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[huffingtonpost.com.au]

How to recognize a fake news story. We all need to read this.

sassygirl3869 9 Feb 11
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1

With the obstructionist republicans having over a $$$Billion$$ war chest besides what has bent raise for individuals candidates.

Obstructionist republicans fascist have used blues, deceit, all out fraud to win at any cost!

They have so many deceitful individuals just like Karl Rove Who are hired guns to spread all out fraud, lies, and pure all out deceit against anyone they deem an enemy!!!

Just look at all the right wing conservative candidates Mailers, E-mails, blogs, social media, and suddenly Targeting us as individuals by these right wing out of state group acting and disguised as local women groups, gun groups, state, federal and local concern and environmental groups on the Internet!!!

We are being inundated and bombarded by these fraudulent obstructionist republicans fascist with propaganda sent from out of your state PACs!
Who are using your voter registration data to contact you illegally???

3

What might be a start is to ban the term fake news and replace it with the altogether more accurate terms LIE and LIBEL in the reporting of deliberate deception by news outlets and other published material, and for the authors and publishers of same to be prosecuted.
Fake news is one of those deceptively innocent phrases such as "fibbing" and "banter" that seek to minimize the the dangerous and criminal intent of the perpetrator.
The News of the World was closed down in 2011 over criminal breaches of the code of conduct for reporting today it would not have even missed a beat or an issue.
Freedom of the press is not freedom to deceive but on the other hand calling legitimate reporting "Fake news" is not acceptable either.
There must be a legally enforced consensus that news outlets must publish only the truth as truth and that rumour and speculation have no place mascaraing as such and must provide clear indication that this is the case, while outright lies must be prosecuted as such.
The media must be made a trustworthy source of genuine information, not a place to go mining for diamonds of truth in cesspools and slurry hills of metaphorical shit.

The problem is at this point, so called “fake news” has become whatever news a person doesn’t agree with. If you are a Liberal, “fake news” is pretty much anything on Fox News or any other Conservative outlet. If you are a Conservative or a Trumplican, basically anything reported on mainstream media derogatory to the president or his policies is “fake news.”
Both sides have “experts” to back up their reporting, though more often it is omission of facts even more than fabrication which changes the direction of the reporting. And in the age of sound bite journalism, twisting statements to reflect viewers preferences is just a matter of which segments you include or crop out.
This is not saying that total lying isn’t happening, Trump can’t say more than three or less sentences without at least one being an outright lie. But in the journalism field, reporting those lies can be biased by letting them stand as is, or fact checking to reveal the truth, depending on who your audience is.

@Barnie2years your answer, well thought out though it is, illustrates my point.
When you make fake news about fake news with sound bite such as " so called “fake news” has become whatever news a person doesn’t agree with" you are putting out fake news, ABOUT fake news by changing the definition to further muddy the waters.
A lie is a lie, and bringing in an expert liar is not a defence, it is just a further lie.
This ultimately leads to a point where people are asking to be told what is true and what is not, rather than researching the facts for themselves, and the great thing about facts is there is a very proballity they are true, and no amount of telling people an aardvark is a Czechoslovakian traffic warden on a unicycle will make it so.

@LenHazell53, except that about 50% of the population thinks most of what the other 50% are saying is a lie. So which 50% gets to decide what gets tossed out as fake news? You know why lawyers exist? To make people believe that every law, every accusation, is not what it seems to be, in other words, fake interpretation of what the other lawyer is attempting to make you believe. And they generally only have to convince a dozen or less people. Fighting news, you would have to convince millions.

@Barnie2years We simply need to get back to the situation where people cannot argue that opinions are facts and be taken seriously

@LenHazell53 never going to happen, but I admire your optimism! 😁

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For every story that is an outright fake, there are dozens of divisive stories that present a one-sided perspective, that demonize and stereotype entire classes of people, that attempt to arouse fear, anger, hatred and grievance.

A good story gives both sides with respect.

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How do we know this article is not a fake itself?
The web address is Australian but the Huffington post is American, so according to the article's own guidelines - it is suspect.
... and there we have the nub of the problem. Even genuine articles can be dismissed as fake by those who propogate fake information.
45 is a classic example.

3

Good advice

bobwjr Level 10 Feb 11, 2020
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