False Porn-on-CNN Report Shows How Quickly Fake News Spreads (usatoday.com)

Slashdot reader xtsigs writes: "No, despite what you read, CNN did not run porn for 30 minutes Thursday, as was reported by Fox News, the New York Post, Variety and other news organizations, several of which later corrected their stories," reports USA Today. The story goes on to explain how the story started (a single tweet), how it was quickly picked up by media outlets (without verifying if CNN actually did, in truth, broadcast porn), how it was then retracted by some outlets (but not others).

Other outlets jumped on the story of the story while, as of early Saturday morning some sites are still running the original story claiming CNN did, in fact, broadcast 30 minutes of porn.

Comments

This story is fake

[Anonymous Coward]

Like most of the ones on dotslash.

Now shut up you poo poo heads

Re:This story is fake

[tburkhol]

All of this fake news is destroying our country. Good thing we just elected a President committed to rooting out vicious lies told by the media and to holding them accountable.

Honestly, this all sounds like the opening volleys of an astroturf campaign to restrict freedom of speech and freedom of press.

Re:This story is fake

[Anonymous Coward]

Yep, CNN is pretty much 24/7 porn they way they abase themselves and swoon over everything any liberal has to say. If you want something different you can switch over to MSNBC and watch Chris Matthews getting a tingle up his leg.

You heard it here first

[Anonymous Coward]

Donald Trump committed suicide! 100% true story.

Re:You heard it here first

[Anonymous Coward]

people suffering from malignant narcissism do not kill themselves, in spite of their victims prayers.

Re:You heard it here first

[michelcolman]

And Fidel Castro died as well.

Re:You heard it here first

[Anonymous Coward]

Too good story to be true.

Re:You heard it here first

[SuperKendall]

Yes, he somehow managed to stab himself over 34 times in the back, using a large knife with a monogrammed "H" on the handle.

Re:You heard it here first

[Anonymous Coward]

Experts confirm this is the work of Russian state-actors, quote:
"We don't know who's behind it."

Re:You heard it here first

[lgw]

Surely you mean "shot himself in the head in Fort Macy park, then wiped his fingerprints off the gun before dying, shortly after writing a suicide note in someone else's handwriting".

Re: You heard it here first

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, narcissistic people do kill themselves. I know two who did.

Re:You heard it here first

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt02...

Re:You heard it here first

[cellocgw]

And Fidel Castro died as well

maybe not. Maybe Castro just ran a body-swap w/ Trump. Trump's dead and Castro's in the Trump body.

Re:You heard it here first

[adsskrill]

thanks for the post. If you to want to buy or sell anything then visit http://www.adsskrill.com./ Post Free Classified ads.

Re:You heard it here first

[RockDoctor]

Donald Trump committed suicide!
[...]
And Fidel Castro died as well.

I always suspected the TheDonald was really Castro on sabbatical. Now we have proof!

Clicks are all that matter

[rsilvergun]

especially in a post-ad blocker era where online advertising has become so cutthroat. Looks like the Journalists are cutting our throats.

Re: Clicks are all that matter

[Anonymous Coward]

#ClickLivesMatter

Re:Clicks are all that matter

[CaptainDork]

Looks like the Journalists are cutting their throats.

FTFY

Re:Clicks are all that matter

[SeaFox]

Looks like the Journalists are cutting our throats.

Don't kid yourself, "journalists" disappeared a decade ago. What you have now are "personalities" on TV and glorified bloggers in print.

Yeeehaw! This race to the bottom brought to you by Brawndo! The Thirst Mutilator!

Re:Clicks are all that matter

[ShanghaiBill]

Don't kid yourself, "journalists" disappeared a decade ago.

You are experiencing false nostalgia. There was never a golden age of "real" journalists. Journalists misreported the WMD evidence in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq. Monica-gate and Iran-Contra were reported in alt-media, including tabloids, long before mainstream journalists start paying attention. Nixon almost got away with Watergate, and JFK did get away with a lot of philandering and cheating that the press covered up in exchange for access.

It is easier to find the truth today than ever before. You just need to filter through a lot of crap to get to it.

