ReportWire

Tag: fake news

  • Ahead of US Elections, a Newsroom Blueprint for Journalists to Battle Fake News


    LOS ANGELES, November 4, 2024 (Newswire.com)
    –
    Ahead of US elections on Tuesday 5 November 2024, The Rundown Studio, in collaboration with world-recognized Intelligence Expert Candyce Kelshall has released “Election Interference and Information Integrity: a Newsroom Blueprint”. Within the newly published handbook, media experts provide background on what to look out for when analysing content, as well as signpost to AI-powered tools to help fact check and dispel fake news. 

    Newsrooms around the world are battling unprecedented levels of AI-generated content, however they do not yet have the tools and apparatus to counter it. The interactive online handbook has been developed by global news anchor Zain Verjee and Product and Design lead Thomas Brasington, co-founders of The Rundown Studio and the Canadian Association for Security and Intelligence Studies Vancouver. It provides a practical and critical resource for newsrooms worldwide as journalists, commentators and bloggers continue to battle fake news. The Newsroom Blueprint offers comprehensive guidelines and speedy checklists to help media professionals accurately cover elections, in a bid to strengthen the integrity of electoral reporting across the globe. 

    “In an age where the very nature of truth is under attack, journalists must embrace critical and structured thinking akin to intelligence experts,” said Candyce Kelshall Executive Chair, Canadian Association for Security and Intelligence Studies Vancouver who specializes in intelligence analysis and tradecraft. “Our goal is to transform newsrooms into trusted guardians of truth, ensuring that the public receives accurate and reliable information vital for democracy. In a true democracy, we all deserve access to fair and truthful news, so we can make informed decisions about our futures.”  

    “Election Interference and Information Integrity: a Newsroom Blueprint” addresses the increasing difficulty newsrooms face in verifying information in a polarized media landscape. In it, Kelshall outlines strategies drawn from intelligence agencies to counter misinformation effectively, emphasizing structured analysis, information assessment techniques and strict verification protocols. 

    The Rundown Studio co-founder and former CNN anchor Zain Verjee says “We are committed to advancing media trust through innovation and collaboration. The handbook is a vital tool amid escalating threats posed by AI-manipulated content to equip journalists with the skills needed to navigate this complex landscape.” 

    By adopting these information assessment best practices, newsrooms can rebuild audience trust and ensure the reliability of their election coverage.

    Rundown co-founder Thomas Brasington adds “Our tools demonstrate how AI can handle the time-consuming aspects of communications work, freeing professionals to focus on strategy and creativity.”

    Source: The Rundown

    Related Media

    Source link

  • Edited photo shows Kamala Harris in McDonald’s uniform

    Edited photo shows Kamala Harris in McDonald’s uniform

    Vice President Kamala Harris has told voters she worked at McDonald’s as a nod to her middle-class upbringing. Former President Donald Trump has repeatedly said without evidence that she is lying about her experience at the restaurant.

    Now some social media users have shared supposed evidence of Harris working at the fast food chain without realizing it was fabricated.

    An image posted Oct. 26 to Threads  shows a young Harris, the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee, wearing a McDonald’s uniform. The post is captioned, “Look what I found, Kamala in a McDonalds uniform.”

    Screenshot from Threads

    Sign up for PolitiFact texts

    This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

    But the photo has been digitally modified. The original photo shows a person in the same uniform standing in front of the same furniture; it was posted on a website to memorialize a woman named Suzanne Bernier, who died from breast cancer in 2007 at a hospital in Ontario, Canada.

    Some Instagram posts said Democrats had edited the image to prove Harris worked at McDonald’s. However, X user @TheInfiniteDude, who has posted content supporting Trump, took credit for the image. The user first shared the image Oct. 24 with the caption, “This is fake.” The user later retweeted it and said, “I made it” and that “in the tweet I’m fact-checking it myself as fake.”  The user added, “Who removed the context and shared it among democrats?”

    We rate the claim that an old photo shows Harris in a McDonald’s uniform False.

    Source link

  • False claims about new news on Princess Kate’s health

    False claims about new news on Princess Kate’s health

    Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales, announced in September that she had finished chemotherapy for a cancer diagnosis and is cancer-free. But online posts falsely say there is new news about her health and suggest it might be dire.

    “After a new update from hospital, our hearts go out to Kate Middleton’s children. Sending strength and love at this difficult time. Check Comments,” the caption of multiple Facebook posts read.

    The posts include a collage of four images of Great Britain’s Prince William and Prince Harry, some that show them crying or hugging.

    These posts were flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

    The posts’ comments include links to a blog story titled, “Royal Tragedy: William and Kate Devastated,” published on multiple websites, which says Middleton had a successful abdominal surgery and is expected to return home. Although some of the news articles are dated Oct. 18, the news is old. Middleton said in a March 22 video message that she had a successful abdominal surgery in January, and later found out she had cancer.

    Sign up for Politifact texts

    In a more recent Sept. 9 video message, Middleton said she finished chemotherapy and is cancer-free. News outlets reported Middleton returned to her royal duties Sept. 15.

    The Facebook post’s four images are all old or artificially generated. The first shows William standing over a woman in a hospital bed. The woman in the photo is not Middleton, and her hands have more than five fingers, a telltale sign of artificially generated images.

    The collage’s top right photo shows William after giving a speech at the launch of a memorial in Manchester, England, on May 10, 2022. The bottom left photo was generated in 2023 by artificial intelligence. And the bottom right photo shows Prince Harry on Sept. 14, 2022, at a procession where Queen Elizabeth’s coffin was moved from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall.

    We rate the claim that there was an Oct. 17, 2024, hospital update about Middleton’s health False.

    Source link

  • Harris didn’t inflate crowd size with buses to NH rally

    Harris didn’t inflate crowd size with buses to NH rally

    As the 2024 presidential election nears, some conservative commentators have wrongly asserted that they know why so many people are at Vice President Kamala Harris’ rallies.

    “It’s Gotten So BAD, Even Liberal CBS Just Exposed How Fake Kamala’s Campaign Is,” the title of an Oct. 12 Facebook video by conservative commentator Dan Bongino reads.

    In the video, Bongino, whom PolitFact has previously fact-checked, says, “How bad does it have to be for CBS to expose the fact that Kamala Harris, who’s drawing … the biggest crowds you’ve ever seen, millions, billions … Here’s CBS like, ah, actually I think they’re busing them in.”

