More of the Signs of the

Times

PC100
Objectives:

1. Distinguish fake news from legitimate news;

and,
2. Become one’s own positive media influencer.
 MEDIA
COMMUNICATION
According to Michael P. Lynch, professor of philosophy
at the University of Connecticut, “the internet is both the
world’s best fact checker and the world’s best bias
confirmer – often at the same time”.
 FAKE NEWS
Origins of the Term 'Fake News'
In mid-2016 Buzzfeed's media editor, Craig Silverman, noticed a
strange stream of often fanciful stories that seemed to originate in one
small town in Eastern European town, Veles in Macedonia.
Silverman and a colleague
subsequently identified over 140 fake news websites which were
putting out
huge numbers of stories on Facebook. It turned out that enterprising
teenagers had discovered a profitable market for fallacious gossip
amongst potential voters in the United States in the run up to the
presidential election. And they were paid handsomely for their efforts.
They dreamt up headlines like "Pope Francis Shocks World, Endorses
Donald Trump for President" and "FBI Agent Suspected in Hillary Email
Leaks Found Dead in Apparent Murder-Suicide". Later that year the term
‘fake news’ made its first appearance in the media.
 FAKE NEWS
Fake news and alternative facts are both
worthy successors to ‘truthiness’ — a term coined by
US TV host, Stephen Colbert, in 2005 as a way of
describing some of the extraordinary statements made
by President George W Bush (often referred to
as 'Bushisms'). Truthiness is the truth we want
to exist, the ‘truth’ that ‘feels right.’ Truthiness is
rather like ‘confirmation bias,’ our propensity to
believe and accept the comforting things we hear
rather than the things that are actually true.
 FAKE NEWS
The two photos showing MPs in the Houses of
• Parliament. One showing an empty House debating the
effects of welfare
reforms on the sick and people with disabilities; the other, supposedly
showing MPs debating their pay rise. After these appeared in the
media The Spectator decided to take a close look and it found that the
right hand picture was not as captioned — there was no vote on 11
July 2013 — instead it was taken during the Prime Minister’s questions
on 5 Sept 2012.
• This is highly effective propaganda for those wishing to tarnish
politicians, especially given the 'sticky' nature of the message (which
makes it more likely to go viral.)
 FAKE
NEWS
• Fake news is nothing new. History abounds with
examples of bending the truth for material gain,
aka lying, or flexing the truth for political gain, aka
propaganda. One of the earliest recorded
examples is the use of fake news by Octavian
against Marc Anthony which started the final war
of the Roman Republic (32 BC to 30 BC).
 Different kinds of fake news — what
Facebook calls ‘false news,' and some
journalists call 'junk news'.
1) Satire or Parody — no intention to cause harm but has
potential to
fool;
2)Misleading Content — misleading use of information to
frame an issue or individual; news where there is no
established baseline for truth, often where ideologies or
opinions clash and unconscious biases come into play.
Conspiracy theories tend to fall here!
3) Imposter Content — when genuine sources are
4)Fabricated Content/intentionally deceptive — new content is 100%
false, designed to deceive and do harm; news that has been fabricated
deliberately to either make money through number of clicks, or to cause
confusion or discontent or as sensationalist propaganda. These stories tend
to be distributed through imposter news sites designed to look like ‘real’
news brands, or through fake news sites.
5) False Connection — when headlines, visuals or captions don't
support the content;
6) False Context — when genuine content is shared with false
contextual information; and
7) Manipulated Content —when genuine information or imagery is
manipulated to deceive.
0
Some ways to recognize fake
news
• Read past the headline, and check the source
• Verify the authors and date of publication
• Check if it is meant to make you laugh
• Consult experts
• Re-examine your own biases and prejudices
 Social Media
Day
The celebration is in effect a conference that
encourages creativity, shared experiences, and
exploration of the limitless possibilities of
social media.
A digital media website
and entertainment
company
The king of all social
media network
 The Business of Social Media
“ Social networks have been with us
for just over a decade but it feels like
forever. They have humanized
technology and the web. Then the
smart phone was added to the mix.
Social media were the perfect storm.
Today we are captivated and
captured by both of these
technologies. They are impacting
how we work, socialize and play.”

Jeff Bullas
 The Business of Social Media
“Paid social assures that your
message gets seen by your target
audience, but the building of highly
tuned and hyper-targeted customer
audiences will key to ensure that the
audience with the most potential
affinity will and engage with the ads-
thus making Paid social ad spend all
the more effective. Brands are still in
what I would include not just Influencer
Marketing but also Employer Advocacy
Neil Schaffer as well as Brand Advocacy program.”
 The Business of Social Media

“ Social media marketing is such fast

evolving field-what’s best practice one
day can be counter-productive the
next. It’s exciting to see where industry
is healed, how we’re evolving to more
indicative, business-relevant metric
and goals, and how we can see this
new medium to listen, learn and
connect in new days.”
Andrew Hutchinson
 The Business of Social Media
“ Social media marketing is going to
continue to change have a brand
interacts with their audience because
the reality is that people want to
communicate with people not brands. I
think the brands will struggle to build
audiences and keep up with this fast
moving industry. They will focus more
of their attention on identifying relevant
influencers and that have access to the
Ian Cleary audience that they want. So watch out
for further growth in the importance of
influencer.”
Who are social media Influencers?

They are the people

who are social media
persona that can
affect actions of
others.
Reference
s:
Africa, A. (2018) Purposive Communication in the Now, Books Atbp.
Publishing
Corp.

Watts, N. (July 5, 2018). 5 Types of 'fake news' and why they matter.
https://www.ogilvy.com/ideas/5-types-fake-news-why-they-
matter