How can we tell if news is true or fake?

JulesKorngold

Argument Topic: Fake News

From the Gemini chatbot:

Here are some key ways to spot fake news:

Source Savvy:

Check the website: Is it a well-known, established news outlet? Look for typos or strange URLs that mimic real news sites.
Who's the author? Are they credible? Do they have expertise in the topic?

Content Scrutiny:

Question the headline: Is it sensational, full of caps, or designed to outrage?
Read beyond the headline: Does the article itself hold up? Look for factual evidence, quotes from credible sources, and balanced reporting.
Fact-check claims: Don't rely solely on the article itself. Search for corroborating information from established sources.
Check for bias: Is the article trying to push a particular agenda?
Consider the date: Is it an outdated story presented as current news?

Be Wary Of:

Poor grammar and spelling: Legitimate news outlets have editing teams.
Suspicious sources: Are anonymous sources or unreliable websites cited?
Missing context: Does the article provide a complete picture or cherry-pick facts?
Images: Can you verify their authenticity? Fake news often uses manipulated photos.

Additional Tips:

Use fact-checking websites: Snopes, PolitiFact, and FactCheck.org are good resources.
Be mindful of your own biases: We all have them. Be aware of how they might influence your judgment of a news story.
Slow down and double-check: Don't rush to share information you haven't verified.

jack

Blastcat said:

How can we tell if news is true or fake?

Hello B:

You have to be somewhat grounded in reality.. For example, it's nuts to believe that Joe Biden, a senator who took the train to work for 40 years, would all of a sudden accept a $40,000 bribe.

MY reality tells me that if Joe took a bribe, it would be for a few cents more than $40k. But, that's just me.

excon

Bogan

That is an easy question to ask. If it is from the ABC (Australian Brainwashing Corporation), the BBC (British Brainwashing Corporation), or in the USA, MSNBC, CNN, or the left wing print media, you can bet it is inaccurate or a complete fabrication, which is why almost everybody except jack, maxx, Phite, and Barnadot distrusts this media which is woke and going broke. Fox and Skynews are much more credible and their rising ratings reflect that.

Factfinder

jack said:

Blastcat said:

How can we tell if news is true or fake?
Hello B:

You have to be somewhat grounded in reality.. For example, it's nuts to believe that Joe Biden, a senator who took the train to work for 40 years, would all of a sudden accept a $40,000 bribe.

MY reality tells me that if Joe took a bribe, it would be for a few cents more than $40k. But, that's just me.

excon

Hi Jack

But then again if Biden were to lie about taking the train to work then it's not so 'nuts' to think he might take 40 grand if he thought no one would ever know...

“And I’m getting on one Friday, and then one of the senior guys on Amtrak, Angelo Negri — I got to know all the conductors really well; they became my friends. ... And Ang walks up to me and goes, ‘Joey, baby!’ Grabs my cheek. And I thought the Secret Service was going to blow his head off. ... I said, ‘What’s up, Ang?’ He said, ‘Joey, I read in the paper — I read in the paper you traveled 1,000 — 1.2 million miles on Air Force planes’ — because they keep meticulous tabs of it. I said, ‘Yeah.’ ... He said, ‘You know how many miles you traveled on Amtrak, Joey?’ And I said, ‘No.’ He said, ’The boys and I figured it out ... He says, ‘You travel 2 million…’ — I think it was 180, but — ‘2,200,000 miles.’

“I said, ‘How did you get that answer?’ He said, ‘Well, 267 miles a day. We figured you traveled 119 days a year for 36 years, and then you traveled as vice president.’ And then he goes, ‘So, Joey, I don’t want to hear this about the Air Force anymore.’”

THE FACTS: The tale as Biden spins it is wrong. Negri could not have had that conversation because he was already deceased by the time Biden logged 1.2 million miles on Air Force Two.

https://apnews.com/article/ap-fact-check-biden-amtrak-e79af0cd7015ea3d559609817cceb144

just_sayin

Suspect everyone has an agenda. Even factcheck websites. For example PolitiFact leans left. Its articles come from a group of liberal newspapers. The bias can be seen in what doesn't get covered and what does. For example, even though Joe Biden claimed he took the Amtrak train over the Key bridge in Baltimore every day, and no train went over that bridge, the 'fact check' org failed to rate that claim. In fact, in that same speech Biden told 8 lies. Further, PolitiFact can be seen to hold different standards depending on who said what. For example, Biden claimed Trump had one of the worst economic records and sited data that included the time of the pandemic, PolitiFact said it was true, while failing to denote the impact COVID had on the economy. Yet, when a conservative sighted similar information about a liberal politician, California's governor, PolitiFact reduced the rating and claimed significant data was missing. Assume everyone has an agenda.

MayCaesar

I do not really care about politics, so I cannot give you guys my input on this. I follow the scientific/technological news and financial news, and with those it is fairly straightforward.