    The clip then cuts to a CBS reporter at a Sept. 4 rally for Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, in North Hampton, New Hampshire. The reporter says, “Behind me, hundreds of invited Harris supporters are leaving and boarding shuttle buses.”

    This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

    The claim also went viral on X. Users there shared a video of 12 buses from Yankee Line, a charter bus company, leaving Harris’ Sept. 4 event and said it was proof that Harris was busing people to the rally from Massachusetts.

    The evidence that Bongino provided for his claim that the Harris’ campaign was busing people to the rally was the CBS reporter saying attendees were leaving the rally on shuttles.

    But the buses were used only to transport people to the rally from a parking lot a few miles away. A Yankee Line spokesperson told PolitiFact in an email that the company provided shuttle service buses from “an offsite parking lot 3 miles away” because of parking restrictions at the venue.

    The rally took place at Throwback Brewery in North Hampton, New Hampshire. We geolocated the business and confirmed that its parking lot would be too small to accommodate the thousands of people who were reported to have attended the event.

    We contacted Bongino for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

    PolitiFact has previously rated multiple claims False that the Harris’ campaign is paying attendees at its events. A Harris-Walz spokesperson told PolitiFact in August that their “campaign does not pay people to attend rallies.”

    The claim was shared amid news that attendees at former President Donald Trump’s rally in California’s Coachella Valley were stranded for hours Oct. 12 after shuttles that had brought them to the venue from parking lots were delayed in taking them back to their vehicles.

    Although the Harris-Walz campaign provided buses to shuttle people from a nearby parking lot to the rally, the campaign did not bus people from out of state to the venue to increase attendance at the event, as Bongino and social media users claimed.

    We rate Bongino’s claim that CBS exposed “the fact” that Kamala Harris’ crowd sizes are inflated because her campaign bused hundreds of attendees to her New Hampshire rally Mostly False.

    Source link

  • 2013 news report on human remains is unrelated to McDonald’s

    2013 news report on human remains is unrelated to McDonald’s

    McDonald’s has been serving fries and burgers for more than 70 years. But a viral video put would-be customers on alert about what sounded like a frightening fast-food development.

    “FBI finds human remains at a McDonald’s meat supplier,” read text over several Instagram videos shared Sept. 27 and Sept. 29 that show a television news reporter appearing to break news about the FBI recovering evidence of human remains from a Detroit business.

    (Screenshot from Instagram)

    The posts were flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

    The video clip is real, but it does not show a reporter at a McDonald’s meat supplier. It’s from Dec. 13, 2013, and shows a reporter from metro Detroit’s ABC News affiliate WXYZ-TV discussing the FBI’s investigation into International Biological Inc., a business the reporter described as a “medical educational service provider.”

    Arthur Rathburn, who owned the business, was sentenced to nine years in prison for selling diseased body parts for use in medical and dental training.

    We found no mention of McDonald’s in news reports or court documents involving the case. 

    PolitiFact previously debunked claims that human remains were found in a McDonald’s meat factory. 

    So eat your Big Mac in peace. The claim that this video shows the “FBI finds human remains at a McDonald’s meat supplier” is Pants on Fire!

    Source link

  • Travis Kelce didn’t endorse Kamala Harris for president

    Travis Kelce didn’t endorse Kamala Harris for president

    Taylor Swift took to Instagram Sept. 10 to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential candidacy. But contrary to what some social media users are saying, Swift’s boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, has not publicly endorsed any presidential candidate.

    “Breaking: Travis Kelce Follows Taylor Swift’s Footsteps, Supports Harris: ‘Taylor Made the Right Decision,’” a Threads screenshot of a Sept. 15 X post reads.

    Screenshot from Threads

    This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

    On Sept. 14, the day before the X post, an article with a similar headline and same purported quote from Kelce was published on Esspots with a satire tag; Esspots describes itself as “your one-stop destination for satirical news and commentary about the United States.”

    We searched Google and the Nexis news database and found no credible news reports about Kelce endorsing Harris as of Sept. 24.

    We rate the claim that Travis Kelce endorsed Kamala Harris in mid-September False.

    Source link

  • Video doesn’t show bomb exploding during Palestinian funeral

    Video doesn’t show bomb exploding during Palestinian funeral

    A graphic video shows an explosion at a funeral procession. But the incident was not orchestrated by Israeli forces, as social media users claimed.

    “IsRealHell sent the body of a Palestinian martyr back to Palestine with a bomb embedded in the corpse!” text on a Sept. 12 Instagram video reads. “It exploded at the funeral procession, killing many mourners.”

    Screenshot from Instagram

    This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

    But the video does not show a recent Palestinian funeral. It was taken during a July 2012 funeral procession in a suburb of Damascus, Syria, NBC reported at the time.

    The man in the video, identified as Abdul Hadi Halab by the Los Angeles Times, was wrapped in a Syrian revolutionary flag and had allegedly been killed by government forces. Opposition activists say a government-organized nearby car bombing caused the explosion during the funeral, CNN reported in 2012.

    We rate the claim that a video shows a body that Israel embedded with a bomb exploding during a Palestinian funeral procession False.

    Source link

  • Claims spread about migrant gang activity in Colorado

    Claims spread about migrant gang activity in Colorado

    Surveillance video showing what appears to be a group of Spanish-speaking armed men entering an Aurora, Colorado, apartment complex has stoked fears about people in the U.S. illegally. But city officials and apartment residents have disputed claims that a Venezuelan gang has seized control of the complex.

    The video went viral on social media, with some users saying the men are part of a Venezuelan gang called Tren de Aragua that has “taken over” the building.

    X owner Elon Musk reshared the video, which has been viewed millions of times online. Former President Donald Trump repeated claims during a Sept. 6 press conference that noncitizens “took over buildings” in Aurora.

    Cindy Romero, a former resident of an Aurora building called The Edge at Lowry, took the surveillance video. She told CBS News on Aug. 30 that she had seen people engage in shootouts and carry automatic weapons in the building. But Aurora’s interim police chief, mayor and building residents say the gang has not “taken over” the apartment complex.

    Some Tren de Aragua members have been arrested near an Aurora apartment building on Nome Street, an Aurora Police Department statement said. That is a different building from where the viral video was taken, but is owned by the same company.

    Tren de Aragua formed in the Venezuelan state of Aragua more than a decade ago and operated out of a prison there, Reuters reported. The group established a presence in the U.S. in the past six years, federal officials told the Denverite, a news site. Denver Mayor Mike Johnston said that Tren de Aragua has a presence in metropolitan Denver, but the threat it poses is “very small” compared with other criminal organizations in the region.

