The Mirage of Truth

2022 ◽  
pp. 133-151
Author(s):  
María Díez-Garrido ◽  
Dafne Calvo ◽  
Lorena Cano-Orón
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Political Bias ◽  
Fact Checking ◽  
Complex Activities ◽  
Scholarly Attention

Fact-checkers have grown recently, facing the decline of journalism and the acceleration of disinformation flows on the internet. Due to the recent scholarly attention to these journalistic outlets, some authors have pointed to diverse critics such as the political bias and the low impact of fact-checking initiatives. In line with the research approaching the weaponization of disinformation in politics, this chapter reflects on the instrumentalization of verifying practices as a fact to consider when studying fact-checking. The investigation applies a combined methodology to compare Bendita and Maldita initiatives. While the latter is internationally recognized as an entity of fact-checking, the second one arises as an imitation of it and lacks recognition and scholarly attention. Conclusions suggest that fact-checking implies more complex activities than refuting specific facts, while alt-right positions can instrumentalize fact-checking for political objectives. The authors call for the importance of definitions that exclude this type of misuse of verification.

The Stabilization Process Then and Now

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Epstein
Keyword(s):  
Political Communication ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Stabilization Process ◽  
The Third ◽  
Stabilization Phase ◽  
Over Time

This chapter shifts the focus to the third and final stabilization phase of the political communication cycle (PCC). During the stabilization phase, a new political communication order (PCO) takes shape through the building of norms, institutions, and regulations that serve to fix the newly established status quo in place. This status quo occurs when formerly innovative political communication activities become mundane, yet remain powerful. Much of the chapter details the pattern of communication regulation and institution construction over time. In particular, this chapter explores the instructive similarities and key differences between the regulation of radio and the internet, which offers important perspectives on the significance of our current place in the PCC and the consequences of choices that will be made over the next few years.

The Political Economy of Debt

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georg Menz
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Economic Models ◽  
The Political ◽  
Private Debt ◽  
Credit Access ◽  
Anglo American ◽  
Scholarly Attention

The explosive rise in not just public, but also private debt has recently attracted more scholarly attention. This is a novel development and might expose politico-economic models of governance to instability from an angle previously underappreciated. The liberalization of credit access in the Anglo-American countries, and, somewhat later, beyond those, might be seen as liberating for some, but they also create the potential for entrapment in debt. The term ‘privatized Keynesianism’ has been proposed to suggest a systematic agenda behind the facilitated access to lending. In this chapter, the broader access to investment vehicles is also being scrutinized, although upon closer inspection any claims of mass ownership of shares turn out not to be tenable.

Using NLP for Fact Checking: A Survey

Designs ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 42
Author(s):  
Eric Lazarski ◽  
Mahmood Al-Khassaweneh ◽  
Cynthia Howard
Keyword(s):  
Natural Language Processing ◽  
Natural Language ◽  
Computer Science ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Fact Checking ◽  
The Many ◽  
Human Powered ◽  
The Web

In recent years, disinformation and “fake news” have been spreading throughout the internet at rates never seen before. This has created the need for fact-checking organizations, groups that seek out claims and comment on their veracity, to spawn worldwide to stem the tide of misinformation. However, even with the many human-powered fact-checking organizations that are currently in operation, disinformation continues to run rampant throughout the Web, and the existing organizations are unable to keep up. This paper discusses in detail recent advances in computer science to use natural language processing to automate fact checking. It follows the entire process of automated fact checking using natural language processing, from detecting claims to fact checking to outputting results. In summary, automated fact checking works well in some cases, though generalized fact checking still needs improvement prior to widespread use.

OMNES QVI SVNT EIVS ORDINIS A POMPEIO EVOCANTVR: THE PROCONSUL POMPEIUS’ SENATORIAL MEETING IN 49 b.c.

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Roman M. Frolov
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
Good Reason ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Republican Rome ◽  
The Future ◽  
Scholarly Attention

In his Bellum Ciuile, Caesar reports the events of 1 January 49 with these words (1.3.1): misso ad uesperum senatu omnes qui sunt eius ordinis a Pompeio euocantur. laudat <promptos> Pompeius atque in posterum confirmat, segniores castigat atque incitat. When the Senate had been dismissed towards dusk, all who belonged to that order were summoned by Pompeius. He praised the determined and encouraged them for the future while criticizing and stirring up those who were less eager to act. This meeting has not attracted much scholarly attention and admittedly for a good reason: other circumstances of the outbreak of the Civil War are, perhaps, more significant for understanding the events as well as the intentions and decisions of the political actors. The importance of this gathering lies, however, not so much in what its role might have been in the developments of the year 49 but rather in the context of the phenomenon of the promagistrates’ interference in the domestic politics of Late Republican Rome.

