DOCSLIB.ORG

Alternative Facts’: How the Fake News Pandemic Is Killing Media As We Know It

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Alternative Facts’: How the Fake News Pandemic Is Killing Media As We Know It BBC School Report ‘ALTERNATIVE FACTS’: HOW THE FAKE NEWS PANDEMIC IS KILLING MEDIA AS WE KNOW IT On January 22nd, 2017, the controversial days Kellyanne Conway was found discussing the term ‘alternative facts’ was born. Coined by make-believe massacre in two other interviews Kellyanne Conway, the Counselor to United just days beforehand. Whether Conway was simp- States, it was used to defend the White ly lying or indeed did mix up her words is un- known, however both are equally alarming, dis- House Press Secretary Sean Spicer’s blatantly playing either a deceitful sentiment or a lack of false claim about the attendance to Trump’s willingness to double check on what they are presidential inauguration. It was just one preaching. more battle in the apparent war against the truth. However, as fun as it is to witch-hunt one of the most powerful authorities in the world for their Conway’s ‘alternative fact’ phrase rapidly went flaws and blunders, the Trump administration isn’t viral across social media, triggering many, includ- the only one taking advantage of ‘alternative ing New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson, facts’. Whether in the form of blasphemous sub- to dub the expression Orwellian in reference to terfuge, twisted truths or ridiculous hyperbole, George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, a classic hoax and fake news has always existed. Even in 1st novel which discusses a dystopian future con- century Rome, Octavian spread misinformation trolled by a manipulative, totalitarian state. Lies about Marc Anthony to convince the Empire that and twisted truth appear to be almost epidemic in he held anti-Roman sentiment; however, in the Donald Trump’s America: askew unemployment internet era, the issue of fake news is exponential- statistics, fairy-tale terrorist attacks and fictional ly evolving to be worse than ever before. Nowa- voter fraud narratives are just a handful of the days, many people receive their news from social myriad of myths the Trump administration have media sites such as Facebook where ‘news’ web- been called out on, only serving to add more fuel sites post links to their pages. In order to receive to the inferno of societal distrust and unease to- revenue online, websites have to be clicked on wards their United States President. which generates advertisement revenue. In order One of the most prominent events in Trump’s al- to convince potential customers to click on them, ternative fact era can again be found in Kellyanne certain websites will create a flashy and eye- nd Conway. On February 2 , 2017, Conway refer- catching but false headline to pique viewer inter- enced the Bowling Green Massacre in an interview est. Some of these ‘news’ websites include Endur- with MSNBC as justification for Trump’s travel and ingVision.com, 70news.wordpress.com and immigration ban. It was soon pointed out that abcnews.com.co – many of these websites takes there had, in fact, never been a Bowling Green the names of existing news companies and slightly Massacre and that the attack was fictitious. As has alter their names in order to create an illusion of become almost routine, the interview went viral. reliability. These websites often exploit political Conway defended herself and claimed that she unease to manufacture headlines; an example of made an honest mistake, saying that she had in- this surfaced during the 2016 United States Presi- stead intended to reference the Bowling Green dential Election when fake news website WTOE5 Terrorists, two Iraqi men from Bowling Green, News claimed that Pope Francis had endorsed Kentucky, who had been found guilty of attempt- Donald Trump for President. Within days, the post ing to send weaponry and money to al-Qaida. This had 960,000 engagements on Facebook. Fake likely wasn’t the case though, as in the following news had become such a problem on Facebook BBC School Report that, in November, reports were made of an unof- shooter, Fox News failed to remove their tweet ficial online task force that will work on taking that pointed blame at Islam. It took an interven- down fake news. tion from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Alarmingly though, some more reputable news for Fox News to delete their tweet. sites