    What city officials said

    Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman initially told Fox News on Aug. 29 that the men in the video were Venezuelan gang members who pushed out the property’s manager and intimidated tenants into paying them rent. Coffman later walked back those claims.

    “What I can tell you now is that the gangs are not in control of either complex,” Coffman told Newsweek on Sep. 9, referring to The Edge and other Aurora buildings owned by the same company.

    During a visit to the building Aug. 31, Heather Morris, Aurora’s interim police chief, said “gang members have not taken over this complex” and residents are not paying rent to gang members.

    Social media claims have also circulated that the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club was on its way “to confront the Venezuelan Gangs for taking over the apartment complex to protect the citizens of Aurora Colorado,” but the Hells Angels rebutted those rumors and PolitiFact found the claims False. 

    The Aurora Police Department has formed a task force with other law enforcement agencies to investigate Tren de Aragua and violent crime impacting migrant communities in metropolitan Denver.

    “We have recently been able to tie multiple people to the TdA gang,” Aurora police department spokesperson Sydney Edwards told PolitiFact in an email, using an abbreviation for the gang and referring to four people arrested in a July 28 shooting on Nome Street in Aurora.

    Edwards did not respond when asked whether people videotaped at The Edge apartments were also Tren de Aragua gang members. But she sent PolitiFact a statement posted on the Aurora Police Department’s X account about the arrests.

    What residents said

    Residents at The Edge held a press conference Sept. 3 and disputed claims that their building had been taken over by Venezuelan gang members. They said the apartment conditions, including rat infestations and bedbugs, were caused by neglect by the owners, CBZ Management. One resident displayed live mice he had caught on glue traps as an example of health and safety concerns at the building.

    Screenshot from X

    CBZ claimed in an August statement that it has been unable to manage multiple buildings in Aurora because Tren de Aragua has violently taken them over. The company has apartment code violations related to pests and trash disposal that date back to 2020. The Nome Street apartments were shut down in August after city officials found health and safety problems, including a lack of electricity and rodent infestations.

    We rated a similar claim False that the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club went to Aurora, Colorado to confront the Venezuelan gang.

    Staff Reporter Maria Briceño contributed to this report.

    Source link

  • Reports about armed migrants in Chicago building are fake

    Reports about armed migrants in Chicago building are fake

    Conservative commentators have shared posts online about migrants “taking over” neighborhoods in different parts of the country. One recent post included an audio recording claiming it as evidence.

    “BREAKING: A group of 32 armed Venezualans took over an apartment building in Chicago tonight. Here’s the audio of the 911 dispatch call,” a  Sep. 2 X post by conservative account Libs of TikTok wrote. X owner Elon Musk reshared Libs of TikTok’s post, which has more than 21 million views.

    The post contains embedded audio on which a police dispatcher details a caller’s report. The Libs of TikTok account reshared the audio posted by the X account Windy City Weather and News, which posts weather information and reports from a Chicago police scanner. Multiple other X accounts shared the audio. 

    “Caller says 32 Venezuelans are trespassing the building, showing guns in the courtyard and they have motorcycles in the courtyard as well,” the dispatcher says. 

    Libs of TikTok also shared the post on Instagram. The post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

    The Chicago Police Department did not confirm to PolitiFact whether the specific phone call embedded in the post was real. The department said someone made a service call about Venezuelans with guns trespassing, but the incident reported in the call was “not bona fide” or “not real.”

    Jeanette Taylor, the Chicago alderperson who represents the area where the incident was reported, told Block Club Chicago, a local Chicago news website, that the reports were untrue. Taylor said she received no calls related to the incident from neighbors in the area, but did receive calls from people responding to social media posts.

    Migrants living in the building and residents from the area told the Chicago Tribune that the call was unfounded.

    PolitiFact rated False a similar claim, also amplified by Musk, that migrants hijacked school buses in San Diego. News reports identified people who approached buses in San Diego as migrants, but no attempted hijacking or crimes occurred.

    We rate the claim that a group of 32 armed Venezuelans took over a Chicago apartment building False.

    PolitiFact Staff Writer Marta Campabadal Graus contributed to this report. 

    Source link

  • AI-generated news offers unchecked path to misinformation as elections approach