With scientific/technological news, I expect the author to cite the source and quote from that source accurately, and there are some authors who have a solid track of doing that, so there is very little reason for me to suspect them of making stuff up. They can make an honest mistake every now and then, but they will not come up with a paper that does not exist.

With financial news, it is even simpler: when some company's stock plummets, I can see it in real life. When some CEO is quoted, I can find the press release on the company's website.

I would imagine that you can do the same in politics: make sure that whatever you are reading links to actual sources and quotes them accurately, and lets the data speak for itself, rather than telling you what to think about it. Find a few individuals/organizations that have a good track of doing that and you will be golden. Just keep verifying regularly that they are still doing that: media organizations have a poor track record of staying fair once becoming popular.

Barnardot

@MayCaesar Well it’s like every thing in life really and it comes down to the quality of the info you get. If you’re going to go to cheap nasty unreliable and unauthenticated sites then you’re bound to get cheap nasty unreliable and unauthenticated info. And if your totally dum enough to think that you will ever get something for nothing then your all ways going to be scrapping the bottom.

RickeyHoltsclaw

@Blastcat ; If the news emanates from ABC; MSNBC; CNN; CBS; the Biden administration...there is a 99% chance the message is fake, skewed, a lie.

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Bogan

Bogan

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Putin

@Bogan
Well hell, the things American news sites will expect you to believe now days.....

Putin

Watch Russian television, unlike the Western media, which is all about propaganda, we believe that we are in the right, and that by encouraging people to question things, they will believe our side of events, we see people as intelligent animals with the capacity to reason, so our media provides tools to help encourage critical thinking, we then report the facts, and then you can use your mind to find out what's true.

Bogan · Screenshot 2024-04-02 153243.png 1M

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jack

Blastcat said:
How can we tell if news is true or fake?

Hello again, B:

Lemme say it again.. If you know nothing about how, and/or why our democracy works, you can be propagandized. If, on the other hand, you know stuff, no matter what they throw at you, you can't be propagandized... That's just so.

Here, on this very board, I recently posted debates about the 1st Amendment. I've posted debates about the Bill of Rights. And, what did I hear??? CRICKETS!!!

If you don't know the rules of the game, you're gonna LOSE.

excon

just_sayin

jack said:

Blastcat said:
How can we tell if news is true or fake?
Hello again, B:

Lemme say it again.. If you know nothing about how and/or why our democracy works, you can be propagandized. If, on the other hand, you know stuff, no matter what they throw at you, you can't be propagandized... That's just so.

Here, on this very board, I recently posted debates about the 1st Amendment. I've posted debates about the Bill of Rights. And, what did I hear??? CRICKETS!!!

If you don't know the rules of the game, you're gonna LOSE.

excon

Jack, You asked how many words were in the first amendment and then answered your own question. You didn't expect to get much response from that debate did you?

jack

just_sayin said:

Jack, You asked how many words were in the first amendment and then answered your own question. You didn't expect to get much response from that debate did you?

Hello just:

Most people don't know the 1st Amendment and how important it is to our daily lives. I hoped to stir debate about how simple the rules are, and how they apply to most of the questions posed here. Not surprisingly, you didn't get it.

The question here was, how do you tell fake news from real news. I suggested that knowing things, like the 1st Amendment, is the bulwark against ignorance. And, then you came along, a shining example of fake news at work, hence your love for Trump.

excon

just_sayin

jack said:

just_sayin said:

Jack, You asked how many words were in the first amendment and then answered your own question. You didn't expect to get much response from that debate did you?

Hello just:

Most people don't know the 1st Amendment and how important it is to our daily lives. I hoped to stir debate about how simple the rules are, and how they apply to most of the questions posed here. Not surprisingly, you didn't get it.

The question here was, how do you tell fake news from real news. I suggested that knowing things, like the 1st Amendment, is the bulwark against ignorance. And, then you came along, a shining example of fake news at work, hence your love for Trump.

excon

Jack, I don't doubt the importance of the 1st amendment, nor your support of it. I don't think the debate topic was constructed in such a way as to illicit a lot of response. So, I don't think the response to that debate is a good barometer of how people feel about the issue.

Bogan · Screenshot 2024-04-02 152055.png 1.5M

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Bogan · Screenshot 2024-04-02 152122.png 1.7M

Factfinder

Argument Topic: Same Problem different source?

Einstein warned his contemporaries in his time. Has the pendulum swung too far the other way? Alphabet news sources just wait on government to spoon feed them the news?

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/albert-einstein-informed-decisions/

Moreover, under existing conditions, private capitalists inevitably control, directly or indirectly, the main sources of information (press, radio, education). It is thus extremely difficult, and indeed in most cases quite impossible, for the individual citizen to come to objective conclusions and to make intelligent use of his political rights.

