A Taxonomy Approach to Fake News

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivan Valchanov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Communication Channels ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Online Environment ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Media Environment ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Media ◽  
Fact Checking ◽  
Points Of View ◽  
Media Corporations

The development of the Internet and social media and networks as a media environment and communication channels combined with the specificity of the journalistic profession in the online environment are a factor which contributes to the emergence and proliferation of fake news. The lack of reliable fact checking by the media and the fast news consumption by the public lead to mass disinformation about certain issues or subjects. The current paper examines fake news from several points of view and describes the models of their use – as harmless jokes, as lack of journalistic competence or professionalism and as means of manipulation and intentional misleading of public opinion. The attempts of big media corporations to fight fake news are also described.

scholarly journals Fact-Checking, a Public Service Value in the Face of the Hoaxes of the Healthcare Crisis

Tripodos ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (47) ◽  
pp. 87-104
Author(s):  
María José Ufarte-Ruiz ◽  
Belén Galletero-Campos ◽  
Ana María López-Cepeda
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Web Content ◽  
The Public ◽  
Service Value ◽  
The Face ◽  
Healthcare Crisis ◽  
The Media ◽  
Fact Checking ◽  
Public Entity

The dissemination of fake news is an increasing issue in the media ecosys­tem, which has worsened with the current healthcare crisis. Pandemic-re­lated hoaxes challenge media, which have not hesitated to implement dif­ferent plans to combat these contents. The objective of this research is to ana­lyse the structure, make-up and proce­dures of fact-checking units that have been created in the newsrooms of the public service media (PSM) in Spain to refute false and unreliable information related to coronavirus. Two initiatives were studied: RTVE Verifica, belonging to the Spanish Radio and Television Corporation, and Coronabulos, from the public entity of the Basque govern­ment, EiTB. The method used is based on case studies, web content analysis and in-depth semi-structured inter­views with those responsible for these departments. Such a triangulation of techniques has allowed us to draw conclusions and provide interesting ex­amples to the research. The results re­veal that these sections use traditional techniques and technological applica­tions to verify content related mainly to healthcare and pseudoscientific infor­mation, which are published on corpo­rate websites and social media. Keywords: hoaxes, coronavirus, healthcare crisis, fact-checking, public service media.

scholarly journals Journalistic Fact-Checking of Information in Pandemic: Stakeholders, Hoaxes, and Strategies to Fight Disinformation during the COVID-19 Crisis in Spain

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 1227
Author(s):  
Xosé López-García ◽  
Carmen Costa-Sánchez ◽  
Ángel Vizoso
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Networks ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Health Crisis ◽  
The Media ◽  
Fact Checking ◽  
Qualitative Evolution

The public health crisis created by COVID-19 represents a challenge for journalists and the media. Specialised information in healthcare and science has turned into a need to deal with the current situation as well as the demand for information by society. In this context of increased uncertainty, the circulation of fake news on social networks and messaging applications has proliferated, producing what has been known as ‘infodemic’. This paper is focused on the fact-checking of journalistic content using a combined methodology: content analysis of information denied by the main Spanish fact-checking platforms (Maldita and Newtral) and an in-depth questionnaire to these stakeholders. The results confirm the quantitative and qualitative evolution of disinformation. Quantitatively, more fact-checking is performed during the state of alarm. Qualitatively, hoaxes increase in complexity as the pandemic evolves, in such a way that disinformation engineering takes place, and it is expected to continue until the development of a vaccine.

New Mediations

2002 ◽  
Vol 103 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marni Cordell ◽  
Sam de Silva
Keyword(s):  
Public Domain ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Media Activism ◽  
The Public ◽  
Media Diversity ◽  
The Media ◽  
Independent Media ◽  
The Right ◽  
Media Corporations ◽  
The Way

The late 1990s saw the global rebirth of an independent media movement of a magnitude and strength not seen since the 1970s. Both the escalation of anti-corporate-globalisation sentiment and the establishment of the IndyMedia online network can be seen as strong catalysts for a media activism that is characterised by the desire to encourage widespread participation in the media-making process. ‘Participatory media’ is based in the democratic philosophy that anybody has the right to tell their own story, and aims to encourage media diversity by breaking down the information stronghold held by a small number of large and powerful media corporations. This essay examines the way in which the internet has contributed to the facilitation of a greater diversity of views, news, opinions and voices into the public domain.

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.

More than “Fake News”?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrícia Rossini ◽  
Jennifer Stromer-Galley ◽  
Ania Korsunska
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Fake News ◽  
The Public ◽  
Presidential Primary ◽  
The Media ◽  
Scholarly Attention

Abstract While the debate around the prevalence and potential effects of fake news has received considerable scholarly attention, less research has focused on how political elites and pundits weaponized fake news to delegitimize the media. In this study, we examine the rhetoric in 2020 U.S. presidential primary candidates Facebook advertisements. Our analysis suggests that Republican and Democratic candidates alike attack and demean the news media on several themes, including castigating them for malicious gatekeeping, for being out of touch with the views of the public, and for being a bully. Only Trump routinely attacks the news media for trafficking in falsehoods and for colluding with other interests to attack his candidacy. Our findings highlight the ways that candidates instrumentalize the news media for their own rhetorical purposes; further constructing the news media as harmful to democracy.

scholarly journals Discursive Deflection: Accusation of “Fake News” and the Spread of Mis- and Disinformation in the Tweets of President Trump