    AI-generated news offers unchecked path to misinformation as elections approach

    A new issue is emerging as unchecked artificial intelligence continues to permeate online: There’s an explosion of websites that look like news sites — but they’re automated through AI. Hearst Television’s National Investigative Unit spoke with several secretaries of state, the people ultimately responsible for conducting elections in their states, who said there are real concerns that stealth uses of AI in this manner could influence the outcome of elections across the country. Maine Secretary of State targetedMaine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows knows about the impact of misinformation all too well.According to online articles from what appeared to be a news website, she was arrested, served time at Guantanamo Bay — and was executed. But none of it was true. “We were in this awkward position of having to explain, to some media outlets, like USA Today, also to some voters, ‘No, I’m alive and well. I’m, you know, here in Maine doing my work,’” Bellows said.Those stories clearly can have a lot of power. As the secretary of state, Bellows is the one in charge of running Maine’s elections.That is why she has been targeted, both by people and AI, with articles about her filled with incorrect information.Stories on these websites are written by bots, allowing for potential misinformation and disinformation to be published with little to no human oversight.A growing problemAI-powered websites are becoming more of a problem, according to Steven Brill, co-founder and CEO of NewsGuard, an organization that provides tools to counter misinformation. “We started with 40 or 50, and that has just exploded,” Brill told the National Investigative Unit. “A month from now, it could be 1,200. If I’m talking to you right before Election Day, I’ll bet it’s over 2,000.”Brill’s team is tracking more than 1,000 websites run by AI that spread false narratives. The websites the organization is tracking appear to be predominantly automated, using a script to scrape authentic news sites and rewrite the articles using AI, twisting the facts.These sites can gain significant traction on the internet, especially through social media. “They can get thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of views,” Brill said. “So the website itself is really just kind of a marker of false legitimacy.”Many of the websites are targeting the election, according to Brill.These websites can also be difficult to distinguish from legitimate news sites because they sometimes have generic names that are close to trusted news brands and are laid out in a way that mimics them. Some of these AI-powered sites even have multiple sections, articles, author bylines and advertisements. “You can only imagine how that is going to accelerate as we get closer to the election,” Brill said.What’s being done to stop AI and misinformation online? Social media websites like Facebook and X, formerly known as Twitter, have vowed to flag articles that contain misinformation and disinformation.Some states are even passing laws, adopting resolutions and/or enacting legislation to address the use of AI in different ways.Explore the map below to discover the laws across the nation. How can you tell if a website is AI-generated?AI is constantly evolving, so as time goes on, it will be harder to distinguish these sites from human-written ones. That’s why it’s important to choose trusted news sources. Below are basic tips and red flags when evaluating news sites.Check the “About” and “Privacy Policy” pages Trusted news sites almost always have “About Us” and/or “Privacy Policy” pages, which offer transparent information for readers about the organization and its ethics. Readers can find ours here. But some AI sites have overlooked key details on these pages. Some sites may say these pages are still being developed. For example, “This website was founded in by .” The more generic the language, the better the chance that there is some automation involved. It’s rare, but some might actually state the website is generated by AI or that the content has been written for “satire” and isn’t based on facts.No background on the author? Take the author’s name and type it into Google. If they don’t have any past work, that’s a red flag. Experts say AI “authors” will produce more content as time goes on, so be critical when looking at past work.If the article attributes the writing to “Admin” and “Editor,” or has no bylines at all, that’s another red flag.Readers may also want to examine the author more closely. The Hearst Television National Investigative Unit found at least one of these websites using the author bylines of real reporters, but further investigation showed no real connection between those reporters and the suspect articles.Scan for text that seems too formal or out of place”In conclusion,” is a common phrase that appears at the end of many AI articles, but it’s something human journalists rarely, if ever, use.Experts say artificial intelligence systems are meant to produce “helpful” responses, and that sometimes includes language that isn’t conversational. If the language used feels too formal or too jargony, it’s another red flag.Sentences that are repeated multiple timesAI-generated articles sometimes contained repeated concepts or even whole sentences in their copy. Human journalists and editors would likely have removed or refined these statements. Check the contextAI lacks a human understanding of the world. So, if the story seems unable to grasp a larger context or is missing the point entirely, think twice about it.Experts say that AI tries to predict the next word in a phrase or sentence, not produce facts. These articles often miss out on broader context.Check the sourcesA legitimate news article may frequently use citations and hyperlinks to link you to sources of information.Also, if the headline is not posted anywhere else, be skeptical. Look for other sources, particularly ones that you’ve heard of and trust.

    WASHINGTON —

    A new issue is emerging as unchecked artificial intelligence continues to permeate online: There’s an explosion of websites that look like news sites — but they’re automated through AI.

    Hearst Television’s National Investigative Unit spoke with several secretaries of state, the people ultimately responsible for conducting elections in their states, who said there are real concerns that stealth uses of AI in this manner could influence the outcome of elections across the country.

    Maine Secretary of State targeted

    Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows knows about the impact of misinformation all too well.

    According to online articles from what appeared to be a news website, she was arrested, served time at Guantanamo Bay — and was executed. But none of it was true.

    “We were in this awkward position of having to explain, to some media outlets, like USA Today, also to some voters, ‘No, I’m alive and well. I’m, you know, here in Maine doing my work,’” Bellows said.

    Hearst Television

    Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows

    Those stories clearly can have a lot of power.

    As the secretary of state, Bellows is the one in charge of running Maine’s elections.

    That is why she has been targeted, both by people and AI, with articles about her filled with incorrect information.

    Stories on these websites are written by bots, allowing for potential misinformation and disinformation to be published with little to no human oversight.

    A growing problem

    AI-powered websites are becoming more of a problem, according to Steven Brill, co-founder and CEO of NewsGuard, an organization that provides tools to counter misinformation.

    “We started with 40 or 50, and that has just exploded,” Brill told the National Investigative Unit. “A month from now, it could be 1,200. If I’m talking to you right before Election Day, I’ll bet it’s over 2,000.”

    steven brill, co-founder and ceo of newsguard

    Hearst Television

    Steven Brill, co-founder and CEO of NewsGuard

    Brill’s team is tracking more than 1,000 websites run by AI that spread false narratives. The websites the organization is tracking appear to be predominantly automated, using a script to scrape authentic news sites and rewrite the articles using AI, twisting the facts.

    These sites can gain significant traction on the internet, especially through social media.

    “They can get thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of views,” Brill said. “So the website itself is really just kind of a marker of false legitimacy.”

    Many of the websites are targeting the election, according to Brill.

    These websites can also be difficult to distinguish from legitimate news sites because they sometimes have generic names that are close to trusted news brands and are laid out in a way that mimics them. Some of these AI-powered sites even have multiple sections, articles, author bylines and advertisements.

    “You can only imagine how that is going to accelerate as we get closer to the election,” Brill said.

    What’s being done to stop AI and misinformation online?

    Social media websites like Facebook and X, formerly known as Twitter, have vowed to flag articles that contain misinformation and disinformation.

    Some states are even passing laws, adopting resolutions and/or enacting legislation to address the use of AI in different ways.

    Explore the map below to discover the laws across the nation.

    How can you tell if a website is AI-generated?

    AI is constantly evolving, so as time goes on, it will be harder to distinguish these sites from human-written ones. That’s why it’s important to choose trusted news sources.

    Below are basic tips and red flags when evaluating news sites.

    Check the “About” and “Privacy Policy” pages

    Trusted news sites almost always have “About Us” and/or “Privacy Policy” pages, which offer transparent information for readers about the organization and its ethics. Readers can find ours here.

    But some AI sites have overlooked key details on these pages. Some sites may say these pages are still being developed. For example, “This website was founded in [date] by [Your Name].” The more generic the language, the better the chance that there is some automation involved. It’s rare, but some might actually state the website is generated by AI or that the content has been written for “satire” and isn’t based on facts.

    No background on the author?

    Take the author’s name and type it into Google. If they don’t have any past work, that’s a red flag. Experts say AI “authors” will produce more content as time goes on, so be critical when looking at past work.

    If the article attributes the writing to “Admin” and “Editor,” or has no bylines at all, that’s another red flag.

    Readers may also want to examine the author more closely. The Hearst Television National Investigative Unit found at least one of these websites using the author bylines of real reporters, but further investigation showed no real connection between those reporters and the suspect articles.

    Scan for text that seems too formal or out of place

    “In conclusion,” is a common phrase that appears at the end of many AI articles, but it’s something human journalists rarely, if ever, use.

    Experts say artificial intelligence systems are meant to produce “helpful” responses, and that sometimes includes language that isn’t conversational. If the language used feels too formal or too jargony, it’s another red flag.

