[liberationtech] Fake News

[Yosem Companys]

At the same time, let us not forget that fake news has played a role in
many a U.S. election even with the presence of independent investigative
journalists. Think of the political gazettes of the founding fathers and
later political parties, the penny press of the 1800s, the yellow press of
the Spanish-American War, the propaganda machines of WWI and WWII that gave
rise to public relations and mass marketing, and the controlled
dissemination of information -- fake or not -- during the Vietnam War and
Iraq War II.

Whereas most economic and political models focus on a rational individual
processing information, we know from psychology and sociology that beliefs
tend to be spread and adopted in groups.

On Fri, Dec 9, 2016 at 3:12 AM, Carolyn Santo <cysanto2 at hawaii.rr.com>
wrote:

> Yosem,
>
> I think all journalists should point fake news and/or challenge people who
> make false statements that are disseminated to the public, no matter where
> those statements exist.  I miss old fashioned journalists who worked to
> expose the truth, no matter which political party was involved.
>
> For example, a lot of mainstream media outlets are promoting the idea that
> Jeff Sessions is a racist.  The hosts on news channels do not call out
> people who present a skewed picture of him, notably leaving out his history
> of pursuing the KKK and coordinating with State officials so that a white
> supremacist who murdered a black person would receive the death penalty.
>
> Fake or false news is a problem all over, not just on social media.  I'm
> sure that there will be studies coming out as they analyze the election.
>
> Some of the coverage is so slanted I can't even watch certain cable
> channels or read certain websites.
>
> Carolyn Santo
>
> On 12/8/2016 6:51 PM, Yosem Companys wrote:
>
> Anyone know of any academic studies showing that fake (social media) news
> influenced the 2016 presidential election outcome?
>
> Thanks,
> Yosem
>
>
>
>
> --
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