Fake NEWS: Types & examples JMC 1011 – FALL 2017 J Kerezy, InSTRUCTOR

I. Most common: Satirical/FUN SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE (for decades) COMEDY CENTRAL (Daily Show, Stephen Colbert, etc.) www.theonion.com (began as a newspaper: See next slide) Many other Satirical web Sites (check out www.bablyonbee.com )

II. Deceivers! They take joy at intentionally deceiving people, media, etc. (GoldBlum example) The main purpose is just to “get away with it”

Let’s watch a couple https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9-KgT-nQCk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgpTVfOE5rg

II. DECEIVERS – A decent explanation http://thefederalist.com/2016/07/18/how-to-spot-a-media-hoax/

III. Deliberate fakes for profit Set up web sites – get paid per click to the web site http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2016/10/19/pac-tries-unlock- amish-vote-donald-trump/92409204/ (Completely false!) http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a50320/trump-misinformation- facebook-macedonia/

III. Deliberate fakes for profit “We are talking about the mass production of misinformation for profit, and it seems to be another field in which the rest of the world has caught up and passed America,…” – Charles F. Pierce, from Esquire article titled: “Content Farm to Content Table: Anything is true if enough people believe it.”

IV. Political “fake news” & smears Both in news and in social media http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/07/28/oreilly_rebuts_vicious_attac ks_from_media_deceivers.html (View the whole story. Fox News commentary show host Bill O’Reilly defends the speech Michelle Obama gave at the July 2016 Democratic National Convention, and he gets smeared for it! O’Reilly fights back.]

IV. Political “fake news” & smears Both in news and in social media One from the “Right” and one from the “Left” Comet PING PONG Pizza SHOP incident http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/fake-news-social-media-and-the-downfall-of-the-us_us_586d0508e4b04d7df167d883 http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/dec/6/top-10-real-news-stories-turned-out-be-fake/

Your Assignment What’s the best way to COUNTER “FAKE NEWS” – three things one can do?? WHAT’s THE DANGER? IS THERE A DANGER? Submit by next TUESDAY for NEXT WEDNESDAY’S class – 9/6 – for up to 10 Extra Credit points (will do both paper and digital submissions, for linkage purposes)