seem to have started falling down the rabbit However, what affects does the spread of fake hole of alternative facts; and whilst these sites are news really have? In mid-2016, the American Press not inventing their own news, some are warping Institute revealed that, from a survey of 2,000 the truth, changing context and failing to fully re- people, only 6% of Americans said that they trust port on issues to turn something minor into a ma- everything they hear on the news – an all-time jor news story in the name of money. low. This drop was seemingly in connection with Recently, the online community blew up after the the 2016 Presidential Election, with both sides Wall Street Journal seemingly launched an attack apparently trying to spread rumours about each on popular Youtuber Felix Kjellberg, better known other, whilst ridiculous headlines spread like wild- as Pewdiepie. Kjellberg’s videos are gaming and fire on social media. Mrs. Cutler, the head of me- comedy centric; however using out-of-context dia at Christleton High School, agreed that the clips from some of his videos, the Wall Street Jour- issue may have been intensified following the elec- nal portrayed the Youtube megastar as a neo-Nazi tion, telling us that, “I think that fake news has and an anti-Semite. They still haven’t apologized. moved from being a comedy thing to being a seri- Other mainstream media sources have been ac- ous issue recently, as Donald Trump is using it to cused of displaying bias on certain topics by the cover up lots of things that he is doing in America online community. During the 2016 United States and then lying about it.” When asked about what Presidential Election, many people criticized affect this may have, she said that, “The problem newspapers such as the New York Times for being with fake news is that it devalues real news. Peo- biased towards Hillary Clinton. A more common ple stop believing it as they don’t know what to problem, however, is the failure to follow up on think.” certain reports or even including unverified infor- So how can we stop fake news? One of the main mation and publishing stories before all of the de- problems associated with fake news is that many tails have come out. A shocking example of this people will spread the stories without a second was follow the Quebec City mosque shooting on thought, taking the ‘news’ they hear on social me- January 29th, 2017, which claimed the lives of 6 dia as gospel. It is becoming increasingly important people and injured another 18. In the hours fol- that we learn to take everything we hear on the lowing the attack, news sites began taking to social internet with a pinch of salt. If you see a news re- media and publishing articles on the massacre, port online that you think is sketchy, there are despite a lack of any solid facts. Two distinctively now steps you can take to verify and, if it is false, different narratives started to sprout – one remove the article. Mrs. Cutler told us that, “There blamed Trump, the other blamed ISIS. On the fol- are organisations that check the validity of news lowing Monday morning, new reports emerged sources on the internet,” and upon further re- that two men had been arrested for carrying out search we found that are in fact websites like the shooting – one of the men had a French- FactCheck.org and PolitiFact.com that will fact Canadian surname, the other a Muslim surname. check news stories you find. It is also encouraged Social media was split in two, as was the world of that you insure the source you are receiving your media. During the ordeal, Fox News decided to news from is reliable or that the story has been latch on to the narrative that it was a Muslim who verified by other reliable sources. had carried out the attacks, solely mentioning the Moroccan-born Muslim suspect in their tweets -Jude, Christleton High School Year 10 while failing to mention the second suspect, and helping spread the story of an ISIS-related attack on Canadian soil. When far-rightist, white national- ist Alexandre Bissonnette was revealed as the BBC School Report https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_facts http://www.newsmax.com/US/Jill-Abramson-Alternative-Facts-Lies/2017/01/23/id/769951/ https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/06/kellyanne-conway-fake-bowling-green-massacre-three- times https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowling_Green_massacre http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/0/fake-news-origins-grew-2016/ http://www.mediaite.com/online/you-are-fake-news-trump-and-cnns-jim-acosta-get-into-shouting-match-at- presser/ http://www.cnbc.com/2016/12/30/read-all-about-it-the-biggest-fake-news-stories-of-2016.