Bogan

@Factfinder

What Einstein said my be essentially true, but is does not account for the fact that intelligent human beings exist, and those human beings will eventually realize that they are being lied to, Especially when the confident claims of the fake news media routinely turn out to be false, or that their control of the media becomes so all pervasive that their propaganda becomes so unrealistic that it loses all credibility. This is what is happening to the fake news legacy press in the USA.. However, since privately owned media does rely upon public patronage to survive economically, those media which simply pushes propaganda will eventually be shunned by the public who will seek more credible news sources. These more credible news sources will then become more financially successful, while the ideologically biased media will suffer financially to such an extent, that their owners may try to instill some reform to regain their lost credibility, The real problem is public news. Here in Australia, a former Prime Minister who was scandalized by the bias within the privately owned media, that he started publicly owned media to give some balance. The charter of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation specifically stated that it was to provide "unbiased' news reportage. But as Churchill once observed, "Every noble institution started with noble intent will eventually go rotten." And today, public broadcasting is unashamedly the PR arm of left wing politics. Taxpayers in Australia are asking why their taxes are being used to employ people who despise their country, their culture, and their race?

Factfinder

Bogan said:

@Factfinder

What Einstein said my be essentially true, but is does not account for the fact that intelligent human beings exist, and those human beings will eventually realize that they are being lied to, Especially when the confident claims of the fake news media routinely turn out to be false, or that their control of the media becomes so all pervasive that their propaganda becomes so unrealistic that it loses all credibility. This is what is happening to the fake news legacy press in the USA.. However, since privately owned media does rely upon public patronage to survive economically, those media which simply pushes propaganda will eventually be shunned by the public who will seek more credible news sources. These more credible news sources will then become more financially successful, while the ideologically biased media will suffer financially to such an extent, that their owners may try to instill some reform to regain their lost credibility, The real problem is public news. Here in Australia, a former Prime Minister who was scandalized by the bias within the privately owned media, that he started publicly owned media to give some balance. The charter of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation specifically stated that it was to provide "unbiased' news reportage. But as Churchill once observed, "Every noble institution started with noble intent will eventually go rotten." And today, public broadcasting is unashamedly the PR arm of left wing politics. Taxpayers in Australia are asking why their taxes are being used to employ people who despise their country, their culture, and their race?

That's interesting to hear about the media situation in your country. How would you say they handled the covid pandemic? News sources here reported on how strict lock downs saved your country from infections compared to the rest of the world. That true?

Bogan · Screenshot 2024-04-04 202940.png 566.4K

@Factfinder

Yes. And the most left wing socialist state in Australia had the most onerous lockdowns, and the worst record for covid infections. That state was the Soviet Socialist Republic of Victoria, and one reason why covid got right out of control was, (wait for it, wait for it), DEI. The Leftist government insisted that the security guards responsible for enforcing lockdowns on hotels where covid positive people were being accommodated, be "aboriginal." It goes without saying that these 'aboriginal" security guards were not too responsible about their duties. Not only were they allowing covid positive people to go walkies down the road to get themselves some fast food, they were even whooping it up at night with the covid positive women in their rooms.

And naturally, there was a double standard with enforcement. Many building workers in Victoria who needed to pay the rent and buy food for their families, were in particular distress from the lockdowns. They were not being paid by the government to sit on their arses at home, like all of the government employees were. These men became frustrated at the Victorian government continuously telling them to go back to work ,then telling them a few days later to go home and stay home. This happened so many times that the workers reached breaking point and they rioted in the city. Naturally, the government sent the riot squad to control the worker,s which they did with a gusto. And Australians were treated to the sight of Victorian Police kicking the ever lovin' shiit out of the workers, while a lot of workers took on the police, punch for punch. Australians had never seen a sight like that before on our TV screens. And this from a Leftist government which supposedly represented the workers? Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the usual suspects of Leftist demonstrators who illegally demonstrated for climate change during the lockdown were ignored by both the the police and the government.

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MayCaesar

When I was in Australia back in 2009 and watched their TV, I got the impression that they never took anything seriously. They would just cover random stories about a kangaroo in someone's backyard or some Japanese exchange student struggling with acceptance... There were a couple of serious plots about some murder committed by an Indian immigrant and something else, but nothing like here in the US where every major TV channel's broadcast starts with some variation of, "And now, the biggest story of the past 10,000 years: the president is about to declare war to North Korea!"

Barnardot

@MayCaesar @Bogan @Factfinder ;That state was the Soviet Socialist Republic of Victoria,

I reckon that the best way of indentifrying fake news is just take a look at the sort of people who spew it out in the first place. You dont even need to check there dum useless spam links they try and pass off as evidence. You just need to see how extreme they talk to realise that these total nits and half brains know nothing else but fake news and want to impose there horrible biased bigoted fake world on every one else.

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