Argentine Media Regulation, Fake News, and the Election of Mauricio Macri

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariana De Maio
Keyword(s):  
Prime Time ◽  
Fake News ◽  
National Elections ◽  
Radio Stations ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
News Stories ◽  
Media Regulation ◽  
News Organizations ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Right

November 2015 became a key date in the history of Argentina as former president Cristina Fernandez’ party lost the national elections by the narrowest of margins, less than 700,000 votes, to the right-wing candidate Mauricio Macri, ending a twelve-year run of one of the most progressive governments in the history of Argentina. Many analysts argue that large media conglomerates, especially the Clarín Group, played a significant role in the process leading to political change. Macri supporters in the city of Buenos Aires provided some reasons for their decision to vote for Macri and against Daniel Scioli, who ran on Fernandez’ party ticket. Their answers seem to be influenced by a series of fake news (misleading news articles) published by Clarín and La Nación, two leading news organizations in Argentina, during the months before the national elections. These misleading news stories were published in the front pages of those newspapers and at prime time in their affiliate TV and radio stations. Corrections and retractions rarely appeared in the front pages or prime time. Macri voters came to accept the initial news as legitimate and were influenced by them during the 2015 presidential election. Considering the insignificant margin of votes deciding the election, it can be argued that the two news organizations may have been instrumental in shaping the perceptions of just enough voters to swing the results in Macri’s favor. This suggests that dominant mainstream media have had a significant influence on voters’ attitudes and that this may explain in part the election’s outcome.

What the fake? Assessing the extent of networked political spamming and bots in the propagation of #fakenews on Twitter

2019 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed Al-Rawi ◽  
Jacob Groshek ◽  
Li Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
News Discourse ◽  
Twitter Data ◽  
News Organizations ◽  
Twitter Users ◽  
One Year

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine one of the largest data sets on the hashtag use of #fakenews that comprises over 14m tweets sent by more than 2.4m users.Design/methodology/approachTweets referencing the hashtag (#fakenews) were collected for a period of over one year from January 3 to May 7 of 2018. Bot detection tools were employed, and the most retweeted posts, most mentions and most hashtags as well as the top 50 most active users in terms of the frequency of their tweets were analyzed.FindingsThe majority of the top 50 Twitter users are more likely to be automated bots, while certain users’ posts like that are sent by President Donald Trump dominate the most retweeted posts that always associate mainstream media with fake news. The most used words and hashtags show that major news organizations are frequently referenced with a focus on CNN that is often mentioned in negative ways.Research limitations/implicationsThe research study is limited to the examination of Twitter data, while ethnographic methods like interviews or surveys are further needed to complement these findings. Though the data reported here do not prove direct effects, the implications of the research provide a vital framework for assessing and diagnosing the networked spammers and main actors that have been pivotal in shaping discourses around fake news on social media. These discourses, which are sometimes assisted by bots, can create a potential influence on audiences and their trust in mainstream media and understanding of what fake news is.Originality/valueThis paper offers results on one of the first empirical research studies on the propagation of fake news discourse on social media by shedding light on the most active Twitter users who discuss and mention the term “#fakenews” in connection to other news organizations, parties and related figures.

scholarly journals A family of falsehoods: Deception, media hoaxes and fake news

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 350-361 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teri Finneman ◽  
Ryan J. Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Public Officials ◽  
False Information ◽  
Media Environment ◽  
News Organizations ◽  
Information Spread ◽  
History Of

“Fake news” became a concern for journalists in 2017 as news organizations sought to differentiate themselves from false information spread via social media, websites and public officials. This essay examines the history of media hoaxing and fake news to help provide context for the current U.S. media environment. In addition, definitions of the concepts are proposed to provide clarity for researchers and journalists trying to explain these phenomena.

