Columbia Journalism Review’s Post

My new story for the International Center for Journalists:

It is becoming harder and harder for me to do SR because of the proliferation of misinformation sites put up by TCPs and Russians. I have actually visited some of the sites listed in this article, and I have to double and triple-check everything to make sure what I am publishing in SR is fact-based. Because most people don’t make such an effort I think the weaponization of lies (see the SR archive and search on “weaponization of lies”) is going to seriously distort our election. I doubt our corrupt Congress and Supreme Court will do anything to counteract what is happening. The simple answer is vote only for Democrats if you want to preserve our democracy. After the election, we are going to have to create a citizens’ movement demanding what is posted as news must be objectively verifiable as a fact. We have to make honesty, and the fostering of wellbeing our national priority. The alternative is you will live in a country like Russia or Hungary.

Do you know the difference between Disinformation and Misinformation? While to most people they might seem interchangeable, there is key differences in their spread and threat profile. But first, let us look at the surface differences: ♦ Misinformation is false or misleading content, that is shared or propagated without intent to harm. ♦ Disinformation comes from propaganda and is shared with the intent of misleading or deceive in order to secure economic or political gain. Both may cause public harm and be shared by the public or newspapers as true stories. Disinformation proves a more damaging threat, even as misinformation can be trickier to deal with given the decentralized sources. Disinformation is of course the main target of counterinformation initiatives such as the European Unions “TACKLING DISINFORMATION AND INFORMATION MANIPULATION” Factsheet. The factsheet mainly outlines the EUs view of the threat posed by information and memory wars, alongside the EU response to the new threat picture posed by asymmetric information warfare. If you want to know more, you can find it here: https://lnkd.in/gxkXeZK7  

This is worth a read. https://lnkd.in/enwDDTTB

Balance is a good thing – Ying and Yang, sweet and savoury, up and down. But have you noticed how some news outlets, intent on presenting both sides of a situation (or perhaps whipping up antagonism and polarisation), find it acceptable to balance facts against opinion? There are facts, theories, and opinions, and, in my opinion, these should not be given equal weight. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not to their own facts. Why then, do some news outlets find it acceptable – good journalism even – to pit the facts of an argument against someone’s minority opinion? Sometimes years of experience and a case built on extensive research and facts can be pitted against a half-baked attempt to substantiate a not-in-my-backyard objection. But this only seems to happen in certain situations. For example, the press does not give airtime to the Flat Earth Society spokesperson each time they show the globe. Does this stance preclude properly informed debate? In a complex world, there is much to discuss, with solutions to intractable problems to find, but polarising opinion with a puerile attempt at balance is, in my opinion, not helping. #FactVersusOpinion #CriticalThinking #ProblemSolving #EvidenceBased #SolutionsDriven #CriticalAnalysis #FactsMatter

A very good book with many great lessons on how to counter propaganda. If you ever wondered why people fall for ‘Take Back Control’ or MAGA, here’s why. But not sure the modern media system can behave this way, especially in America, especially internally…

Your Guide to Detecting Disinformation Online https://buff.ly/3LoOE5L from @TeenVogue

'Privileging the lie' deconstructed by Jamison Foser. Well worth reading. Great insights. "When a news report treats the truthfulness of a lie as an open question, it privileges the lie. When a news report devotes more and more prominent space to recounting the lie and the liar’s defense of it than it does making clear that it’s a lie, the article privileges the lie. When a news report focuses on the target of a lie’s struggle to deal with the impact of the lie, the article privileges the lie. And when a news report focuses on the topic of the lie — even if it does a good job of making clear the lie is a lie — it privileges the lie, because it allows the liar to set the topic of conversation, and thus increases the electoral salience of a topic the liar believes is to his benefit."

"Government secrecy, at its core, is a control mechanism." — Lauren Harper, Daniel Ellsberg Chair on Government Secrecy at Freedom of the Press Foundation. With so many documents hidden behind a veil of classification, it's easy to lose sight of what's at stake. From overclassification to delayed FOIA responses, government secrecy erodes our right to self-governance. And with Trump in the Oval Office come January, how will government secrecy evolve? And what does that mean for press freedom? Watch FPF’s Lauren Harper break it down — from the dangers of overclassification to how journalists are at greater risk under these conditions. Freedom of the Press Foundation