    Sentences that are repeated multiple times

    AI-generated articles sometimes contained repeated concepts or even whole sentences in their copy. Human journalists and editors would likely have removed or refined these statements.

    Check the context

    AI lacks a human understanding of the world. So, if the story seems unable to grasp a larger context or is missing the point entirely, think twice about it.

    Experts say that AI tries to predict the next word in a phrase or sentence, not produce facts. These articles often miss out on broader context.

    Check the sources

    A legitimate news article may frequently use citations and hyperlinks to link you to sources of information.

    Also, if the headline is not posted anywhere else, be skeptical. Look for other sources, particularly ones that you’ve heard of and trust.

    Source link

  • Bitfinex CTO confirms no data breach, cites fake allegations

    Bitfinex CTO confirms no data breach, cites fake allegations

    Bitfinex Chief Technology Officer Paolo Ardoino has confirmed that recent data breach allegations involving the cryptocurrency exchange were unfounded.

    Ardoino, addressing the rumors, stated unequivocally that Bitfinex’s user database remains secure following a thorough internal review over the weekend.

    The allegations surfaced last Saturday when Alice of Shinoji Research posted that Bitfinex had suffered a significant data breach. The post, later deleted, was based on assertions from a hacking group, FSociety, which claimed responsibility for the supposed breach on April 26. The tweet suggested that about 2.5 Terabytes of data and personal details of 400,000 users had been compromised.

    Ardoino’s review of Bitfinex’s systems revealed no evidence of a breach. The CTO explained that the data in question was not extracted from Bitfinex’s servers but was instead compiled from previous unrelated breaches. The compilation was misrepresented as a breach of Bitfinex, leveraging recycled credentials to create a false alarm.

    Alice of Shinoji Research has since retracted the initial claim, clarifying the misunderstanding in a follow-up statement. She indicated that the information was erroneously presented as a new incident while it involved old data from various breaches collected by another group known as Flocker. The misrepresentation was intended to simulate a ransom demand, exploiting the fears of a major breach.

    Ardoino believes this incident stresses the risks of reusing passwords across multiple platforms, a common practice that can lead to security vulnerabilities. He took the opportunity to urge users to employ unique passwords for different services to enhance security, especially on platforms handling sensitive financial information.

    Bralon Hill

    Source link

  • Megyn Kelly didn’t promote a coffee weight-loss method

    Megyn Kelly didn’t promote a coffee weight-loss method

    Did Megyn Kelly promote an “exotic coffee method” for weight loss? No, a video that appears to show her talking about a weight loss product has been deceptively edited.

    A Facebook video with the caption, “I lost over 330” shows the TV personality on “Megyn Kelly Today,” formerly a part of the “Today” show, saying, “So, if you had 22 months to transform your life, what would you do? How about lose almost two-thirds of your own body weight? That is what one teacher from Pennsylvania managed to do.”

    Kelly then asks the teacher, Brittany May, to name her plan. “I’m using the coffee method,” May responds. 

    This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

    A link in the post redirects users to a lengthy ad for a dietary supplement. We did a reverse-image search for a screenshot of the video and found that the video’s first half is authentic. Kelly did speak to May about her weight loss in a 2018 segment of “Megyn Kelly Today.” 

    But the video’s second half is edited. In the original video, when Kelly asks May to name her plan, May says, “Optavia,” which is a diet program.

    We rate the claim that Kelly promoted the “exotic coffee method” for weight loss on the “Megyn Kelly Today” show False. 

    Source link

  • Fabricated story of Donald Trump’s generosity

    Fabricated story of Donald Trump’s generosity

    In an oft-told tale, former President Donald Trump thanks a stranger who fixed his flat tire.

    “How can I repay you?” Trump asks, according to multiple Facebook posts that detailed the story.

    The stranger, who was described in the posts only as “a black man walking by,” replied by saying his wife always wanted flowers.

    “A few days later, the black man’s wife gets a beautiful bouquet of flowers with a note saying, ‘Thanks for helping me. By the way, … the mortgage on your house is paid off.’”

    The posts describe other instances of Trump’s generosity: giving $25,000 to a U.S. Marine who was beaten in a Mexican prison; sending $10,000 to a bus driver who saved a suicidal woman’s life; and chartering a private flight for a rabbi’s critically ill son. 

    Those, we found, had some factual basis. The flat tire story, however, did not.

    These posts were flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

    The flat tire story has been repeated several times through the decades. And it has been frequently debunked.

    The story was shared as far back as 1996 in Forbes, our review of Nexis news archives found. The details, including the location of the flat tire and the message Trump sent the good Samaritan, have changed throughout the years. Forbes did not name the purported tire fixer.

    In 1997, The Globe and Mail, a Canadian newspaper, asked an assistant at Trump’s New York office about the rumor. “We’ve heard the story,” the assistant said, according to the article. “No, it isn’t true.” 

    There are reasons to believe the other anecdotes in the post. Trump in 1988 used his private jet to help transport a critically ill child to a hospital, Snopes confirmed. In 2013, he gave $10,000 to bus driver Darnell Barton who talked a suicidal woman off a Buffalo, New York, bridge, a number of news organizations reported. In 2014, Trump gave $25,000 to U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi after he was imprisoned in Mexico.

    Trump didn’t pay off the mortgage of a man who fixed his flat tire. That is False. 

    PolitiFact Researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.

    Source link

  • Tyson Foods did not say it would hire 52,000 migrants

    Tyson Foods did not say it would hire 52,000 migrants

    Some people are boycotting Tyson Foods because of misinformation about the company’s hiring practices. 

    Social media users shared a Fox Business clip with the headline, “Tyson Foods lays off 1,200+ American workers in Iowa as it plans to hire 52,000 migrants.” 

    In the clip, taken from “The Bottom Line,” co-host Sean Duffy, a former Republican representative from Wisconsin, said, “Tyson laying off 1,200 workers after closing its pork factory in Perry, Iowa, only later to announce 52,000 jobs for migrants.” Co-host Dagan McDowell then partially quoted a Tyson Foods human resources executive as saying the migrants have been “very loyal. They’ve been uprooted and what they want is stability — what they want is a sense of belonging.”

    This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

    The full Fox Business segment aired March 16. The Tyson Foods human resources manager’s partial quote came from a March 11 Bloomberg News article titled, “Tyson is hiring New York immigrants for jobs no one else wants.” Fox Business did not immediately respond to our request for comment.