The Psychological Appeal of Fake-News Attributions

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (7) ◽  
pp. 848-857 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordan R. Axt ◽  
Mark J. Landau ◽  
Aaron C. Kay
Keyword(s):  
Political Orientation ◽  
Moderating Effect ◽  
Random Errors ◽  
Fake News ◽  
News Stories ◽  
Political Identification ◽  
News Organizations ◽  
The World ◽  
Intentional Deception

The term fake news is increasingly used to discredit information from reputable news organizations. We tested the possibility that fake-news claims are appealing because they satisfy the need to see the world as structured. Believing that news organizations are involved in an orchestrated disinformation campaign implies a more orderly world than believing that the news is prone to random errors. Across six studies ( N > 2,800), individuals with dispositionally high or situationally increased need for structure were more likely to attribute contested news stories to intentional deception than to journalistic incompetence. The effect persisted for stories that were ideologically consistent and ideologically inconsistent and after analyses controlled for strength of political identification. Political orientation showed a moderating effect; specifically, the link between need for structure and belief in intentional deception was stronger for Republican participants than for Democratic participants. This work helps to identify when, why, and for whom fake-news claims are persuasive.

scholarly journals Post-truth and trust in journalism: an analysis of credibility indicators in Brazilian venues

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 452-473
Author(s):  
Marcelo Träsel ◽  
Sílvia Lisboa ◽  
Giulia Reis Vinciprova
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Digital Networks ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Redes Sociales ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
News Stories ◽  
Current Scenario

The terms ‘fake news’ and ‘post-truth’ have been used to describe the augmented dissemination potential of misinformation in digital networks in the second decade of the years 2000. In Brazil, different actors have been exploiting digital social networks for political purposes, disseminating content that imitates legitimate journalistic material, often obtaining better audience metrics than the news stories published by mainstream media. This article is divided into two parts. First, defines the term pseudojournalism to classify fraudulent texts that use journalistic narrative resources to deceive the audience. Second, it presents the results of an analysis of 23 political content producers with the greatest audience on Facebook in Brazil, based on the credibility indicators developed by Projeto Credibilidade (Trust Project). The results suggest that, in the current scenario, it is not possible to distinguish the quality journalism from pseudojournalism based on the characteristics of the websites and articles published by political content producers.Os termos “notícias falsas” e “pós-verdade” vêm sendo usados para descrever a potencialização da desinformação nas redes digitais na segunda década dos anos 2000. No Brasil, diversos atores vêm instrumentalizando as redes sociais para disputas políticas, espalhando conteúdo falso que imita materiais jornalísticos legítimos, muitas vezes obtendo mais audiência do que o noticiário de veículos tradicionais. Este artigo se divide em duas partes. Na primeira, conceitua o termo pseudojornalismo para classificar textos fraudulentos que usam os recursos narrativos jornalísticos para ludibriar a audiência. Na segunda, apresenta os resultados de uma análise de 23 produtores de conteúdo político do país com maior audiência no Facebook, a partir dos indicadores de credibilidade desenvolvidos pelo Projeto Credibilidade (Trust Project). Os resultados sugerem que, no cenário atual, não é possível distinguir o jornalismo de qualidade do pseudojornalismo a partir das características dos websites e matérias publicadas por produtores de conteúdo político.Las expresiones “noticias falsas” y “posverdad” vienen siendo utilizados para describir la potencialización de la desinformación en las redes digitales en la segunda década de los años 2000. En Brasil, distintos actores vienen instrumentalizando las redes sociales para disputas políticas, diseminando contenido falso que simula materiales periodísticos legítimos, obteniendo, a menudo, mayor audiencia que el noticiero de medios tradicionales. Este artículo está dividido en dos partes. Primero, conceptualiza el término pseudoperiodismo para calificar textos fraudulentos que utilizan los recursos de narración típicos del periodismo para engañar a la audiencia. En segundo lugar, presenta los resultados de un análisis de 23 productores de contenido político del país con mayor audiencia en Facebook, a partir de los indicadores de credibilidad desarrollados por el Proyecto Credibilidad (Trust Project). Los resultados sugieren que, en el escenario actual, no es posible diferenciar el periodismo de calidad del pseudoperiodismo a partir de las características de los sitios web y de materias publicadas por productores de contenido político.

