“Do whatever brings you to life, then. Follow your own fascinations, obsessions, and compulsions. Trust them. Create whatever causes a revolution in your heart.”
~Elizabeth Gilbert
You can recognize survivors of abuse by their courage. When silence is so very inviting, they step forward and share their truth so others know they aren’t alone."
~Jeanne McElvaney
Indian scientists use mango leaf to prevent ships from rusting Quartz
ABC raids were 'legally unreasonable', Federal Court hears
- Michaela Whitbourn
David Brooks, Art Critic, Weighs In Again: This Time On Definitions Of Greatness
For most people, creativity is precisely the ability to pursue multiple interests at once, and then bring them together in new ways. “Without contraries is no progression,” William Blake wrote. – The New York Time
Teaching fact-checking in Bolivia
One of the greatest strengths of the fact-checking community is
its commitment to collaboration and knowledge-sharing across borders.
Such was the case last week when Miriam Valverde, a fact-checker
covering immigration for (Poynter-owned) PolitiFact (and Daniel’s colleague),
traveled to La Paz, Bolivia, to teach fact-checking skills to journalists.
Organized by the nonprofit Fundación para el Periodismo, she helped lead
multi-day sessions on the methodology of fact-checking and how anyone can
debunk hoaxes online.
For Bolivian journalists, it’s the perfect timing for such
training. Bolivia
Verifica, a website dedicated to fact-checking political statements and
hoaxes, launched
in June ahead of the October presidential election. And hoaxes on platforms
like Facebook and WhatsApp pose a big challenge for journalists trying to
report credible information.
We wanted to know more about Valverde’s experience, so we
reached out with a few questions via email. This Q-and-A has been shortened for
clarity.
What is the misinformation environment like in Bolivia?
Bolivian journalists said it is common to see false or
misleading images and videos circulating on social media platforms,
particularly on Facebook and WhatsApp. Some of the false information includes
viral images or statements about health issues and political candidates.
What was your biggest challenge teaching fact-checking to
journalists abroad?
One of my main goals was to share with them PolitiFact's
methodology for fact-checking, emphasizing the vital importance of accuracy and
transparency. While I'm familiar with the type and sources of data available in
the United States, I wasn't as familiar with the way data is compiled in
Bolivia, or by which agencies. I also wasn't as familiar with the context of
some claims or political issues.
It was a two-way learning experience, with Bolivian journalists
learning more about PolitiFact's fact-checking process, and me learning more
about the pressing issues in the country.
What are the biggest challenges facing journalists and
fact-checkers in Bolivia right now?
Journalists said that limited and unreliable data is a big
challenge in their reporting process. They also expressed concern about not
having many or a wide range of experts available to independently comment for
their stories. Given the pressure of daily deadlines, they also said they
wished they had more time to focus on fact-checking claims, and more
journalists devoted to the practice.
What do you think your experience says about the growth of
fact-checking worldwide?
The Bolivian journalists I met with were greatly interested in
spending more time fact-checking claims, valued the importance of fact-checking
and believed it was something that their audiences would really appreciate.
This experience reinforced the important role that fact-checking plays in
public discourse and the growing need and interest for it worldwide, especially
during elections.
. . . technology
·
Facebook’s
new Libra currency hasn’t even been introduced yet, but The Washington Post found
a bunch of fake accounts purporting to sell or represent it. This is not
good news at a time when the company is trying to build trust in Washington,
the Post noted.
·
HuffPost
analyzed more than a dozen major YouTube channels that produce conspiracy
theory videos and found they keep churning out disinformation despite the
company’s recent algorithm tweaks. “The harm that’s been done in many cases
can’t now be undone,” a former Google engineer told HuffPost writer Jesselyn
Cook. Here’s
the story.
·
Two
police officers in Louisiana were
fired after sharing a fake news story about U.S. Rep. Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). One of them insinuated in their post that the
congresswoman deserved to be shot. Snopes debunked
the post that led to their arrest.