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 205630511877601 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew S. Ross ◽  
Damian J. Rivers
Keyword(s):  
Corpus Analysis ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Hillary Clinton ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
The Public ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
Objective Truth ◽  
Reliable Source ◽  
The Media ◽  
Media Reports

Twitter is increasingly being used within the sociopolitical domain as a channel through which to circulate information and opinions. Throughout the 2016 US Presidential primaries and general election campaign, a notable feature was the prolific Twitter use of Republican candidate and then nominee, Donald Trump. This use has continued since his election victory and inauguration as President. Trump’s use of Twitter has drawn criticism due to his rhetoric in relation to various issues, including Hillary Clinton, the size of the crowd in attendance at his inauguration, the policies of the former Obama administration, and immigration and foreign policy. One of the most notable features of Trump’s Twitter use has been his repeated ridicule of the mainstream media through pejorative labels such as “fake news” and “fake media.” These labels have been deployed in an attempt to deter the public from trusting media reports, many of which are critical of Trump’s presidency, and to position himself as the only reliable source of truth. However, given the contestable nature of objective truth, it can be argued that Trump himself is a serial offender in the propagation of mis- and disinformation in the same vein that he accuses the media. This article adopts a corpus analysis of Trump’s Twitter discourse to highlight his accusations of fake news and how he operates as a serial spreader of mis- and disinformation. Our data show that Trump uses these accusations to demonstrate allegiance and as a cover for his own spreading of mis- and disinformation that is framed as truth.

scholarly journals Stings and Scams: ‘Fake News,’ the First Amendment, and the New Activist Journalism

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael C. Dorf ◽  
Sidney Tarrow
Keyword(s):  
First Amendment ◽  
Political Activism ◽  
Technological Innovations ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Planned Parenthood ◽  
Investigative Reporting ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
The Media ◽  
Sting Operation

Constitutional law, technological innovations, and the rise of a cultural “right to know” have recently combined to yield “fake news,” as illustrated by an anti-abortion citizen-journalist sting operation that scammed Planned Parenthood. We find that the First Amendment, as construed by the Supreme Court, offers scant protection for activist journalists to go undercover to uncover wrongdoing, while providing substantial protection for the spread of falsehoods. By providing activists the means to reach sympathetic slices of the public, the emergence of social media has returned journalism to its roots in political activism, at the expense of purportedly objective and truthful investigative reporting. But the rise of “truthiness” — that is, falsehoods with the ring of truth, diffused through new forms of communication — threatens the integrity of the media. How to respond to these contradictions is a growing problem for advocates of free speech and liberal values more generally.

scholarly journals Tinjauan Hukum Kriminalisasi Berita Hoax: Menjaga Persatuan vs. Kebebasan Berpendapat

Kosmik Hukum ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 44
Author(s):  
Cindy Bella Devina ◽  
Dissa Chandra Iswari ◽  
Go Christian Bryan Goni ◽  
Devi Kimberly Lirungan
Keyword(s):  
Deliberative Democracy ◽  
Information Exchange ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Freedom Of Speech ◽  
Accurate Information ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Abuse Of Power ◽  
The Public ◽  
Long Time ◽  
The Media

The existence of hoaxes in Indonesia has been around for a long time. However, the term hoax was widespread and became part of daily conversations in the media and the public during the 2014 and 2019 Presidential Election. The rapid development of social media use and the ease of information exchange accelerated the spread of hoax. Even in the COVID-19 pandemic, hoax news about the corona virus and matters related to it are widespread in the community. This hoax news, both during the Election and the Covid-19 Outbreak, caused much unrest in the community. Some of the hoax news spreaders were jailed for violations of the ITE Law. Various legal practitioners and academics have also suggested that hoax news creators and spreaders be criminalized. This article reviews normatively whether the criminalization of hoax news is feasible for reasons of maintaining stability or needs to be eliminated to maintain freedom of opinion. The author reviews the normative aspects of criminalizing the creation and dissemination of hoax news by using Habermas' theory of deliberative democracy. Through this theory, the writer finds that hoax news makes aspects of democracy such as dialogue that is full of awareness and accurate information unattainable. This is also in line with what the Indonesian constitution wants. However, it is necessary to ensure that the criminalization of hoaxes is not used as an instrument of abuse of power considering that the circulation of hoaxes is a symptom of a problem rather than the root of the problem itself.Keywords: Fake News, Criminalization, Stability, Freedom of Speech, Deliberative Democracy, Legal Revuew

Fake Online News

2019 ◽  
pp. 152-166
Author(s):  
Janet Aver Adikpo
Keyword(s):  
Online News ◽  
Primary Reason ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Media Environment ◽  
Influence Model ◽  
Production And Consumption ◽  
Information Spread ◽  
The Media ◽  
Hierarchy Of Influence ◽  
Model Trajectory

Today, the media environment has traversed several phases of technological advancements and as a result, there is a shift in the production and consumption of news. This chapter conceived fake news within the milieu of influencing information spread in the society, especially on the cyberspace. Using the hierarchy of influence model trajectory with fake news, it was established that it has become almost impossible to sustain trust and credibility through individual influences on online news content. The primary reason is that journalists are constrained by professional ethics, organizational routines, and ownership influence. Rather than verify facts and offer supporting claims, online users without professional orientation engage in a reproducing information indiscreetly. The chapter recommends that ethics be reconsidered as a means to recreate and imbibe journalistic values that will contend with the fake news pandemic.

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