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-us-2016-37987306 http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/twitter-and-the-mosque-shooting-a-tale-of-fake-news-and-bias/ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/quebec-city-mosque-shooting-what-we-know-so- far/article33826078/ https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/01/fox-news-deletes-false-quebec-shooting-tweet-justin- trudeau-mosque http://uk.businessinsider.com/ap-poll-just-6-percent-of-people-say-they-trust-the-media-2016-4?r=US&IR=T http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-38769996 https://www.technorms.com/454/get-your-facts-right-6-fact-checking-websites-that-help-you-know-the-truth .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • USA Today Snapshots
    USA TODAY — E1 SECTION B IN MONEY IN NEWS 03.19.17 How Trump may ROCK ’N’ ROLL FOUNDER hurt dairy farms CHUCK BERRY DIES AT 90 ROBYN BECK, AFP/GETTY IMAGES TANNEN MAURY EPA Meals on Wheels buzz has a flaw Trump Gregory Korte @gregorykorte budget’s USA TODAY impact on iconic WASHINGTON President program Trump’s first budget proposal to Congress last week specifi- to help cally identified steep cuts to seniors is hundreds of domestic pro- grams, but Meals on Wheels far from wasn’t one of them. certain The popular program — which mainly uses volunteer because drivers to provide hot meals to it doesn’t older Americans across the country — doesn’t directly re- get direct COUSIN: ‘KELLYANNE ceive federal funding. As federal Trump’s budget director, Mick Mulvaney, told reporters funding Thursday: “Meals on Wheels is WASN’T AFRAID not a federal program.” OF ANYTHING OR ANYONE’ ANNE-MARIE CARUSO, THE (BERGEN COUNTY, N.J.) RECORD Kellyanne Key Trump aide, defender Conway Conway, at TODD A. BUCHANAN, SPECIAL TO USA TODAY This is an edition of USA TODAY her home in Nevertheless, Meals on Jack Zimmer provided for . An expanded version doesn’t care when critics lash out of USA TODAY is available at Alpine, N.J., Wheels quickly became the delivers a newsstands or by subscription, and Conway has emerged as one of spends poster child for the impact of meal to Mar- at usatoday.com. Mike Kelly Trump’s most trusted advisers weekdays in Trump’s cuts. Even before the tha Scott in The (Bergen County, N.J.) Record and also why she continues to Washing- budget’s release, Rep.
    [Show full text]
  • THE EFFECTS of FACT-CHECKING THREAT Results from a Field Experiment in the States
    NEW AMERICA FOUNDATION Research Paper THE EFFECTS OF FACT-CHECKING THREAT Results from a field experiment in the states Brendan Nyhan and Jason Reifler* October 2013 Executive summary Politicians in the United States are coming under increasing scrutiny from fact-checkers like PolitiFact, Factcheck.org, and the Washington Post Fact Checker, who examine the accuracy of public statements that are often reported without challenge by traditional news organizations. However, we know little about the effects of this practice, especially on public officials. One possibility is that fact-checking might help to deter the dissemination of misinformation, especially for candidates and legislators at lower levels of government who receive relatively little scrutiny and are sensitive to potential threats to re-election. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a field experiment during the 2012 campaign evaluating the effects of reminding state legislators about the electoral and reputational threat posed by fact-checking. Our experimental sample consisted of nearly 1200 legislators in nine states with state PolitiFact affiliates. We found that legislators who were sent reminders that they are vulnerable to fact-checking were less likely to receive a negative PolitiFact rating or have the accuracy of their statements questioned publicly than legislators who were not sent reminders. These results suggest that the electoral and reputational threat posed by fact-checking can affect the behavior of elected officials. In this way, fact-checking could play an important role in improving political discourse and strengthening democratic accountability. * Brendan Nyhan ([email protected]) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Government at Dartmouth College.