    Bloomberg News reported that Tyson “plans to hire about 52,000 people” this year at $16.50 an hour, without specifying who would fill those roles.

    A Tyson Foods spokesperson said the company did not make an announcement to hire 52,000 migrants and does not have 52,000 jobs available, calling  the figure an “inaccurate representation of job openings at Tyson Foods.” “Nor do we earmark any available jobs for any one group of people,” the spokesperson said in an email. Anyone who is qualified and legally authorized to work in the U.S. can apply for their jobs, the company said. 

    The Bloomberg News article also said that Tyson is partnering with Tent, an organization that helps businesses hire refugees. Refugees are people who had to leave their country because of persecution based on their race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a specific social group, according to U.S. law. Refugees are in the country legally. They apply for the refugee program before arriving in the United States and must pass biometric and biographical checks as well as interviews with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

    Tent says it is partnering with more than 400 global companies to help integrate refugees. Tyson Foods has partnered with Tent since 2022, when it made a three-year commitment to hire 2,500 refugees in the U.S., according to information on Tent’s website. 

    But this year was the first time Tyson Foods participated in a Tent hiring event, a Tyson Foods spokesperson said. 

    “Any insinuation that we would cut American jobs to hire immigrant workers is completely false,” Tyson Foods said in an undated statement published on its website. “Today, Tyson Foods employs 120,000 team members in the United States, all of whom are required to be legally authorized to work in this country.” 

    Scripps News, a broadcast news network, on March 13 retracted a story headlined “Tyson Foods wants to hire 52,000 asylum seekers for factory jobs” because it contained “serious factual inaccuracies,” and Scripps was “unable to verify that number.” 

    We rate the claim that Tyson Foods announced it would hire 52,000 migrants False.

    Source link

  • No video of Clintons eating humans with Haitian gang leader

    No video of Clintons eating humans with Haitian gang leader

    A bizarre claim circulating on social media says that actor Mel Gibson released a video of former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton eating human flesh with a Haitian gang leader named “Barbecue.” 

    But no such video exists on the internet. 

    An X post has a collage of images that include Mel Gibson speaking into a microphone, Bill Clinton near a car, people riding in a trolley, three men leaning against a white wall while holding rifles and a woman opening her mouth while crossing the street. 

    The image is accompanied with text that says, “BOMBSHELL: Mel Gibson just released a VIDEO of Bill and Hillary Clinton engaging in C@NNIBALISM with the Haitian C@nnibal Gang Leader named ‘Barbecue!’”  

    This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

    The post has a link that redirects users to a news article by American Media Group, a website that shares conspiracy theories. The news article does not contain the video or have any evidence that the video exists.

    Alan Nierob, Gibson’s publicist, told PolitiFact that Gibson did not release such a video.

    The post’s photo of Gibson is from a 2022 film, “On the Line.” The photo of Bill Clinton and the trolley is from 2010 in Bangkok, when he visited the set of “The Hangover Part II.” 

    And the image of the man holding the gun is Jimmy Chérizier, also known as Barbecue, the leader of Haiti’s powerful G9 Family and Allies gang. 

    Some people on social media have suggested that Barbecue’s name is a reference to cannibalism, although there is no evidence he or any Haitian gangs are engaging in the practice. Chérizier told The Associated Press in 2019 that he was given the nickname because his mother sold fried chicken when he was growing up. He was sanctioned by the United Nations in 2022 for alleged human rights abuses. 

    We searched news reports online and did not find any connection between the Clintons and Chérizier. The Clinton Foundation did raise $30 million for aid projects in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake, with critics saying the money was used improperly. 

    We rate the claim that Mel Gibson released a video of Bill and Hillary Clinton engaging in cannibalism with Haitian cannibal leader ‘Barbecue’ Pants on Fire! 

    RELATED: Cannibalism in Haiti? Fact-checking the unfounded claims 

    Source link

  • 2016 suicide not tied to claims of Clintons’ sex trafficking

    2016 suicide not tied to claims of Clintons’ sex trafficking

    Human trafficking researcher Monica Petersen’s 2016 death in Haiti sparked a conspiracy theory that she was killed for investigating sex trafficking allegations involving former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton. 

    Seven years later, the debunked claim continues to spread online.

    An Instagram post shows a split-screen graphic of Petersen and Hillary Clinton, with text that reads, “We will not forget about hero Monica Petersen who was ‘suicided’ while in Haiti investigating the Clintons for child trafficking,” implying that her death was made to look like a suicide.

    This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

    The claim is tied to a larger conspiracy theory called “pizzagate,” which alleges that Hilary Clinton and her campaign manager were running a child sex trafficking ring out of a Washington, D.C., pizzeria. PolitiFact has repeatedly debunked “pizzagate” claims. 

    The University of Denver’s Josef Korbel School of International Studies, which housed the Human Trafficking Center, posted an obituary for Peterson on Facebook on Nov. 15, 2016. The post said she died Nov. 13, 2016, in Haiti after leaving her position as a research assistant at the Human Trafficking Center in June 2016. 

    The Human Trafficking Center, which closed in June 2021, also made a December 2016 Facebook post sharing a Washington Post fact-check in which Claude d’Estrée, the Human Trafficking Center’s then-director, told the Post that Petersen was not in Haiti to research human trafficking or investigate the Clintons. 

    “I would like to bring this chapter of my dear friend and colleague’s life to a close. This does not mean we should end our vigilance around fake news and its very real consequences,” d’Estrée said. 

    D’Estreé told The Washington Post in 2016 that Petersen had been to Haiti many times before she died there at age 32, adding that she had been teaching and was exploring setting up a nongovernmental organization. D’Estreé said the death was a suicide but said the circumstances were unclear. 

    Some online conspiracy theorists pointed to a 2015 Facebook post by Petersen in which she said she was traveling to Haiti to do field work for three weeks. The post does not say Petersen planned to investigate the Clintons or the Clinton Foundation while she was there. 

    Other online conspiracy theorists cited a blog post Petersen had shared on Facebook that criticized the Clinton Foundation’s philanthropy in Haiti. The theorists said that Petersen wrote the post and that it’s evidence she was assassinated for investigating the foundation. Petersen did not write the article; a woman named Chantal Laurent did. 

    We rate the claim that Petersen was assassinated in Haiti while investigating the Clintons’ child trafficking Pants on Fire!

    Source link

  • MTG Releases New Tell-All Book – Bill Tope, Humor Times

    MTG Releases New Tell-All Book – Bill Tope, Humor Times

    MTG shovels the dirt on friends and foes alike in new tell-all book.

    Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R), representing Georgia’s 6th Congressional district since 2021, has come out with a tell-all book, a memoir of her years of political enlightenment which she states began in 2015, with the escalator ride taken in Trump Tower by future President Donald J. Trump.

    tell-all book, Marjorie Taylor Greene
    MTG counts how many actual facts are in her new tell-all book. Photo by Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0.

    In the book, titled I’d Drink His Bathwater: My Loyalty to The Donald, Greene recounts the highlights of her career so far. For example, she promulgates many controversial political (conspiracy) theories, including that the 9/11 2001 attack on the Twin Towers in New York was a so-called inside job, perpetrated by elements of the “deep state.” Greene states the actual perpetrators were not Saudi radicals, but in fact Jews and seminal figures of the nascent Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement.

    Another theory put forth by Greene is that the spate of destructive wildfires which ravaged the Pacific Northwest some five years ago was the work of space lasers manipulated by Rothschild family “bad Jews.” Said Greene: “They’re always up to shit.”

    Still another conspiracy theory she sets forth in detail is that rogue Democrats, also enmeshed in the deep state, operated a cannibalistic child-sex-trafficking ring out of a Washington D.C. pizza parlor. “They wasn’t just puttin’ pepperonis on them pies,” claimed Greene in a post on Twitter. Hillary Clinton, stated Greene, “was the bitch behind this disgraceful episode.”

    Greene, who divorced her husband of more than 30 years in 2022, has been linked romantically in the tabloids with former President Donald J. Trump. When Trump was temporarily incarcerated in Fulton County, Georgia last year, to have his mug shot and fingerprints taken, Greene allegedly had a conjugal visit with the ex-president. Trump reportedly said that if such interludes continued to occur, then he’d “be happy to spend more time in the clink.”

    MTG’s political career has been a mixed bag. Although she was stripped of her committee assignments during her first term, due to imprudent public remarks and posts on social platforms, Greene. a fast friend of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, has in her second term gained membership on the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability and the House Committee on Homeland Security where, she wrote, she has “consistently raised hell.” She has personally introduced bills to impeach some 40 members of the Biden administration, including all the cabinet members.

    On Jan. 20, 2021, Greene introduced a bill of impeachment against newly-inaugurated President Joe Biden. It was his first day on the job. And she has said that she would move to vacate the Speaker’s chair if new Speaker Mike Johnson managed to pass legislation which would afford military aid to Ukraine, which is involved in an on-going war with Russia.

    “That there’s a territorial dispute,” cried Greene on the House floor, gnashing her teeth. “We got no business helping out them Ukraine Nazis,” she recounted, quoting herself. Greene went on to write that, when Donald Trump is reelected, then “he’ll nuke them sons’o’bitches!”

    Green concludes her tell-all book by looking to the future, a future with Donald J. Trump at America’s helm. “Trump has already had a big effect on my life,” she wrote. Emulating the 45th president, she has taken up golf. She said her low score matches her record at the dead lift — 325.

    “I would,” she quipped on the last page of the memoir, quoting the book’s title, “drink Trump’s bath water.”

    Bill TopeBill Tope
    Latest posts by Bill Tope (see all)
    ShareShare

    Bill Tope

    Source link

  • Republican Guvs Tell Kids: “Stay Hungry!” – Bill Tope, Humor Times

    Republican Guvs Tell Kids: “Stay Hungry!” – Bill Tope, Humor Times

    GOP guvs decry welfare and childhood obesity, tell lazy kids to “stay hungry” for success.

    Fifteen Republican governors have said no to participating in a federally funded food assistance program, telling lazy kids to “stay hungry” for success. The program was passed on a bipartisan basis by Congress in 2022 and is designed to provide money ($120 per child) for food purchases during the summer, when children are on break and unable to receive free lunches at school.

    Tom Vilsack, GOP tells kids stay hungry
    Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture. Photo: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Public Domain.

    Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said $2.5 billion was allocated in service to 21 million children. Governors gave various reasons for their states’ non-participation.

    Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt (R), reached at the governor’s mansion in Oklahoma City, where he was having dinner with his wife, Mary, and their nine children, was cutting into a T-bone steak. “Oklahoma has adequate resources,” he said around a mouthful of medium-rare steak, “and I’m completely satisfied.” He suggested that parents of “so-called hungry kids” plant “victory gardens, like they did in WWII.”

    One of the problems with food availability in the summer months is that of access. According to Prof. Mary Tupper, of Harvard University, just one in six in-need families can obtain food resources due to transportation problems. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R), reached on the campaign trail in Lobotomie, IA, said that he’s investigating a program whereby bicycles, with large baskets on the handlebars, will be leased to in-need Floridians for a moderate fee. “This service will NOT be available to transgenders,” the governor noted sharply.

    Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds (R), put forth by some as a likely running mate for the Florida governor, decried “Childhood obesity.” With a shudder she remarked that she’d do nothing to create “ten thousand more fat little Black children” in her state. She added that there weren’t enough “restrictions on food purchases,” and suggested that some parents used food vouchers to obtain “beer, whiskey, lottery tickets, and even cannabis.” Besides, she said, Iowa “is full of restaurants that just throw out perfectly good food every day; it’s up to the parents to be innovative in procuring food for their families.”

    Florida, Georgia, S. Carolina and Wyoming have, in addition to denying increased food assistance, opted out of the Medicaid expansion as well. Noted Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R. GA): “It’s them George Soros Jews behind all this. They’s trying to replace real Americans with fat Black and brown kids!”

    Katie Bergh, a senior policy analyst at a Washington-based research and policy institute, said that pilot programs have shown that this program makes kids healthier and less hungry. It provides more fruits and fresh vegetables for the dinner table. Snarled Rep. Greene: “Vegetables are overrated and I say we have nothing to do with fruits!”

    Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen said simply that he “doesn’t believe in welfare.” When questioned on instances of “corporate welfare” in his state as well as aid to millionaire farmers, he grinned and cackled, “Ya got me!” before calling security to order the press from the executive mansion.

    Bill TopeBill Tope
    Latest posts by Bill Tope (see all)
    ShareShare

    Bill Tope

    Source link

  • AI Hoiman: No More Two Party System – Ted Holland, Humor Times

    AI Hoiman: No More Two Party System – Ted Holland, Humor Times

    Dispatches From SNN (Slobovian News Network)

    The AI candidate Hoiman says we should get rid of political parties altogether.

