College students create plug-in to battle fake news

originally posted by: dfnj2015
a reply to: LogicalGraphitti

Here's 3 headlines from Fox News and why it is fake news:

1. Trump predicts mandate repeal will kill ObamaCare, spur replacement plan

Thinking about the future is not news. This is just a hook to get better ratings.

2. Trump, Sanders clash on Twitter over new tax law

The law has already passed. Who cares what Sanders thinks.

3. Rosie O'Donnell tells Paul Ryan he's going 'straight to hell'

Speculation about who is going to hell is not news.

Years ago there was a newspaper you could buy in the grocery store called "The National Enquirer". Our news outlets are just the National Enquirer in video form.

First of all, none of that is "fake". It could be argued whether or not it is hugely relevant news, but it is still real.

Hopefully that app isn't labeling these as fake, or else the app would be majorly deficient.

And your second example...

2. Trump, Sanders clash on Twitter over new tax law

The law has already passed. Who cares what Sanders thinks.

...could be applied to ALL of the stories that every news outlet carried about the criticism of the tax bill for a few days after the bill passed. That means that (according to you) every story on CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, FOX, and the network news broadcasts that continued to criticize the tax bill even after it had passed should all be considered "fake".

Fake news does exist, but your examples were not fake news.

A couple exalples of actual fake news would be:
(1) the story that made the rounds in mainstream national news a couple of years about about Milwaukee Sheriff David Clarke being a member of the KKK (it was proven that he wasn't, and the original source story was made up), and
(2) the fake story claiming that the FBI agent who was part of the Hillary Clinton Email investigation was found dead in an apparent murder suicide. This story was completely made up.



As for this app, I'm not sure who will be deciding what gets labeled "fake" and what is not.

For example, I'm a moderate-to-liberal guy who did NOT vote for President Trump, but even I could see that much of what is on MSNBC in the evenings (Say Rachel Maddow) is JUST AS BAD as the crap on Fox. They both spin everything to suit their respective agendas. Just like Fox used to do with the previous administration, every move this current administration makes is mocked and attacked by Rachel Maddow. She's simply a liberal Bill O'Reilly, both of them spouting hateful partisan rhetoric.

President Trump could save a bag full of puppies from drowning, and somehow Rachel Maddow or Lawrence O'Donnel would spin the story in a way that is critical of the President.

I would say that some if the spin Rachel Maddow (and sometimes Lawrence O'Donnel) puts on the news could in fact be considered fake news, but somehow I doubt that this app will be labeling Maddow's spin as fake.

a reply to: LogicalGraphitti

My concern is with the term "fake". Fake sounds like a cheap knock-off of an expensive watch. If this is the case, then pretty much all news media is cheap knock-off (fake) of journalism.

If a news source reports person X said "Y" and person X never said "Y", that is not fake. That is a lie. If a news source reports Z happened and Z never happened, that again is a lie.

What happens when a news source starts to mesh truths and lies in order to build a convincing story? What do we call that?

What happens when a news source start to interpolate/extrapolate from known data to the point of hyperbole? What do we call that?

What happens when the news becomes the news itself? I would concede this is "fake".

What do we call the news completely ignoring anything of significance to its viewership? I would concede this is "fake".

first problem, yale. second problem, when did college people become scumbag elitist nerds?

i did not vote for trummp, but DAMN i do not want 'them' telling me an article protrump is fake.

it sucks. as a libertarian, i knew if the internet stayed 'free' we could save the world eventually.

but 'they' are locking it down. once the inter-nationalist corps take over the net, i bet even this website will cease to exist as we love it.

a reply to: LogicalGraphitti

Here's my solution to fake news:

1) Don't believe things automatically.
2) Do research and investigate claims.
3) Apply critical thinking to discern bias, separating opinions from facts.

That App will only aid the gullible into believing they know fake from real, when in reality they are just falling for the biases of those who flag things in that program.

I'm not impressed at all.