    [Show full text]
  • How White Supremacy Returned to Mainstream Politics
    GETTY CORUM IMAGES/SAMUEL How White Supremacy Returned to Mainstream Politics By Simon Clark July 2020 WWW.AMERICANPROGRESS.ORG How White Supremacy Returned to Mainstream Politics By Simon Clark July 2020 Contents 1 Introduction and summary 4 Tracing the origins of white supremacist ideas 13 How did this start, and how can it end? 16 Conclusion 17 About the author and acknowledgments 18 Endnotes Introduction and summary The United States is living through a moment of profound and positive change in attitudes toward race, with a large majority of citizens1 coming to grips with the deeply embedded historical legacy of racist structures and ideas. The recent protests and public reaction to George Floyd’s murder are a testament to many individu- als’ deep commitment to renewing the founding ideals of the republic. But there is another, more dangerous, side to this debate—one that seeks to rehabilitate toxic political notions of racial superiority, stokes fear of immigrants and minorities to inflame grievances for political ends, and attempts to build a notion of an embat- tled white majority which has to defend its power by any means necessary. These notions, once the preserve of fringe white nationalist groups, have increasingly infiltrated the mainstream of American political and cultural discussion, with poi- sonous results. For a starting point, one must look no further than President Donald Trump’s senior adviser for policy and chief speechwriter, Stephen Miller. In December 2019, the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Hatewatch published a cache of more than 900 emails2 Miller wrote to his contacts at Breitbart News before the 2016 presidential election.
    [Show full text]
  • Post-Truth Politics and Richard Rorty's Postmodernist Bourgeois Liberalism
    Ash Center Occasional Papers Tony Saich, Series Editor Something Has Cracked: Post-Truth Politics and Richard Rorty’s Postmodernist Bourgeois Liberalism Joshua Forstenzer University of Sheffield (UK) July 2018 Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation Harvard Kennedy School Ash Center Occasional Papers Series Series Editor Tony Saich Deputy Editor Jessica Engelman The Roy and Lila Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation advances excellence and innovation in governance and public policy through research, education, and public discussion. By training the very best leaders, developing powerful new ideas, and disseminating innovative solutions and institutional reforms, the Center’s goal is to meet the profound challenges facing the world’s citizens. The Ford Foundation is a founding donor of the Center. Additional information about the Ash Center is available at ash.harvard.edu. This research paper is one in a series funded by the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. The views expressed in the Ash Center Occasional Papers Series are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the John F. Kennedy School of Government or of Harvard University. The papers in this series are intended to elicit feedback and to encourage debate on important public policy challenges. This paper is copyrighted by the author(s). It cannot be reproduced or reused without permission. Ash Center Occasional Papers Tony Saich, Series Editor Something Has Cracked: Post-Truth Politics and Richard Rorty’s Postmodernist Bourgeois Liberalism Joshua Forstenzer University of Sheffield (UK) July 2018 Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation Harvard Kennedy School Letter from the Editor The Roy and Lila Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation advances excellence and innovation in governance and public policy through research, education, and public discussion.
    [Show full text]
  • The Rise and Impact of Fact-Checking in U.S. Campaigns by Amanda Wintersieck a Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment O
    The Rise and Impact of Fact-Checking in U.S. Campaigns by Amanda Wintersieck A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy Approved April 2015 by the Graduate Supervisory Committee: Kim Fridkin, Chair Mark Ramirez Patrick Kenney ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY May 2015 ABSTRACT Do fact-checks influence individuals' attitudes and evaluations of political candidates and campaign messages? This dissertation examines the influence of fact- checks on citizens' evaluations of political candidates. Using an original content analysis, I determine who conducts fact-checks of candidates for political office, who is being fact- checked, and how fact-checkers rate political candidates' level of truthfulness. Additionally, I employ three experiments to evaluate the impact of fact-checks source and message cues on voters' evaluations of candidates for political office. i DEDICATION To My Husband, Aza ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to express my sincerest thanks to the many individuals who helped me with this dissertation and throughout my graduate career. First, I would like to thank all the members of my committee, Professors Kim L. Fridkin, Patrick Kenney, and Mark D. Ramirez. I am especially grateful to my mentor and committee chair, Dr. Kim L. Fridkin. Your help and encouragement were invaluable during every stage of this dissertation and my graduate career. I would also like to thank my other committee members and mentors, Patrick Kenney and Mark D. Ramirez. Your academic and professional advice has significantly improved my abilities as a scholar. I am grateful to husband, Aza, for his tireless support and love throughout this project.
