Fake news, media manipulation etc

Started by imtommygunn, February 26, 2017, 11:23:05 AM

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ziggysego

Quote from: ONeill on February 27, 2017, 12:23:56 AM
Quote from: seafoid on February 26, 2017, 02:31:24 PM
http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2016/11/11/facebook-twitter-trump-how-internet-changed-election/

According to the website Twitter Audit, 4,645,254 of Donald Trump's 11,972,303 Twitter followers—about 39 percent—were bots, compared to 524,141 of Hillary Clinton's 10,696,761, or just 5 percent. Here was another way that Trump triumphed.

FECK ME. If true.

Reminds me of Daniel McCrossan in West Tyrone.

http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/election-diary-sdlp-s-mccrossan-silent-about-fake-followers-1-7363895

Testing Accessibility

Hardy

#16
Quote from: Denn Forever on February 27, 2017, 12:04:43 PM
Wasn't Obama who made great use of Social Media in his first election?  Did he create the monster?

Robert Mercer (part owner of Breitbart) is the one who has most effectively pioneered the harnessing of social media and AI to target propaganda at voters likely to be susceptible to the message. His shadowy influence in the Trump movement has hardly been explored.

If Bannon is the brains behind Trump, Mercer is the money behind Bannon. Mercer, who had previously bankrolled Cruz's campaign, is also the hard-righter who seems first to have spotted the potential of Trump to be the useful idiot to carry the alt-right message. He then who got his minions, Bannon and Conway (also a former Cruz supporter) onto Trump's staff. It might be a very interesting study to analyse the Trump message and the wording of the propaganda since last July and the advent of this threesome.

Billys Boots

He's the big-data guru, isn't he - smart way to win an election I guess. 
My hands are stained with thistle milk ...

Hardy

#18
Quote from: Billys Boots on February 27, 2017, 01:23:02 PM
He's the big-data guru, isn't he - smart way to win an election I guess. 

Yes. Also a mate of Nigel's, and made a big impact on the Brexit campaign from the shadows. At least according to this fake news outlet.
(And I do mean from the shadows - UKIP never declared this benefit-in-kind funding of the campaign.)

The Iceman

I struggle to watch any news these days - I find it all very sensationalized. I have people in America visiting Ireland and afraid to go North because of the news. I have people in Ireland afraid to visit Florida because of the news. I'm increasingly concerned by the distraction of it all. People are worried about Kerry Gold butter being banned in the state of Wisconsin while genocide is happening in other countries...  It's very easy to loose heart in the media
I will always keep myself mentally alert, physically strong and morally straight


ziggysego

Quote from: The Iceman on February 27, 2017, 01:50:23 PM
I struggle to watch any news these days - I find it all very sensationalized. I have people in America visiting Ireland and afraid to go North because of the news. I have people in Ireland afraid to visit Florida because of the news. I'm increasingly concerned by the distraction of it all. People are worried about Kerry Gold butter being banned in the state of Wisconsin while genocide is happening in other countries...  It's very easy to loose heart in the media

I very seldom watch the news any more, it's mostly crap and highly editorial. I'm a much happier person for it.
Testing Accessibility

Puckoon

Quote from: The Iceman on February 27, 2017, 01:50:23 PM
I struggle to watch any news these days - I find it all very sensationalized. I have people in America visiting Ireland and afraid to go North because of the news. I have people in Ireland afraid to visit Florida because of the news. I'm increasingly concerned by the distraction of it all. People are worried about Kerry Gold butter being banned in the state of Wisconsin while genocide is happening in other countries...  It's very easy to loose heart in the media

I'm not losing heart in the media - I'm losing heart in the people. Particularly the people who ARE smart enough to understand the truth and the weight of propaganda - but who simply don't care because it furthers their agenda. There's always been nonsense out there - but it is getting more traction these days and things are snowballing.

Clearly genocide is clearly more important than having grass fed unsalted butter for your daily coffee - but people are paying less attention now to the world and more attention to themselves.

I've just about raised an eyebrow to a gun massacre or a terrorist attack in the last 24 months. Why is that?

J70

Quote from: Puckoon on February 28, 2017, 12:47:42 AM
Quote from: The Iceman on February 27, 2017, 01:50:23 PM
I struggle to watch any news these days - I find it all very sensationalized. I have people in America visiting Ireland and afraid to go North because of the news. I have people in Ireland afraid to visit Florida because of the news. I'm increasingly concerned by the distraction of it all. People are worried about Kerry Gold butter being banned in the state of Wisconsin while genocide is happening in other countries...  It's very easy to loose heart in the media

I'm not losing heart in the media - I'm losing heart in the people. Particularly the people who ARE smart enough to understand the truth and the weight of propaganda - but who simply don't care because it furthers their agenda. There's always been nonsense out there - but it is getting more traction these days and things are snowballing.