Re:Clicks are all that matter

[thegarbz]

But journalists did what you said. They existed. These days you could replace most of what we call journalism with a computer based re-tweeter which adds some boilerplate text around the tweet and no one would know. The only real original thoughts are those from people being interviewed and these could be done with text-to-speech.

Comparing what happened during the Iraq has WMD era to now, while both were their own flavours of bad, doesn't make much sense.

Re:Clicks are all that matter

[Dutch Gun]

Don't forget the media themselves have their own controversies, such a rigging car crashes or using laughably fake memos created in MS Word as "proof" to impugn Bush's National Guard activities during the Vietnam War.

This "fake news" is a backlash from the mainstream media that realized that they don't actually *control* alternate media sources, and it terrifies them. Because, after all, those who haven't gone through journalism school and don't work for a real new organization can't possibly take their place in shaping the perceptions of the American public. This is about institutions collectively panicking over lost power and influence, and trying to find someone to blame. It's not that "fake news" doesn't exist, or that it's somehow new (hello National Enquirer), but given that the mainstream media outlets have been solidly pushing for Clinton for the last half year, it's not surprising they'd see this as some sort of watershed moment, and look for a reason that they couldn't convince the American people who they should obviously have been voting for.

In reality, the mainstream media has disenfranchised a large percentage of the population long ago. They're just now realizing that something is very wrong, but as is typical of human nature, it's much easier to find some external boogeyman than to look inward at what they could be doing to regaine people's trust.

Re:Clicks are all that matter

[Anonymous Coward]

Why aren't you checking sources, and when the source is another news outfit more often then not, start THERE. Then, who is THEIR source?

You're confused because you're getting your news from the wrong places, and blaming the people doing the reporting for your inability to find it.

Re:Clicks are all that matter

[Anonymous Coward]

You can check the sources; won't change the fact that eventually, most sources for what passes as news boil down to some random tweet. But you can check 'em.

Re:Clicks are all that matter

[Anonymous Coward]

"Go to only alt-right sources" Got it. The great thing about your comment is that you can't prove that alt-media got anything first 20-30 years ago or more

Re:Clicks are all that matter

[ShanghaiBill]

Compare the WMD fiasco to the Tonkin Gulf incident. Both were based on lies and both were used as justification to drag America into stupid wars. But the Tonkin Gulf lies were published with much less fact checking by "journalists", and were not exposed until nearly three decades later. That would not happen today. There is no justification for the claim that journalism is "getting worse". Today, there is less filtering of BS, but also less filtering of the truth.

Re:Clicks are all that matter

[allcoolnameswheretak]

You are experiencing false nostalgia. There was never a golden age of "real" journalists. Journalists misreported the WMD evidence in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq.

I don't remember journalism being involved in any way. This was orchestrated by the Bush administration. You could practically feel the embarrassment of Colin Power when he was showing images with gray smudges on them to the UN, claiming them to be the sites with WMD. He didn't buy the story himself, but he was just obeying orders from Rumsfeld and Cheney, like the good solider he was.

Re:Clicks are all that matter

[allcoolnameswheretak]

*Colin Power -> Colin Powell, of course.

Re:Clicks are all that matter

[ShanghaiBill]

I don't remember journalism being involved in any way.

Some journalists, such as Joe Wilson, exposed some of the lies. They had evidence, but they didn't get much attention. If more journalists had done their job, instead of just parroting propaganda, they might have prevented one of history's dumbest wars.

You could practically feel the embarrassment of Colin Powell when he was showing images with gray smudges on them to the UN

Colin Powell also wrote the cover-up of the My-Lai Massacre when he was a young officer in Vietnam, proclaiming that the relationship between the soldiers and villagers was "excellent". His career was bookended at both the beginning and the end by allowing himself to be used as a tool for spreading lies.

Re:Clicks are all that matter

[ShakaUVM]

>You are experiencing false nostalgia. There was never a golden age of "real" journalists.

The media has always been biased in favor of the establishment in America. (Which cuts deeper than the left-wing bias, really.)

That said, in the 80s there was a distinction between News and Opinion on TV. News reporters would make at least a token effort of presenting both sides (equal treatment principle + fairness doctrine), and opinion pieces were often not found at all in news programs. Newspapers separated out the News section from the Editorial section (and would often run pro- or con- columns on whatever was the pressing issue of the day).