    [Show full text]
  • Climate Change in the Era of Post-Truth
    09_ARBOLEDA_EDITEDPROOF_KS (DO NOT DELETE) 11/8/2018 2:50 PM Climate Change in the Era of Post- Truth INTRODUCTION In The Madhouse Effect: How Climate Change Denial is Threatening our Planet, Destroying our Politics, and Driving us Crazy,1 climate scientist Michael Mann joins with Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Tom Toles to take on climate change denialism. Mann, the Director of the Earth System Science Center at The Pennsylvania State University, augments his prose with cartoons from Toles, who normally draws for the editorial section of the Washington Post.2 Together, Mann and Toles set out to debunk the main arguments that special interest groups use to undermine climate change policy. The book begins with an introduction to the scientific method and its application to climate change science.3 It then describes the current and potential effects of climate change on everyday life.4 In its second half, the book transitions to the politics surrounding climate change in the United States.5 A major focus of the book is the “war on climate science,” the phrase Mann and Toles use to describe how the fossil fuel industry has created misinformation to discourage action on climate change.6 The Madhouse Effect was published in 2016, at a moment when the United States was choosing between Democratic and Republican presidential candidates whose climate change agendas differed wildly. The book’s publication failed to avert the election of President Donald Trump, a climate change denier who has referred to the phenomenon as a “hoax” created by China.7 Still, The Madhouse Effect presents a valuable depiction of the underground currents that influence DOI: https://doi.org/10.15779/Z38W669857 Copyright © 2018 Regents of the University of California 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Rinehart Right: Turnbull Must Learn from Trump
    Rinehart right: Turnbull must learn from Trump Andrew Bolt, Herald Sun November 23, 2016 3:22am No minister of this Turnbull Government has welcomed the election of Donald Trump. But Gina Rinehart, the iron ore and cattle baroness, is surely right to say Trump has plenty to teach the Government - and it must follow him to save us from turning into another Greece. Mining magnate Gina Rinehart has urged the Australian government to adopt the stimulatory policies being promised by US president-elect Donald Trump or risk following Greece along an - “irresponsible’’ path of increasing government expenditure and debt. The nation’s richest woman, who recently visited Washington where she met members of Mr Trump’s campaign team — including former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani and campaign manager Kellyanne Conway — said the Republican Party team won the election “because they listened to the people of America’’. Mrs Rinehart also took a swipe at the US media, noting the Trump team prevailed in the polls despite “constant and unrelenting negative coverage of the president-elect, including at times his loyal supporters, such as his wife, in attempts to upset the focus of the president-elect’’. “People close to the president-elect and his campaign advised that their countrymen told them they wanted, firstly, less government tape, secondly less taxation, and for the USA to grow and be economically strong again, and provide more sustainable jobs. And how exciting, this is exactly what the president-elect, and his team, are advising they want to deliver for America and its struggling economy,’’ Mrs Rinehart said in a speech delivered for yesterday’s National Mining and Related Industries Day..
