Who, What, Where Why, When and How?
When we are armed with the five "W's" and one "H", fake journalism
will wither and die.
Today's over abundance of "news" is a vast improvement to the
manipulated News of the long established and tightly controlled
National News Media.
Of course this flood of so called journalism comes with the demand
that readers learn to use their God Given Brains.
Under the long established system we were spoon fed news, with the
expectation that we accept it as Truth, because it came from the
"Establishment".
Frankly, I would much rather have to dig and think in order to become
informed rather than to be spoon fed.
Carl Jarvis
On 12/13/16, Richard Driscoll <llocsirdsr@att.net> wrote:
> All:
>
> While reading the WSJ this week I came across the above editorial by
> Jeffrey Herbst in the issue of 12 December 2016, page A17. I found it
> to be of interest and hope that other readers of this site will
> experience the same.
>
>
> * Opinion <http://www.wsj.com/news/opinion>
> * Commentary <http://www.wsj.com/news/types/commentary-u-s>
>
>
> How to Beat the Scourge of Fake News
>
>
> Facebook and Google can't do it alone. Better educating consumers is
> crucial.
>
> ENLARGE
> Photo: iStock
> By
> Jeffrey Herbst
> Dec. 11, 2016 4:21 p.m. ET
> 203 COMMENTS
> <http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-to-beat-the-scourge-of-fake-news-1481491264#livefyre-comment>
>
>
>
> This was supposed to be the information age. Instead, we find ourselves
> in a swamp of disinformation, rumor, innuendo and fake news. To cite a
> few examples: A false endorsement of Donald Trump by the pope on
> Facebook <http://quotes.wsj.com/FB> went viral, along with a story that
> Ireland was accepting anti-Trump refugees from the U.S. On Dec. 4 a man
> was arrested
> <http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2016/12/04/man-arrested-with-gun-at-comet-ping-pong-washington-eatery-subject-of-fake-news-hoax/>
>
> after firing an assault weapon in a Washington, D.C., pizzeria after
> reading a fake online news story claiming that Hillary Clinton and her
> campaign chief John Podesta ran a child sex ring in the restaurant's
> basement.
>
> What can be done to provide Americans with better news during this
> wrenching transformation of the information ecosystem? Some want to
> foist the responsibility on the very tech companies that started the
> revolution. Yes, they can do a better job by, among other things,
> developing algorithms that identify and block fake news. And as this
> newspaper reported
> <http://www.wsj.com/articles/google-pulled-into-debate-over-fake-news-on-the-web-1479159867>
>
> last month, Facebook and Google are taking steps to "prevent fake-news
> websites from generating revenue through their ad-selling services."
>
> But hoping that the tech companies can be the sole or even primary
> answer to the question of improving the quality of news is quixotic at
> best. These companies have achieved commercial success beyond anything
> seen in human history because they excel at giving consumers exactly
> what they want.
>
> This is hardly the first time that fake news has been controversial. The
> "yellow journalism" of the late 19th century featured fake news, false
> interviews, and an obsessive focus on crime. As William Randolph Hearst
> and Joseph Pulitzer engaged in an energetic race to the bottom, many
> believed that the hyperbole found in the dailies helped determine the
> American entry into the Spanish-American War and was at least partially
> responsible for the assassination of President William McKinley.
> Concerned, at least in part, about the excesses of journalism that he
> helped spawn, Pulitzer gave the funding for what became the Columbia
> University Graduate School of Journalism to help elevate the profession.
>
> Today, those looking for a supply-side solution to the news
> misunderstand what has happened to the information ecosystem. As the
> forecaster Paul Saffo has noted, in the past, information was
> scarce—there were few reporters, it was hard to unearth facts, and
> difficult to transmit information quickly—so traditional gatekeepers
> like the national newspapers and the television networks could control
> the distribution of news. Now that anyone with a smartphone can be a
> reporter, blogger and photographer with the ability to transmit to the
> whole world almost costlessly, there is a hyper-abundance of news and no
> one can control how the information flows.
>
> Therefore, the demand side is where the fake news problem will largely
> have to be solved. If the customer wants higher-quality news, the
> algorithms that shape social media will relentlessly ship excellent
> journalism. The question is how to convince customers to demand
> high-quality news that may come at a price when they are swamped with
> low-quality news that is free, and often more entertaining.
>
> Lessons can be drawn from cases where people essentially have begun to
> move away from hyper-abundant goods to more costly ones because they
> began to value qualities other than price. For instance, organic food is
> the fastest-growing segment of the food market despite its expense.
> Demand for more expensive food did not just materialize. It was the
> result of long campaigns of persuasion by advocates who were able to
> make a direct connection between what people ate and health.
>
> At the Newseum, we work to change consumer taste in news by showing
> citizens that the jeers and jabs of 140 characters may be protected free
> speech, but they prevent the serious consideration of new ideas. Each
> year, we teach media literacy to millions of students through our free
> online NewseumED program. They become better citizens by learning how to
> discern what is true and what is not on social media by analyzing
> sources and making evidence-based arguments.
>
> This is one area where the U.S. education system can make an immediate
> and important impact. Social-studies and journalism programs in
> secondary schools and colleges should be adapted to improve media
> literacy and help students become responsible citizens in the digital
> age. Prompting citizens to become intentional news consumers will also
> be an excellent way to resurrect civics education.
>
> Journalists, educators and social-media executives must all work to
> ensure that consumers understand why demanding better news is essential
> to the future of our democracy. Simply complaining about tech companies
> won't cut it.
>
> /Mr. Herbst is the president and chief executive officer of the Newseum
> in Washington, D.C./
>
> /http://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=A86.J70BdFBYZAIAzmsPxQt.;_ylu=X3oDMTByb2lvbXVuBGNvbG8DZ3ExBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzcg--/RV=2/RE=1481696386/RO=10/RU=http%3a%2f%2fwww.wsj.com%2farticles%2fhow-to-beat-the-scourge-of-fake-news-1481491264/RK=0/RS=WUe1oohoEfXQLNqdPWk77.bo.qg-
> /
>
>
>
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