The economy of fake news

[PonoBill]

I posted this in the shitshow thread, but it deserves it's own:
Interesting article on Fake News and its genesis and economy: http://newatlas.com/what-is-fake-news-history-economy/47773/

[freetobeme]

Having a parent that pathologically exaggerates and twists information, enjoying a few advanced courses in research methods, sociology and psychology, enjoying and reading the book 1984 numerous times since high school, and a personal tag line of "believe half of what you see and nothing that you hear" has prepared me well for this era. Add a propensity for patience and a current extensive reprieve from social media and Im doing quite fine in what others seem to be experiencing as an abrupt acknowledgement of the human condition. 

[lucabrasi]

" A study from Pew Research in 2016 concluded that 62 percent of American adults got their news through social media with Facebook, Twitter and Reddit being the primary platforms."
 It is rather astonishing the last few years. I'm on board with you and find the whole thing rather fascinating and find it a bit concerning. My youngest is 20, oldest will be 30 soon. I not too worried about them really or other kids that age but their kids I kind of worry about this and the whole smartphone and the constant nature of it more so which I think ties into the whole thing. Maybe not giving them enough credit tho. My kids and lots of the others I see are smart enough to call bs on bs.........at least as often as I am (or people my age if nothing else  ). Think it out, look at what is really being said and how, use your head.........all that.
Are we really buying into it or is it just so saturated it seems we are?

[magentawave]

But even that article is kinda fake news in that I don't recall it saying that the biggest purveyor of fake news is msm. Keep in mind that if the news source withholds what is really happening then it is fake news. For example, how many msm "news" sources kept us apprised of the 100,000 bombs that Obama, the Nobel "Peace" Prize winner, dropped on 7 countries? ZERO. And what are the consequences of that omission? Any discussion of the tragic and costly consequences of the US's perpetual wars have been off the table since the day Obama took office with millions believing Obama was nothing at all like Bush.

[PonoBill]

It's first in a series, so we'll see what it turns into, but the focus is on the economy of fake news, not the unreliability of mainstream media. Both are worth talking about, but this isn't that.

[deepmud]

Are we just not cynical enough? Of our own predispostions? It's soooo easy to go "yes! that's right" and click...and make those bastards money. Not just Trumps - my mother is really Left and shares Left crap memes - every bit as bs as the Trump ones - and when I call her on it...it's not like she deletes the posts.

Just finished reading (listening - 2 hrs commute a day)  "The Undoing Project" - it felt related to me how we tend to think in rules of thumb......so of "if it feels right, it's rignt"....

Next is "Thinking Fast and Slow"....

[PonoBill]

Both are really good. Beware though, "Thinking fast and slow" is a fucking lifelong project.

[deepmud]

Ha! I need a "like" button ...I listened to The Undoing Project 2 times thru...I will have a get a paper or Kindle version to take notes - got a co-worker to get it for his commute so I could talk about it....

Lifelong eh? ..... more shouting out loud in the car is coming....

[PonoBill]

There's worse. Once you make your way through that, get "How not to be wrong". Sheesh. I've read it five times now.

Start typing "how not to be" in google and it pops right up. Click on it and it's 519 MILLION hits. More people than just me think it's pretty cool.

[tautologies]

Nice. I think a few of the things are people don't know how to evaluate information and sources and tend to remove the filter, especially if they are sympathetic with the (dis)information. Combined with a lazy 4th estate and a political establishment (both parties fault) that have broken the unspoken truth "agreement".

There was a "nice interview of a guy that worked on creating false news. He was more out to get press than actual knowledgeable on what happens, but the lies that we see today the current press is mostly unprepared for....like the karate kid "No can defend". 

Every course I have ever taught at university I would always include a section of source checking and a game of follow the money. It is not that hard, but it is sorely needed. 

[yugi]

...
Interesting article on Fake News and its genesis and economy: http://newatlas.com/what-is-fake-news-history-economy/47773/

from the article:
"Buzzfeed tracked down some of these particular Macedonian publishers and they explained, "Here in Macedonia the revenue from a small site is enough to afford many things." One teenager even spoke of experimenting with similar fake news leaning more left-wing or pro-Bernie Sanders before discovering those stories didn't generate nearly as much traffic as the pro-Trump content."

Thinking about it, it makes sense. And there-in lies the scary part. I can't help but see a blatant, organized, manipulation of a fan base. I can't help but see that said fan base has got trump-goggles on and is oblivious to any other stream of information.

