A letter from Charles Babbage (1792-1871), mathematician and inventor of the first effective calculating machine, to Alfred Lord Tennyson:
Sir,
In your otherwise beautiful poem 'The Vision of Sin' there is a verse which reads - 'Every moment dies a man, Every moment one is born.' It must be manifest that if this were true, the population of the world would be at a standstill . . .
I would suggest that in the next edition of your poem you have it read - 'Every moment dies a man, Every moment 1 1/16 is born.' The actual figure is so long I cannot get it on a line, but I believe the figure of 1 1/16 will be sufficiently accurate for poetry.
I am, Sir, Yours etc.
Charles Babbage.
--The Big Bang: Christmas Crackers 2000-2009 (being ten commonplace selections) by John Julius Norwich
Like Napoleon, Lloyd George had an uncanny ability to sense what other people were thinking. He told Frances Stevenson that he loved staying in hotels: "I am always interest in people--wondering who they are--what their lives are like--whether they are enjoying life or finding it a bore." Although he was a wonderful conversationalist, he was also a very good listener. From the powerful to the humble, adults to children, everyone who met him was made to feel that he or she had something important to say. "One of the most admirable traits in Mr. Lloyd George's character," in Churchill's view, "was his complete freedom at the height of his power, responsibility and good fortune from any thing in the nature of pomposity or superior airs. He was always natural and simple. He was always exactly the same to those who knew him well: ready to argue any point, to listen to disagreeable facts even when controversially presented." His famous charm was rooted in this combination of curiosity and attention.
--Paris 1919 by Margaret Macmillan
“Government transparency laws like the Freedom of Information Act exist to enforce the public’s right to inspect records so we can all figure out what the heck is being done in our name and with our tax dollars. But when a public agency ignores, breaks or twists the law, your recourse varies by jurisdiction. In some states, when an official improperly responds to your public records request, you can appeal to a higher bureaucratic authority or seek help from an ombudsperson. In most states, you can take the dispute to court. Public shaming and sarcasm, however, are tactics that can be applied anywhere. These tongue-in-cheek pseudo-awards are hand-chosen by EFF’s team based on nominations from fellow transparency advocates, participants in #FOIAFriday on Twitter, and, in some cases, our own personal experience. If you haven’t heard of us before, EFF is a nonprofit based in San Francisco that works on the local, national and global level to defend and advance civil liberties as technology develops. As part of this work, we file scores of public records requests and take agencies like the U.S. Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Los Angeles Police Department to court to liberate information that belongs to the public. Because shining a spotlight is sometimes the best the litigation strategy, we are pleased to announce the 2018 winners of The Foilies…”
OH, THE PLACES THEY’LL GO (FOR FREE): How would you like a month this summer to ride everywhere from Lapland to Lisbon for absolutely nothing? Yes, there’s a catch. You have to be European. And 18. Why is the EU giving away a free month’s rail pass to up to 30,000 young people? To broaden young participants’ horizons and hopefully instill some sense of Europe’s connections, Feargus O’Sullivan reports.
Was January the NewsFeed-ageddon? Not exactly
Over
the past month and a half, Alexios Mantzarlis and Daniel Funke tracked
fact-checkers’ analytics to see how the recent Facebook
algorithm change affected them. The topline finding is that, while there
was a major dip in shares and interactions compared to 2017 — in part due to
political cycles — they didn't detect any major fluctuations in fact-checkers’
engagement since the algorithm change was rolled out globally.
The
findings aren’t definitive seeing as it’s only been eight weeks since the
algorithm change and fact-checkers are a niche group of pages. (Other pages are
actually seeing a dip in their Facebook engagement.) But the report
provides at least some data to contextualize a change that many predicted would
be cataclysmic. Email factchecknet@poynter.org
with your own observations for potential inclusion in a future story.
This is how we do it
- For her IFCN fellowship, Teyit.org’s Gülin Çavuş built the first iteration of what could become a database on misinformation about refugees and migrants. Here’s what she found.
- Preparing for the Irish elections, volunteers built a database of social media campaign ads so that all voters can see the misinformation other voters are seeing.
- After reporting from Poynter, BuzzFeed News and McClatchy, a Florida senator summoned Twitter to Capitol Hill to explain how hoaxes about the The Miami Herald spread after the Parkland shooting.
This is bad
- A satirical article about CNN and a washing machine was flagged on Facebook after Snopes published a debunk. Then, controversy ensued.
- Since gun buffs edited Wikipedia’s AR-15 page, people had a hard time finding information about gun control after the Florida school shooting. A Wikipedia spokesperson promised “more balanced facts over time.”
- An Italian MP for the Five Star Movement tweeted a fake news story about 500,000 allegedly spoiled ballots. On the day of the election.
(AP This is fun
- Bad Dumbo wasn’t a thing.
- If you can’t figure out satire from real from fake, we’ve got a video for you.
- A cease and desist email from Olive Garden on spreading rumors about the restaurant chain is, in fact, a hoax.
A closer look
- A Facebook vice president has done something unusual: She sent a video message to advertisers assuring them that the company is addressing fake news.
- It’s the 10-year anniversary of “Know Your Meme.” So what do we know now? “You learn everything terrible about human beings,” says an editor.
- The New York Times has an in-depth look at how artificial intelligence tools are making it easy to manipulate people’s faces in online videos.
If you read one more thing
The
Daily Beast has
new details about the Russian Internet Research Agency’s efforts to kick up
real-life protests and target specific people during the 2016 U.S. presidential
election.
Quick fact-checking links
After
fatal shootings, a Florida
sheriff’s office launches a “fact-checking” site to debunk
rumors. // The “fake news is everywhere” myth.
//
PolitiFact fact-checked three of the Oscar
movies. // Fake news and other reasons people leave Facebook.
// The
Malaysian government, no stranger to political scandals, is
pushing to pass legislation outlawing “fake news” before the August
election. //
Readers of a Philippine newspaper have defined
fake news for you. // Tempted to share misinformation?
This priest recommends Socrates’
“test of three.” // Faktiskt.se, a fact-checking
coalition in Sweden, is gearing
up to launch. // Mic produces “Unreliable
Sources: A look at the worst media moments this week.”
//
Will NewsGuard
be a “journalistic fix for fake news?” Some are
doubtful.
//
This week, a fact-checker fact-checked
a rumor about another fact-checking site. Inception. // The Dutch parliament is calling
to disband an EU project that labels disinformation. // Ben Collins, an editor at The
Daily Beast, is moving
to NBC News to continue covering online misinformation and
the platforms. // March 31 is the deadline to apply
for the Spotlight
Investigative Journalism Fellowship, a program designed to
promote accountability reporting.
Until next
week,
via Daniel, Jane, and Alexios