Clearly genocide is clearly more important than having grass fed unsalted butter for your daily coffee - but people are paying less attention now to the world and more attention to themselves.

I've just about raised an eyebrow to a gun massacre or a terrorist attack in the last 24 months. Why is that?

That's the shameful truth.

seafoid

Fake news is linked to polarisation, inequality and plutocracy

https://www.ft.com/content/4e5af7e4-c88d-11e6-8f29-9445cac8966f
"US inequality has surged to its highest point since the 1920s, before the Great Depression. The nation's top earners take home a higher and higher share of US income, while the average income for the bottom half of US workers has not increased since the 1970s. Increasing inequality harms outcomes for the US economy as a whole: studies show that increased inequality leads to greater political polarisation, decreased economic mobility, a shrinking middle class, poorer education outcomes and more.Worsening inequality would already be difficult to reverse. But under Mr Trump's proposed policies, inequality might get worse before it improves, especially if the boom in capital markets continues and if Mr Trump's proposed tax breaks disproportionately benefit the country's richest as much as analysts predict. Mr Trump's promises to impose tariffs on cheap Chinese imports could also drive up prices for low-income Americans, especially if such policies fail to bring back the volume of jobs he promises."

http://voxeu.org/article/political-aftermath-financial-crises-going-extremes
Mian et al (2012) find that financial crises are followed by fractionalisation and polarisation of parliaments. Related, Bloom et al (2011) demonstrate that policy uncertainty is particularly high after financial crises.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/feb/05/donald-trump-lies-belief-totalitarianism
Trump wants a violent reaction. He wants to be able to tell white Americans his opponents are 'professional anarchists'.  It could all go wrong. Trump, Bannon, Farage and the Tory right want to polarise societies

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/12/02/long-division
Polarization in Congress maps onto one measure better than any other: economic inequality. The smaller the gap between rich and poor, the more moderate our politicians; the greater the gap, the greater the disagreement between liberals and conservatives. The greater the disagreement between liberals and conservatives, the less Congress is able to get done; the less Congress gets done, the greater the gap between rich and poor.
Actually, income disparity accords with many other things, as the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has found. The greater the income gap, the higher the teenage pregnancy rate (poverty, ignorance, lack of sex education, and opposition to contraceptives are all at play here). The greater the income gap, the more education suffers, the less there is of social mobility, the greater the difficulty of reaching higher education, and the higher the premium put on it.
"f**k it, just score"- Donaghy   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbxG2WwVRjU

LeoMc

Quote from: J70 on February 28, 2017, 12:52:42 AM
Quote from: Puckoon on February 28, 2017, 12:47:42 AM
Quote from: The Iceman on February 27, 2017, 01:50:23 PM
I struggle to watch any news these days - I find it all very sensationalized. I have people in America visiting Ireland and afraid to go North because of the news. I have people in Ireland afraid to visit Florida because of the news. I'm increasingly concerned by the distraction of it all. People are worried about Kerry Gold butter being banned in the state of Wisconsin while genocide is happening in other countries...  It's very easy to loose heart in the media

I'm not losing heart in the media - I'm losing heart in the people. Particularly the people who ARE smart enough to understand the truth and the weight of propaganda - but who simply don't care because it furthers their agenda. There's always been nonsense out there - but it is getting more traction these days and things are snowballing.

Clearly genocide is clearly more important than having grass fed unsalted butter for your daily coffee - but people are paying less attention now to the world and more attention to themselves.

I've just about raised an eyebrow to a gun massacre or a terrorist attack in the last 24 months. Why is that?

That's the shameful truth.

The more I read about confirmation bias the more inclined I am to believe it

seafoid

Quote from: LeoMc on February 28, 2017, 10:49:15 AM
Quote from: J70 on February 28, 2017, 12:52:42 AM
Quote from: Puckoon on February 28, 2017, 12:47:42 AM
Quote from: The Iceman on February 27, 2017, 01:50:23 PM
I struggle to watch any news these days - I find it all very sensationalized. I have people in America visiting Ireland and afraid to go North because of the news. I have people in Ireland afraid to visit Florida because of the news. I'm increasingly concerned by the distraction of it all. People are worried about Kerry Gold butter being banned in the state of Wisconsin while genocide is happening in other countries...  It's very easy to loose heart in the media

I'm not losing heart in the media - I'm losing heart in the people. Particularly the people who ARE smart enough to understand the truth and the weight of propaganda - but who simply don't care because it furthers their agenda. There's always been nonsense out there - but it is getting more traction these days and things are snowballing.

