
Fake News Hysteria Just Creates More Uncertainty in What Truth Really Is - AnneDev
https://medium.com/@mrannedev/fake-news-hysteria-just-creates-more-uncertainty-bf41b7657360#.w9me0mzn0
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rdtsc
For some reason I really like the phenomenon of "Fake News". It was an idea
launched fairly quickly right after the election. It spread fast. All over the
news. The media, and even Facebook and Google throwing their weight behind it.

Nobody quite knew what it was. Was it just Lizard People news or did it
include all news from Fox or just some. Was it just Macedonian teenagers
making money or was CNN also Fake News.

Then something happened. The mass media channels which invented and promoted
Fake News ended up being labeled by it. Search for "Fake News" in image search
on Google and CNN is right there. That was not the intended result I am sure.
So the last I heard the idea is to now retire it due to inconvenience:

[https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/its-time-
to-r...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/its-time-to-retire-
the-tainted-term-fake-
news/2017/01/06/a5a7516c-d375-11e6-945a-76f69a399dd5_story.html?utm_term=.0ec4321e17f6)

There is something sad and ironic about it. There is a pr lesson there as well
perhaps...

~~~
kneel
The country went through mass hysteria after the election, first it was fake
news, then russian hackers, then the usual blaming of demographs.

The news media was completely upended by Trump. He seemingly has a reality
distortion field of his own. His first couple of days in office have been
spent at war with the media, this is precedent being set. No doubt that Steve
Bannon is pulling strings already.

I think we're going to see a brand new propaganda machine set up by his
administration. It'll be interesting how they deal with the rapid fire
groupthink that seems to patrol the internet nowadays. I definitely don't
think this is comparable to anything that's happened before.

~~~
akvadrako
Hey now, give Trump a chance to play with his existing toys before expecting
yet another machine. There is this great one Obama signed into law around
Christmas[1]:

> [The Global Engagement Center is] an interagency center housed at the State
> Department to coordinate and synchronize counter-propaganda efforts
> throughout the U.S. government. [The effort should] counter foreign
> propaganda and disinformation directed against United States national
> security interests and proactively advance fact-based narratives that
> support United States allies and interests.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countering_Foreign_Propaganda_...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countering_Foreign_Propaganda_and_Disinformation_Act)

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jadell
Apropos of not much, I created a Chrome extension that replaces the phrases
"fake news" and "alternative facts" with the phrase "real-life fanfic." It's
made my browsing over the past few days much more enjoyable, including this
post and these comments.

Also, my first Chrome extension, so yay learning!

[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/fake-news-to-
real-...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/fake-news-to-real-life-
fa/inojhidgcahbfmjdhdabcfipnlkkildg)

~~~
youngbullind
> replaces the phrases "real-life fanfic" and "real-life fanfic" with the
> phrase "real-life fanfic."

Seems a little redundant

------
nugget
It may be that the days of near-absolute public faith, trust and confidence in
top shelf journalism brands such as the New York Times and CNN is over. In
place of that we should try to teach people how to do their own research and
how to think critically and objectively about the source of news and other
content they consume. (Maybe that's too much to hope for.) Either way this
trend presents continued opportunities for entrepreneurs as the barriers to
entry for news content continue to decrease. In a couple decades I can see at
least the possibility of the Huffington Post, Breitbart, and the New York
Times all having the same level of credibility (with more or less support
among different groups).

------
starik36
The big media organizations have brought this onto themselves.

Take CNN for instance. The entire summer they beat the drums that the world is
going to end if the Olympics are allowed to proceed in Brazil because of Zika.
Way overblown. And then, after this propaganda exercise, they have the
veracity to run an online poll to see how many people are in favor of pulling
out of the Olympics.

And they do this with everything. Be it literally shilling for Hillary this
entire year or anything else. They have a pretty uphill battle to make
themselves trustworthy again.

~~~
ailideex
> the world is going to end if the Olympics are allowed to proceed in Brazil
> because of Zika

But of course we know this is not true because the world already ended because
of ebola.

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hackuser
Ironically, the word "Hysteria" marks this as yet more propaganda in my eyes.

Is it possible they have something useful to say? Anything is possible, but I
refuse to let the propaganda consume more of my time (one of its goals) and
there are so many great things I could be reading.

------
simplyinfinity
Here in Bulgaria we've observed Fake News for at least couple of years.... the
nature of those sites (not just a single article in a reputable source) is
just to generate outrage with false but legitimately sounding information.

Since this has happened there is a thought trending among people : I disagree
with you, so you are paid troll by (CIA|George Soros|Putin/Russia|EU liberals)

~~~
wapz
Can you tell me what kind of fake news or ideas Bulgarians believe would be
sponsored by the CIA? I'm genuinely intrigued to hear that the CIA would be
responsible for spreading propaganda in Bulgaria of all places.

~~~
simplyinfinity
Here is a prime example :
[http://bradva.bg/bg/article/article-70597](http://bradva.bg/bg/article/article-70597)

Rough tl;dr translation

Title : Report leas about CIA's future plans for Bulgaria. This is what they
planned, it's scary!

Body : In 2050 The population will be divided into Bulgarians and Roma. The
Roma minority will live in smaller cities/villages under extreme poverty and
will attack larger cities for food. Bulgarians will have to travel with
military convoys for safety. To prevent this Bulgarians have to start breeding
kids with strong nationalistic views (to be read as neo Nazis) and to isolate
the Roma into camps.

~~~
wapz
Wouldn't an article like this be by an ANTI-CIA group and not the actual CIA
themselves? I don't see how something like that would be sponsored by the CIA
because it paints them in bad light, no?

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pcunite
_When people voted last year, they did not vote with facts. They voted with
beliefs._

That is true because the published facts cannot be completely relied upon to
make a decision. Why? People change! Hillary Clinton's 30 year public service
work is a fact. What do you think of it? That is a belief.

~~~
dingo_bat
> Hillary Clinton's 30 year public service work is a fact.

Is it? IMO all of it was cast into doubt the moment it came out that her
foundation is just a front to get money from foreign interests.

~~~
bitwize
Millions of people with tropical diseases were treated thanks to the Clinton
Foundation, yet it's all "just a front". Sure.

~~~
MollyR
Yet when she lost, many foreign governments started to pull funding.

Its pretty clear that something suspicious was occurring.

[http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jan/16/clinton-
glob...](http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jan/16/clinton-global-
initiative-lays-off-22-as-donations/)

------
tnone
There's a lot of scrutiny on the present, but the same applies to the origin
stories around us.

If history is written by the victors, what did the people who lost have to
say? Reading books from the early 20th century for instance shows a society
far less backward than some progressive goggles would have you believe. One
should never confuse those who complain about things for those who actually
intend to fix them.

------
guelo
We are so fucked. Trump supporters are giddy but there is nothing to be happy
about even if your preferred policies will be implemented. The thing about the
destruction of Democratic institutions is that they are incredibly hard to
rebuild. And without them it is a downward spiral from here.