Gay Marriage Goes Prime-Time

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leigh Moscowitz
Keyword(s):  
Media Coverage ◽  
Gay Rights ◽  
Gay Marriage ◽  
Prime Time ◽  
Single Issue ◽  
Discursive Strategies ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
News Stories ◽  
Playing Field ◽  
Time News

This chapter examines the storytelling techniques that were used by journalists to produce the gay marriage issue for prime-time news audiences in 2003–2004, including labeling, framing, sourcing, imagery, and graphics. It discusses the discursive strategies employed by mainstream media to create conflict in the news; how sensationalist labels and descriptive language were used in news stories to validate historic homophobic discourses; and how privileging dominant political and religious sources worked to dichotomize the debate and silence moderate perspectives. It also explores how standard journalistic frames organized the same-sex marriage debate within “official” institutions of power. The chapter argues that journalistic definitions of authority, expertise, and “balance” created an uneven playing field, often pitting gay and lesbian spokespersons against unequal sources of influence from legal, medical, religious, and political authorities. It also shows how media coverage reduced the broader gay rights agenda to a single-issue movement and rarely gave gays and lesbians—almost always shown as couples—the opportunity to offer their own perspectives on this important issue.

scholarly journals Why do so few people share fake news? It hurts their reputation

2020 ◽  
pp. 146144482096989
Author(s):  
Sacha Altay ◽  
Anne-Sophie Hacquin ◽  
Hugo Mercier
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
News Story ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
News Stories ◽  
Media Outlet ◽  
Do So

In spite of the attractiveness of fake news stories, most people are reluctant to share them. Why? Four pre-registered experiments ( N = 3,656) suggest that sharing fake news hurt one’s reputation in a way that is difficult to fix, even for politically congruent fake news. The decrease in trust a source (media outlet or individual) suffers when sharing one fake news story against a background of real news is larger than the increase in trust a source enjoys when sharing one real news story against a background of fake news. A comparison with real-world media outlets showed that only sources sharing no fake news at all had similar trust ratings to mainstream media. Finally, we found that the majority of people declare they would have to be paid to share fake news, even when the news is politically congruent, and more so when their reputation is at stake.

scholarly journals Central Asia Reader

1995 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 571-575
Author(s):  
Farkhad S. Juraev
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
Native Languages ◽  
Radio Stations ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
History Of ◽  
Full Force ◽  
The Right

The collapse of the Soviet Union and the creation of new independentstates has generated great interest among scholars and politiciansin the history and contemporary situation in the region. CentralAsia is not an exception to this case. Viewed in this light, Central Asia: The Rediscovery of History is a welcome contribution towardintroducing the western scholarly community to the politics of CentralAsia.The book is composed of a number of articles published by Turkiclanguage specialists from 1904 to 1990, and of official documents fromCentral Asia and Azerbaijan. The integration processes of the Turkicpeoples, which began during the Soviet period, are now in full force. In1990, the heads of the Central Asian republics signed a treaty for economicand cultural cooperation. The treaty was also signed by Tajikistan,the only representative of the Indo-European family in CentralAsia. The integration envisioned a united economic space betweenKazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgystan. In the 1992 and 1994 summitsheld in Ankara and Istanbul, Turkey and five newly independent Turkicstates confirmed their desire to cooperate in the economic and politicalarenas. Therefore, attention to Central Asian problems and the publicationof several scholarly works from this region are symbolic, to someextent, of the attention being paid to the significance of a commonTurkic tradition and the possibilities of a meaningful integration in the“Great Turan.”The book begins with Ayaz Malikov’s “The Question of the Turk:The Way out of the Crisis.” This chapter actually sets the tone for thewhole book by making a case for the need to attract the attention ofscholarly and political circles from around the world to the problems ofthe Turkic nations and their suffering under Soviet rule. His statementthat “our peoples do not have their own history” seems to be true, forall of the nations (not only the Turkic ones) in the former Soviet Unionhad to study mainly the history of the Russian state at the expense ofdeveloping their own historical consciousness. No doubt the author isright in his claims about Soviet violations of the rights of Turkic communitiesin Russia, especially the right to study in their own languagesat schools and universities and even the right to listen to programsbroadcast by western radio stations in their native languages. Arguingthat the political history of the Turkic nations extends backwards formore than two thousand years (p. 4), Malikov calls for the right ofTurkic peoples to seek unification without fear of being charged withadvocating “Pan-Turkism” (p. 6). The author appeals for the formationof a terminological commission that will be entrusted with seeking theunification of the Turkic language.All of the other chapters-Muhammad Ali’s “Let Us Learn about OurHeritage: Get to Know Yourself,” Zeki Togan’s “The Origins of theKazakhs and Ozbeks,” and Kahar Barat’s “Discovery of History: TheBurial Site of Kashgarli Mahmud”-are attempts to prove the Turkic originsof Central Asia since antiquity. Ali’s attempt to connect the term“Turan” with the ethnic term “Turkic” by referring to the Shah-ndma ofAbul Qasem Firdousi is quite novel, if not eccentric, as is his attributionof the Iranian language’s dominance in Central Asia as being the result ...