Clearly genocide is clearly more important than having grass fed unsalted butter for your daily coffee - but people are paying less attention now to the world and more attention to themselves.

I've just about raised an eyebrow to a gun massacre or a terrorist attack in the last 24 months. Why is that?

That's the shameful truth.

The more I read about confirmation bias the more inclined I am to believe it
Confirmation bias is groupthink
"f**k it, just score"- Donaghy   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbxG2WwVRjU

The Iceman

Quote from: Puckoon on February 28, 2017, 12:47:42 AM
Quote from: The Iceman on February 27, 2017, 01:50:23 PM
I struggle to watch any news these days - I find it all very sensationalized. I have people in America visiting Ireland and afraid to go North because of the news. I have people in Ireland afraid to visit Florida because of the news. I'm increasingly concerned by the distraction of it all. People are worried about Kerry Gold butter being banned in the state of Wisconsin while genocide is happening in other countries...  It's very easy to loose heart in the media

I'm not losing heart in the media - I'm losing heart in the people. Particularly the people who ARE smart enough to understand the truth and the weight of propaganda - but who simply don't care because it furthers their agenda. There's always been nonsense out there - but it is getting more traction these days and things are snowballing.

Clearly genocide is clearly more important than having grass fed unsalted butter for your daily coffee - but people are paying less attention now to the world and more attention to themselves.

I've just about raised an eyebrow to a gun massacre or a terrorist attack in the last 24 months. Why is that?
I think because we are all becoming a little more selfish. Maybe a lot more selfish.  Most people (myself included) consider themselves first and not others.  How does this impact me right now? What can I get out of this? What would I rather be doing right now?  Mum's at the park with their kid taking photos so get likes on facebook instead of enjoying the kids and playing with them. Dad's watching the game or playing video games while their kids are being babysitted by some other electronic device...parents off for the day while their kids are in day care... babies at 10 weeks going in to day care or with a nanny because mummy has to work.... No more Christmas cards....
There's good people out there - I think we try to be one of them - but we need to try harder. I need to try harder.

I think we're all better off when we turn the news off or at least source our news from a reputable location and do some work to verify it.
If anyone has some real news sites please share - I've yet to see one without bias
I will always keep myself mentally alert, physically strong and morally straight

Puckoon

The search for impartiality in the news is a fruitless one. Not because it doesn't exist, but because there are so many topics in the world right now that are impossible to report or discuss without being accused of polarizing the conversation.

BBC has been battered by both Israel and Palestine with accusations of bias in reporting Palestinian aggression and agenda, and Israeli response and agenda  as an example. Surely if both "sides" in a news situation are accusing a broadcaster of bias, that actually speaks to a lack of bias?

In addition, if a news source is let's say biased against creationism Vs evolution - well given the weight of evidence for evolution Vs the evidence of creation - can that news source be accused of bias? I don't believe so.  Insert Global warming, vaccinations, Santa Claus etc in here.

I don't believe that the majority of main stream news is corrupt. Just because the 9 year olds who are being naughty want to make us believe that they didn't smash the vase doesn't mean that the facts arent stating otherwise.

Declan

https://www.buzzfeed.com/craigsilverman/how-the-hyperpartisan-sausage-is-made?utm_term=.ngQ5pZ50r#.xgVkevkOQ

QuoteThe search for impartiality in the news is a fruitless one. Not because it doesn't exist, but because there are so many topics in the world right now that are impossible to report or discuss without being accused of polarizing the conversation.

BBC has been battered by both Israel and Palestine with accusations of bias in reporting Palestinian aggression and agenda, and Israeli response and agenda  as an example. Surely if both "sides" in a news situation are accusing a broadcaster of bias, that actually speaks to a lack of bias?

In addition, if a news source is let's say biased against creationism Vs evolution - well given the weight of evidence for evolution Vs the evidence of creation - can that news source be accused of bias? I don't believe so.  Insert Global warming, vaccinations, Santa Claus etc in here.

I don't believe that the majority of main stream news is corrupt. Just because the 9 year olds who are being naughty want to make us believe that they didn't smash the vase doesn't mean that the facts arent stating otherwise.

Good points Puckoon