scholarly journals Digital Civic Participation and Misinformation during the 2020 Taiwanese Presidential Election

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 144-157
Author(s):  
Ho-Chun Herbert Chang ◽  
Samar Haider ◽  
Emilio Ferrara
Keyword(s):  
New Media ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
The Political ◽  
Online Engagement ◽  
Fact Checking ◽  
Critical Case Study ◽  
Emergent Coordination

From fact-checking chatbots to community-maintained misinformation databases, Taiwan has emerged as a critical case-study for citizen participation in politics online. Due to Taiwan’s geopolitical history with China, the recent 2020 Taiwanese Presidential Election brought fierce levels of online engagement led by citizens from both sides of the strait. In this article, we study misinformation and digital participation on three platforms, namely Line, Twitter, and Taiwan’s Professional Technology Temple (PTT, Taiwan’s equivalent of Reddit). Each of these platforms presents a different facet of the elections. Results reveal that the greatest level of disagreement occurs in discussion about incumbent president Tsai. Chinese users demonstrate emergent coordination and selective discussion around topics like China, Hong Kong, and President Tsai, whereas topics like Covid-19 are avoided. We discover an imbalance of the political presence of Tsai on Twitter, which suggests partisan practices in disinformation regulation. The cases of Taiwan and China point toward a growing trend where regular citizens, enabled by new media, can both exacerbate and hinder the flow of misinformation. The study highlights an overlooked aspect of misinformation studies, beyond the veracity of information itself, that is the clash of ideologies, practices, and cultural history that matter to democratic ideals.

scholarly journals Ontology of opposition online. Representing antagonistic structures on the Internet

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Krämer ◽  
Nina Springer
Keyword(s):  
Social Structures ◽  
Conflict Behavior ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Structural Elements ◽  
Relational Structures ◽  
Online Platforms ◽  
Interpretative Analysis ◽  
Scholarly Attention

Research on cooperative social structures and particular types of conflict behavior online is readily available. However, the field lacks a framework to analyze how antagonistic structures are represented on online platforms. Social structures can be represented formally (manifestly) or informally (in open verbal or visual forms) or remain latent - a distinction that has received little scholarly attention in the analysis of computermediated communication. Based on an interpretative analysis of relational structures and types of acts, we distinguish structural elements that lead us to empirical typologies of antagonistic structures and an analysis of whether and how they are represented online. We develop theses about why some structures are formally represented more often than others and theorize the consequences of this selective representation.

scholarly journals Cezarov posjet Iliriku 57. /56. g. pr. Kr. / Caesar’s visit to Illyricum in 57/56 B.C.

2018 ◽  
pp. 61-82
Author(s):  
Siniša Bilić-Dujmušić ◽  
Feđa Milivojević
Keyword(s):  
Local Communities ◽  
The Political ◽  
Julius Caesar ◽  
The Third ◽  
Political Events ◽  
Satisfactory Analysis ◽  
New Interpretation ◽  
Gallic Wars ◽  
Scholarly Attention ◽  
Short Episode

This article is dealing with the chronology and subject of Caesar’s first visit to Illyricum. Namely, at the beginning of winter in 57 B.C. Gaius Julius Caesar, the governor of Illyricum and the two Gauls, set off to Illyricum with the intent to visit the local communities and to acquaint himself with the area. However, in Gaul suddenly broke out the rebellion of the Veneti and their allies. Caesar’s subordinate  commander in the area, Publius Licinius Crassus, informed Caesar about these  events. As he was quite distant, Caesar ordered military ships to be built on the  river that flows in the Atlantic Ocean (Liger fl.) and told Crassus he will proceed  to the army cum primum per anni tempus potuit. This seemingly short episode during Caesar’s governorship of Illyricum is attested with only a few words in the third  book of Commentarii de Bello Gallico (bell. Gall. III, VII – IX). Although noticed  in modern historiography, to date no significant scholarly attention or satisfactory  analysis has been paid to it. In modern historiography it is mentioned exclusively  in the works dealing with a far wider context. There is only an overview, with a prevailing opinion that due to the war with the Veneti Caesar had to adjourn his  short visit to Illyricum or that he did not even arrive there. Yet with the analysis  of general historical circumstances, specific chronology of the period and Caesar’s  work on Gallic wars, an exactly different conclusion is to be made. Here the authors  give new interpretation of Caesar’s words and contemporary information on the  political events in Rome. Thus proving not only that Caesar’s departure to war with  the Veneti cannot be chronologically associated with his departure to Illyricum, but  that Caesar indeed visited Illyricum; that his visit lasted much longer than it has  been considered so far; and that his reasons for the visit stemmed from the significance of the province in Caesar’s plans for future engagements.

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