scholarly journals Why do so Few People Share Fake News? It Hurts Their Reputation.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sacha Altay ◽  
Anne-Sophie Hacquin ◽  
Hugo Mercier
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
News Story ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
News Stories ◽  
Media Outlet ◽  
Do So

In spite of the attractiveness of fake news stories, most people are reluctant to share them. Why? Four pre-registered experiments (N = 3656) suggest that sharing fake news hurt one’s reputation in a way that is difficult to fix, even for politically congruent fake news. The decrease in trust a source (media outlet or individual) suffers when sharing one fake news story against a background of real news is larger than the increase in trust a source enjoys when sharing one real news story against a background of fake news. A comparison with real-world media outlets showed that only sources sharing no fake news at all had similar trust ratings to mainstream media. Finally, we found that the majority of people declare they would have to be paid to share fake news, even when the news is politically congruent, and more so when their reputation is at stake.

scholarly journals Level of Acceptance of News Stories on Social Media Platforms Among Youth in Nigeria

2021 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 210-225
Author(s):  
Festus Prosper Olise ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
News Stories ◽  
Multi Stage ◽  
States Data ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Media Platform ◽  
And Gender

This study investigates the level of acceptance of news stories on social media platforms among youth in Nigeria following the assumption that the proliferation of news stories on social media promotes the circulation of both factual and fake news. The sample consisted of 600 youth; however, 583 validly participated in the study. The participants were equitably selected in six States in Nigeria that represented the six geo-political zones of the country. The multi-stage sampling technique was employed to evenly select the youth from the major cities/towns in the States. Data generated were analysed and presented through descriptive and inferential statistics using SPSS version 20 software. Results show that the youth accepted entertainment news stories more than any other type of news stories on social media platforms. The majority of the youth considered Twitter as the most acceptable social media platform for receiving news stories in Nigeria. Findings also revealed that despite their love to read news stories on social media platforms, the youth’s level of acceptance of it was low. Furthermore, the age and gender of the youth were found to directly influence their level of acceptance of news stories on social media platforms. The study concluded that the multi-dimensional inter-play that characterised the low level of acceptance of news stories on social media platforms among the youth in Nigeria does not portend ominous signs. Keywords: Acceptance, mainstream media, news stories, social media platforms, youth.

The Psychological Appeal of Fake News Attributions

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordan Axt
Keyword(s):  
Political Orientation ◽  
Moderating Effect ◽  
Random Errors ◽  
Fake News ◽  
News Stories ◽  
Political Identification ◽  
News Organizations ◽  
The World ◽  
Intentional Deception

The term “fake news” is increasingly used to discredit information from reputable news organizations. We test the possibility that fake news claims are appealing because they satisfy the need to see the world as structured. Believing that the news is involved in an orchestrated disinformation campaign implies a more orderly world than believing the news is prone to random errors. Across six studies (N > 2800), individuals with dispositionally high or situationally increased need for structure were more likely to attribute contested news stories to intentional deception than to journalistic incompetence. The effect persisted for stories that were ideologically consistent and inconsistent and after controlling for strength of political identification. Political orientation showed a moderating effect, such that the link between need for structure and belief in intentional deception was stronger for Republican than Democratic participants. This work helps identify when, why, and for whom fake news claims are persuasive.

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