Even more worrying is the white house press room spewing [easily demonstrable] fabricated bullshit. That the executive branch of power in the USA is stooping to typical dictator tactics deeply worries me. This is the stuff one sees from the  Mugabe's, Erdogan's, and Putin's of the world. Go to those countries and you'll see a fan base that acts like Trump supporters feeding off alternative facts. (or is that the other way around).

Did anyone notice Spicer announcing that a US warship was attacked by Iran the other day? Hellooooo. He was corrected by a reporter that it was a Saudi vessel attacked by Yemen. OK, OK, the pupeteers behind said attack are likely Iran and Saudis are US allies, well sort of. But one can't distort the news this way from the highest office in the land. One has to be clear on facts.

Creepy.

I know many Americans. I don't know any who, after living abroad and returning home, aren't shocked at the completely different "news" that is available within the US. None. Just saying.

[Beasho]

One could argue that fake news has been around and adored by people since the beginning of humanity.

Start with the Old Testament, then the New Testament.  Then many subsequent ancient scriptures.  Each written as a foundation for an agenda.

Along comes Copernicus (1550) and Galileo (1610) who famously challenge 'The News.' 

The reality is that a good story has, until recently, always been better received than a scientific solution.

Think product marketing, investment management, surfboard FIN theory - These have "Drive" vs. those that are "Loose" with Proper flex.  What a bunch of hog-wash . . . said with a 

Maybe Trump isn't a religious advocate as much as he is smart to take advantage of the human appetite for fake news or our more recent penchant for being wary.  Reminds me of the quote "Ever in pursuit of truth but wary of those who have found it."

[PonoBill]

As a marketer, I absolutely resent that. Everything I ever wrote for the outstanding companies I did advertising for was the absolute, unvarnished truth. And the fins on my surfboard bypass the petty realities of physics and deliver spectacular acceleration all on their own.

Oh, and if you pay me enough I'll tell the unvarnished truth about almost anything.

[magentawave]

...
Interesting article on Fake News and its genesis and economy: http://newatlas.com/what-is-fake-news-history-economy/47773/

from the article:
"Buzzfeed tracked down some of these particular Macedonian publishers and they explained, "Here in Macedonia the revenue from a small site is enough to afford many things." One teenager even spoke of experimenting with similar fake news leaning more left-wing or pro-Bernie Sanders before discovering those stories didn't generate nearly as much traffic as the pro-Trump content."

Thinking about it, it makes sense. And there-in lies the scary part. I can't help but see a blatant, organized, manipulation of a fan base. I can't help but see that said fan base has got trump-goggles on and is oblivious to any other stream of information.

Even more worrying is the white house press room spewing [easily demonstrable] fabricated bullshit. That the executive branch of power in the USA is stooping to typical dictator tactics deeply worries me. This is the stuff one sees from the  Mugabe's, Erdogan's, and Putin's of the world. Go to those countries and you'll see a fan base that acts like Trump supporters feeding off alternative facts. (or is that the other way around).

Did anyone notice Spicer announcing that a US warship was attacked by Iran the other day? Hellooooo. He was corrected by a reporter that it was a Saudi vessel attacked by Yemen. OK, OK, the pupeteers behind said attack are likely Iran and Saudis are US allies, well sort of. But one can't distort the news this way from the highest office in the land. One has to be clear on facts.

Creepy.

I know many Americans. I don't know any who, after living abroad and returning home, aren't shocked at the completely different "news" that is available within the US. None. Just saying.

The "scary part" wasn't a few fake news articles originating from Macedonia with bait-click titles designed to generate PPC revenue. No, no, the really SCARY FAKE NEWS is the 24/7 BS spewed out by Pravda-like main stream corporate news that conditions us to normalize the status quo.

For example, hundreds of thousands of innocent lives were lost and trillions wasted because fake news told us Iraq had WMD's. Thousands are still being killed because no fake news "journalists" will report the correlation between 65 years of US interventionism and the chaos in the middle east.

Currently main stream fake news is inundating us with the narrative that Trumps temporary immigration ban is unprecedented and even "fascistic" and yet many demican politicians have called for the EXACT same thing.

WANT PROOF? Here are hypocrites Obama, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton and Chuckie Schumer calling for a ban on immigration from certain countries and border protection:


And here's Jimmy Carter:

[Weasels wake]

Just don't rely on the various fact checking sites, they are no better than the main stream media.
Titles have never made anything more honest than whatever, nothing but humans behind everything.
Is there really such a thing as a totally unbiased human?  No.