Now we have news "personalities" getting choked up on live television when Trump wins, and the New York Times completely taking its mask off and just running "FUCK YOU, AMERICA! I THOUGHT WE WERE BETTER THAN THIS! I HATE YOU TRUMP, WARRRGHGHGHBBLBLBLE" headlines all over the front page. I took screenshots. The schadenfreude was delicious, despite my boy GJ not winning.

Now they're pushing the narrative of "fake news" being the reason Trump won, because, naturally, self-reflection would be too painful.

Re:Clicks are all that matter

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: 'You are experiencing false nostalgia. There was never a golden age of "real" journalists.'

Do you believe this drivel? Are you really so short-sighted, near-sighted, or is your hate for the journos so overwhelming you can't see straight?

A decade is about right. The worst of the journalistic behaviour started about a decade or maybe a little more ago. That was when the Wall Street MBA crowd gained power over the newsrooms. Those clowns wanted money and didn't care about journalism, at all. Other People's Money ethics reigned supreme with the MBAs.

When 60 Minutes was forced to sit on their big tobacco story for a year, that's when you knew that there was trouble for sure.

You said it yourself, Nixon "almost" got away with Watergate. Due to the actions of 2 journalists (and support by their editors) he didn't get away with it.

The JFK sex thing wasn't due to some shady deal between journalists and the Whitehouse, it was another era. Journalists of that time didn't think his affairs were relevant to the business of the nation. And seeing the evidence of what happened to other politicians in the decades since, I'm still not convinced that illicit sex by a politician is always the business of the nation. It could be but too often it just seems to be published for shock effect, or by the opposition to score cheap political points.

This is part of the crap that you comment on. So while you defend alt-media, tabloids and the Twittersphere, just consider that you are encouraging the crap.

Re: Clicks are all that matter

[silentcoder]

How about the events being reported having actually happened. When you report something that never happened. How is that not fake news ?

But I can see why rightwingers would not like that. All their news fall under that definition up to and including fox.

Re: Clicks are all that matter

[silentcoder]

There is another difference. For profit news did not exist. News was a loss leader channels did in between shows. It did not make money... and was not expected to. So you could not buy editorial slant (very easily).
In our age advertisers wite the news. The mainstream press is still a little better though: but only because they risk being sued for slander if they go too far.

Re: Clicks are all that matter

[Anonymous Coward]

Shirley you mean #ClickBaitMatters

We wish!

[Grog6]

lol.

Laugh Test

[Anonymous Coward]

I think we've all forgotten how to laugh, because so many of these fake news stories do not even pass the laugh test.

I especially liked the Ivanka Trump story:

"While appearing on The View, Donald Trump said if his 25-year-old daughter Ivanka wasn’t his child, he would date her. Meanwhile, Ivanka said if Donald Trump wasn’t her father, she would mace him."

That was so on the nose that you had to laugh. And, duh, it was really a line delivered by Conan O'Brien, not Ivanka...

Re:Laugh Test

[thoughtlover]

I think we've all forgotten how to laugh, because so many of these fake news stories do not even pass the laugh test.

Not the issue! If you want to laugh, just read The Onion... or /. on April 1...

If I get an inadvertent laugh because of true news, then that's just icing on the bread (bread, since most news sucks and definitely isn't worthy of being called 'cake'.)

But journalists not confirming before they publish is just irresponsible... and could be dangerous.

"...was reported by Fox News, the New York Post,Variety and other news organizations..."

After seeing which news outlets jumped the gun for eyeballs over brains, it's understandable, however. Makes me wonder if solikearose works for Fox News -now that sounds like a (fake?) news story!

Re:Laugh Test

[Rei]

I think this one was so believable because broadcast mistakes do happen at regular intervals. Here in Iceland they once accidentally ran Teletubbies with subtitles from The Sopranos. The juxtaposition was hilarious ;) "I know that you were high during my mothers funeral", "You are no longer good as a man.", "You killed my dog last week", etc.