. . . politics
·
Writing
in USA Today, Cindy Otis, a former CIA operative who now works in
cybersecurity, laid out a theme we’ve been hearing more of lately: Domestic
misinformation could be a bigger threat in 2020 than Russian meddling. On the
other hand, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee is concerned, telling
Recode’s Kara Swisher that “the tech companies aren’t ready” for a wave of
disinformation expected to hit the 2020 election.
·
In
giving credence to the assertion that Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) was “married
to her brother” President Donald Trump amplified “an unfounded accusation
which started in fringe corners of the internet,” Mother
Jones reported. The
Daily Beast tracked how the allegation made its way from fringe internet
platforms to the president, and PolitiFact
spoke to the Minneapolis Star Tribune about what it knows — and
doesn’t — about the accusation.
·
The
United Kingdom has a new prime minister. Full Fact published
a brief history of the Boris Johnson claims it has fact-checked in the
past.
. . . the future of news
·
The
Knight Foundation is distributing grants
totalling $50 million to research the relationship between media and
democracy. A number of the recipients say they will establish programs to study
and combat misinformation, including a new research institute at George
Washington University, which is
partnering with Poynter and PolitiFact to “better understand the
misinformation landscape of the 2020 elections.”
·
The
New York Times Research & Development team has
launched a new effort to be more transparent and help counter the spread of
misinformation. The
News Provenance Project will “experiment with product design and
user-facing tools to try to make the origins of journalistic content clearer to
our audiences.”
·
The
IFCN has
released its annual State of the Fact-Checkers report, in which it takes
stock of the structure and budget of fact-checking organizations worldwide. Of
note: More fact-checkers are adopting for-profit models, 98.7% are
predominantly online and there’s still an upward trend in the launch of new
projects.
As
France wrestled with a heat wave this week, misinformation about water
threatens to wreak even more havoc on the capital.
The
Guardian reported that Paris authorities were forced to address a rumor
that tap water in the city “had been contaminated with harmful levels of the
radioactive isotope tritium.” In fact, it’s perfectly safe to drink.
The
rumors were prompted by the
publication last week of a study from the Association for the Control of
Radioactivity in the West, Le
Monde’s Les Décodéurs reported. It found tritium in the water of 268 French
municipalities.
But
those findings don’t mean the water is unsafe to drink, the fact-checkers wrote
— even though tritium levels are higher than usual due to human activity.
What we liked: Les Décodéurs did a good job of
debunking the primary misinformation at hand (that water containing tritium is
unsafe to drink) while also providing context about the radioactive substance
and its effect on humans. The organization published its check in a Q&A
format with questions that readers might be most likely to ask themselves.
Including a brief phrase that summarize its findings right below those
questions makes it an accessible read, too.
1.
One
America News Network, a news source sometimes cited
by Trump, employs a Kremlin-paid reporter, the
Daily Beast reported.
2.
The
Guardian profiled
Moonshot CVE, a London-based company whose anti-extremism detection
technology is being adapted to counter the spread of anti-vaccination
conspiracies.
3.
Ana
Pastor of Spanish fact-checking outlet El Objetivo has
a new media literacy initiative that aims to teach citizens fact-checking
skills.
4.
The
Organization of American States came
out with a list of best practices for governments grappling with
misinformation ahead of elections.
5.
Saturday
was the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Daniel took
a look at the origins of conspiracy theories about the historic event
— and how social media have given them a new life.
6.
First
there was the controversy over “fake
news” shirts at Bloomingdale’s. Now there are similarly themed Forever
21 bike shorts, a product that has caused at least one journalist to raise
objections on Twitter.
7.
Data
& Society is looking to hire a one-year,
full-time outreach lead to share its research on disinformation and media
manipulation with newsrooms and media leadership.
8.
Craig
Silverman’s latest piece for BuzzFeed News has
a few tips for young people who are trying to manage their elders’ use of
the internet — and confront them when they share false or misleading
content.
9.
In
an attempt to limit the spread of misinformation, a tech startup based in
California is
trying to educate influencers about specific products before they endorse
them on Instagram.
10. Why are there still so many people who
believe there is a link between vaccines and autism? NPR explored
that question in a segment on “Morning Edition.”
via Daniel
and Susan
