/ for a debunk of a widely shared statement that Trump purportedly made in 1998 about how he'd run as a Republican because Republican voters are so dumb. Try this exercise. Every news story that you see on social media for a day, try to fact check it. Try to track down an authoritative source. I predict that you'll be shocked at how much stuff we hear that just ain't so.

croon 10y ago

> I'm not at all worried about "fake" news becoming such a problem that it substantially distorts the public's perception of reality. > Much more of a threat is a MSM (which is highly coordinated and have a mutual interest in maintaining their control) branding independent sources as "fake" So which is it?