    [Show full text]
  • Day-By-Day Digest of President Trump's 100 Days of Failure
    Day-By-Day Digest Of President Trump’s 100 Days of Failure Friday, April 21, 2017: Trump Signs Executive Order Signaling Further Deregulation Of Banking Industry Thursday, April 20, 2017: Another Person Dies In Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Custody Thursday, April 20, 2017: Investigation Of Trump's Luxury Properties Reveals Vast Potential To Buy Influence Over The President Wednesday, April 19, 2017: Headed By Trump Appointee, The FCC Weakens Internet Regulations In Favor Of Telecommunications Industry Tuesday, April 18, 2017: Trump Administration Admits It Expelled DREAMer Who grew Up In America Despite His Protected Status Tuesday, April 18, 2017: Trump Congratulates The President Of Turkey On Winning What Democracy Watchers Are Condemning As A Power Grab Tuesday, April 18, 2017: Trump Mixes Up The Current Leader Of North Korea With The Country's Past Leaders Monday, April 17, 2017: Flouting The Public's Demands, The White House Reiterates Trump's Refusal To Disclose His Tax Returns Saturday, April 15, 2017: Circumventing Ethics Rules, Trump Fills His White House With More Former Lobbyists And Industry Operatives Friday, April 14, 2017: Trump White House Shrouds Itself In Secrecy, Refuses To Release Visitor Logs To The Public Friday, April 14, 2017: Trump's Justice Department Uses Fake Repeal Of Anti-LGBT Bill To Further Turn Its Back On The Transgender Community Thursday, April 13, 2017: Trump Signs Bill Emboldening States To Discriminate Against Women's Healthcare Providers Like Planned Parenthood Thursday,
    [Show full text]
  • Political Rhetoric and Minority Health: Introducing the Rhetoric- Policy-Health Paradigm
    Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy Volume 12 Issue 1 Public Health Law in the Era of Alternative Facts, Isolationism, and the One Article 7 Percent 2018 Political Rhetoric and Minority Health: Introducing the Rhetoric- Policy-Health Paradigm Kimberly Cogdell Grainger North Carolina Central University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.slu.edu/jhlp Part of the Health Law and Policy Commons Recommended Citation Kimberly C. Grainger, Political Rhetoric and Minority Health: Introducing the Rhetoric-Policy-Health Paradigm, 12 St. Louis U. J. Health L. & Pol'y (2018). Available at: https://scholarship.law.slu.edu/jhlp/vol12/iss1/7 This Symposium Article is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy by an authorized editor of Scholarship Commons. For more information, please contact Susie Lee. SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW POLITICAL RHETORIC AND MINORITY HEALTH: INTRODUCING THE RHETORIC-POLICY-HEALTH PARADIGM KIMBERLY COGDELL GRAINGER* ABSTRACT Rhetoric is a persuasive device that has been studied for centuries by philosophers, thinkers, and teachers. In the political sphere of the Trump era, the bombastic, social media driven dissemination of rhetoric creates the perfect space to increase its effect. Today, there are clear examples of how rhetoric influences policy. This Article explores the link between divisive political rhetoric and policies that negatively affect minority health in the U.S. The rhetoric-policy-health (RPH) paradigm illustrates the connection between rhetoric and health. Existing public health policy research related to Health in All Policies and the social determinants of health combined with rhetorical persuasive tools create the foundation for the paradigm.
    [Show full text]
  • Debating the Research Agenda Around Fake News. Presented at the 2018 This Is Not a Fake Conference!, 5 June 2018, London, UK
    BAXTER, G. and MARCELLA, R. 2018. Debating the research agenda around fake news. Presented at the 2018 This is not a fake conference!, 5 June 2018, London, UK. Debating the research agenda around fake news. BAXTER, G., MARCELLA, R. 2018 This document was downloaded from https://openair.rgu.ac.uk Information Search Engagement and ‘Fake News’ Debating the research agenda around ‘Fake News’ Rita Marcella and Graeme Baxter School of Creative and Cultural Business Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen ‘Post-Truth’: Oxford Dictionaries International Word of the Year 2016 First attributed to Steve Tesich in 1992, describing US Government’s involvement in Watergate, the Iran- Contra affair, and the First Gulf War Much of its use in 2016 related to the UK’s EU membership referendum (‘Brexit’) and the US presidential campaign ‘Fake news’ and ‘alternative facts’ now widely used terms (‘fake news’ was Collins Dictionary’s 2017 word of the year) Research perspectives Economics - Allcott, H., & Gentzkow, M. (2017). Social media and fake news in the 2016 election. Journal of Economic Perspectives , 31(2), 211-36. Media Studies - Borden, S. L., & Tew, C. (2007). The role of journalist and the performance of journalism: Ethical lessons from “fake” news (seriously). Journal of Mass Media Ethics , 22(4), 300-314. Communications - Marchi, R. (2012). With Facebook, blogs, and fake news, teens reject journalistic “objectivity”. Journal of Communication Inquiry , 36(3), 246-262. Computer Science - Conroy, N. J., Rubin, V. L., & Chen, Y. (2015). Automatic deception detection: Methods for finding fake news. Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology , 52(1), 1-4.