    Presidential candidate Artificial Ignorance Entity Hoiman says that the American system has ground to a halt because Congress is a joke. Further, Hoiman says today’s political parties are like two three-year-olds fighting over a lollipop.

    Artificial Ignorance Entity Hoiman
    Still from the movie, “A.I. Artificial Intelligence” (2001).

    “It’s time to get rid of political parties and elections as we now know them,” said Hoiman. “Because of the corrupt parties, nothing gets done on the local, state or federal government levels.”

    He states that the political process in the Democratic Republic of Pepperbutte is an improvement over the current US political system. “The people run the government of DRP. There are no political parties, no elections and no professional politicians,” he said.

    Hoiman explained that most Americans are unfamiliar with Pepperbutte. “It has a population of 7 million people and is the world’s largest exporter of organic digital condoms and ass wax,” he said.

    Since there are no political parties in Pepperbutte, citizens are drafted to fill public offices. Those between the ages of 18 and 30 are selected to serve one year in the Pepperbuttean military corps. Taxpayers and property owners between the ages of 30 and 60 are selected to serve on town counsels, state assemblies and the national congress. Once you serve your four year term you cannot serve another term.

    Pepperbutte has no political campaigns and no elections. Mayors, governors and the vice chancellor are picked from within the group draftees.

    This works for Pepperbutte and could work for America, Hoiman says. “I am looking forward to running against and matching wits with Donald Trump,” he added.

    SNN Words to Live By

    “Everything is beautiful in its own way” — Ray Stevens, “Everything is Beautiful,” 1970 song.

    “Don’t confuse feeling good with being good.” — writer James Fixx.

    Ted HollandTed Holland
    Latest posts by Ted Holland (see all)
    ShareShare

    Ted Holland

    Source link

  • CNN Reporters Throw Temper Tantrum Over Their Own Network's Vivek Ramaswamy Town Hall

    CNN Reporters Throw Temper Tantrum Over Their Own Network's Vivek Ramaswamy Town Hall

    Opinion

    Screenshot YouTube : CNN

    This week, embattled and struggling 24/7 news network CNN hosted a town hall for GOP Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. Mr. Ramaswamy is not one to turn down a media appearance, including one guaranteed to be hostile, so no doubt CNN felt it was an easy way to try to attract viewers they so desperately need.

    Even with the writing on the wall that CNN is quickly losing its foothold in the all-day, all-night news arena, their reporters voiced their displeasure at the network’s decision to host Mr. Ramaswamy.

    After all, it’s not the news media’s job to provide balanced coverage of elections and those candidates hoping to cinch the support of the American public, at least not according to Oliver Darcy.

    Taxes the imagination

    Wednesday, CNN hosted an hour-long town hall for GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. CNN’s senior media reporter Oliver Darcy was none too happy about the decision, writing about his frustrations with his own employer in his CNN newsletter.

    Mr. Darcy wrote:

    “The notion that the infotainer, who CNN has reported ‘struggles for relevance’ as he polls in the low single digits and remains exceedingly unlikely to be the Republican Party’s nominee, deserves an hour-long national platform to sell his personal brand and insidious talking points to the masses taxes the imagination.”

    It taxes the imagination how such outrageous, open, and hostile bias still manages to garner a paycheck from CNN. But perhaps he has a point; maybe it doesn’t make sense for CNN to provide so much air time to someone who isn’t in the top two positions in most polls for the GOP nomination.

    RELATED: Tucker Carlson Announces He’s Launching His Own Streaming Service

    In that case, it would square with Mr. Darcy’s argument that CNN provide an hour for former President Donald Trump, who by every measure is the front-runner and more than likely will be the Republican nominee. However, when CNN did just that in May, Mr. Darcy also railed against that.

    Is there anything that would make Mr. Darcy happy at CNN, or perhaps, like the famous Jane Austen character by the same name, he is too prideful or prejudiced? It’s hard to recall which.

    Not so iconic

    Mr. Darcy seems particularly incensed that his employer would want to attach their brand to the ideas Mr. Ramaswamy espouses, writing:

    “Handing Ramaswamy a microphone and putting him on a stage affixed with CNN’s iconic branding to answer audience questions helps validate him and provides oxygen to the menacing wildfire of delusions he has pushed into the public discourse.”

    Delusions such as stricter immigration policies, elevating concepts like patriotism and faith, and thinning out the administrative branch of government that no citizen ever voted into power, or that there were FBI informants in the crowd at the Capitol riot.

    The best part of the above statement is Mr. Darcy’s assertion that the CNN “iconic” brand means anything anymore.

    Before the terrorist attacks by Hamas, CNN was raking in only about 55,000 viewers for their weekend lineups, including for their shows State of the Union with Jake Tapper and Dana Bash and Fareed Zakaria GPS. Their Sunday numbers were even worse, only bringing in about 43,000 viewers for The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper and Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy.

    Those ratings are the worst CNN has ever had since the dawn of tracking viewership in 1991. Since the war in Israel began, CNN has only attracted roughly 619,000 viewers as of mid-November Monday tracking.

    Compare that to two million that tuned into Fox News on that same tracked Monday and 1.7 million that switched on MSNBC. Maybe tossing the millennial conservative provocateur on a stage with a microphone and the beleaguered CNN brand is a good idea.

    RELATED: Vivek Ramaswamy Gets Praise For Promise To Release Epstein Client List: ‘Every Candidate Should Commit To This’

    Missing the point

    In response to Oliver Darcy’s tirade, a CNN spokesperson explained that Vivek Ramaswamy is a legitimate guest for a town hall given that he is a:

    “…significant candidate for the GOP nomination, having made every debate stage thus far.”

    A true statement, however, is still missing the reason why Vivek should get a town hall appearance. Mainstream news networks like CNN should have newsmakers on their networks because the idea behind claiming they report the news would indicate including those who generate news.

    But that’s not really what employees at CNN want to do; they want to drive public discourse and shape American opinions. Legacy news isn’t about and hasn’t been about reporting facts and presenting engaging, compelling counterarguments for a long time.

    Legacy news is about entertainment and power. Dialing into the most extreme viewer’s most basic needs and controlling the group-think of the agreed upon audience.

    It taxes the imagination why legacy news media and print keep wondering why American viewership and readership have plummeted in the last few years, and reliance on citizen journalists on social media has increased.

    Now is the time to support and share the sources you trust.
    The Political Insider ranks #3 on Feedspot’s “100 Best Political Blogs and Websites.”

    Kathleen J. Anderson

    Source link