    [Show full text]
  • Protecting More Than the Front Page: Codifying a Reporterâ•Žs Privilege for Digital and Citizen Journalists
    Notre Dame Law Review Volume 89 | Issue 3 Article 10 2-2014 Protecting More than the Front Page: Codifying a Reporter’s Privilege for Digital and Citizen Journalists Kathryn A. Rosenbaum Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.law.nd.edu/ndlr Part of the Criminal Law Commons, Criminal Procedure Commons, and the First Amendment Commons Recommended Citation 89 Notre Dame L. Rev. 1427 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by NDLScholarship. It has been accepted for inclusion in Notre Dame Law Review by an authorized administrator of NDLScholarship. For more information, please contact [email protected]. \\jciprod01\productn\N\NDL\89-3\NDL310.txt unknown Seq: 1 11-FEB-14 9:04 PROTECTING MORE THAN THE FRONT PAGE: CODIFYING A REPORTER’S PRIVILEGE FOR DIGITAL AND CITIZEN JOURNALISTS Kathryn A. Rosenbaum* “‘The reporters who work for the Times in Washington have told me many of their sources are petrified even to return calls,’ Jill Abramson, the executive editor of The New York Times, said . on CBS’s Face The Nation broadcast. ‘It has a real practical effect that is important.’”1 INTRODUCTION The stifling of investigative journalism stems in part from a torrent of stories in 2013 regarding the government’s intrusive tracking of journalists’ and individuals’ cell phone records and e-mails without their knowledge.2 The federal government also tracked two months of call records of more than twenty Associated Press phone lines.3 In a leak probe regarding a news story about North Korea, the government surreptitiously obtained informa- tion about Fox News Chief Washington Correspondent James Rosen.4 Offi- cials monitored his “security badge access records to track the reporter’s comings and goings at the State Department[,] .
    [Show full text]
  • Informasietegnologie Alternative Facts, Fake News Or Lies?
    POST LIST INFORMASIETEGNOLOGIE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ALTERNATIVE FACTS, FAKE NEWS OR LIES? If there's one thing the US election taught us, it's that "alternative facts" exist and any news which puts Trump in a negative light is, apparently, "fake news". Fake news does exist, but it's not what Trump wants it to be. "Fake news, or hoax news, refers to false information or propaganda published under the guise of being authentic news. Fake news websites and channels push their fake news content in an attempt to mislead consumers of the content and spread misinformation via social networks." ( http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/F/fake-news.html) During the US election, it became clear that most of the fake news generated, including sites that improved Donald Trump's chances as a candidate, originated from outside the United States. In Macedonia, one teenager started a lucrative business spreading the pro-Trump fake news. Whether this played any role in Trump's presidential win, we'll never know. Speaking of Trump - Did you hear he signed a visa-free travel policy for South Africa? Not true! Fake news! Sad! Even in South Africa, it was suggested that the ANC used fake news to try and influence the local elections. It's easy to get swept up when you read something upsetting or ludicrous and of course, your first instinct is "I have to tell someone!" So you share it on Twitter, you send it via e-mail and you post it on Facebook and you feel like you are involved in spreading the news.
    [Show full text]