Re:Laugh Test

[Anonymous Coward]

But journalists not confirming before they publish is just irresponsible...

The problem with this story is that CNN did initially confirm it:

CNN denied airing 30 minutes of inappropriate content on Thursday night after initially blaming local cable television provider RCN for the mishap, the network clarified on Friday.

"The RCN cable operator in Boston aired inappropriate content for 30 minutes on CNN last night,” the network said in their original statement. “CNN has asked for an explanation."

Demonstrating something we already knew.

[BigBuckHunter]

I think its good that a few individuals have found a way to cleary demonstrate what many people already knew... That the 'news' media is a joke, and only exists to serve the corporations which own the media outlet.

Re:Demonstrating something we already knew.

[dj245]

I think its good that a few individuals have found a way to cleary demonstrate what many people already knew... That the 'news' media is a joke, and only exists to serve the corporations which own the media outlet.

Good that it is being exposed to the people who read the corrections / false story reports. Not good for anyone who didn't and still thinks the original story is real.

I was taught in elementary school to check sources and not rely on a single source. Even (especially) wikipedia was to be questioned. That seems to have all gone out the window. You don't need any qualifications to write news, and nobody would check anyway. The internet was supposed to level the playing field for everything and everybody. It did that, but it turns out that most players are terrible.

Re:Demonstrating something we already knew.

[Kjella]

I was taught in elementary school to check sources and not rely on a single source. Even (especially) wikipedia was to be questioned. That seems to have all gone out the window. You don't need any qualifications to write news, and nobody would check anyway. The internet was supposed to level the playing field for everything and everybody. It did that, but it turns out that most players are terrible.

Welcome to clickonomics. Sure, you could verify every story... and you'd be very last to publish every time. The primary reason it sorta worked before was not that journalists were better or that they really cared more about the facts, it's was that in most cases there was a day's cycle. Spend an extra three hours researching? No problem as long as you meet the deadline, it's still in tomorrow's newspaper. And you know your competitors can't copy you until tomorrow and everybody would know that's yesterday's news. Today it's like the story is breaking NOW NOW NOW let's run with it and they all copy each other like crazy to not miss out. The exclusive material is often not "news" anymore, it's an in-depth story or featured topic because anything everyone legitimately can report on is near instantly copied even if it was your scoop. The incentives don't reward investigative journalism.

Re:Demonstrating something we already knew.

[Anonymous Coward]

Most of the time the suckers only read the headlines anyway. Nobody prints retractions in the headlines.

Re:Demonstrating something we already knew.

[PopeRatzo]

I was taught in elementary school to check sources and not rely on a single source. Even (especially) wikipedia was to be questioned.

If you learned not to question Wikipedia in elementary school, that means I have moles on my ass that are older than you.

That's exactly what I needed this holiday weekend. Thanks a lot.

Re:Demonstrating something we already knew.

[Kjella]

If you learned not to question Wikipedia in elementary school, that means I have moles on my ass that are older than you. That's exactly what I needed this holiday weekend. Thanks a lot.

If you lasted that long you got off easy, 13 years ago someone posted a troll post about how Stallman was a dinosaur from the 256 color era. I was thinking back to my C64 with 16 colors and that's when it really hit me that I was officially older than the dinosaurs. At the time I was 24, rythmic sports gymnastic and snowboarding got nothing on IT when it comes to obsolescence. I should probably be put in a museum by now.

Re:Demonstrating something we already knew.

[Dread_ed]

Even (especially) wikipedia was to be questioned.

If you learned not to question Wikipedia in elementary school, that means I have moles on my ass that are older than you.

Looks like you're going senile as well. Getting old sucks.

Anyone record this?

[Anonymous Coward]

I want to see this like right now. Is this something I can get if I pay for netflix?

Lost in Arkansas
Or Kansas

inception

[Anonymous Coward]

is this a fake story about a fake story?

Fox News reported something fake?

[smooth wombat]

Not all that surprising coming from a tabloid. This is the same organization whose reporter tried to call out a CNN reporter, claiming he allowed himself to be used as a human shield by Qadaffi to protect an installation, when the reality was there were multiple journalists taken to the same site, including someone from Fox.

What makes the fake story from Fox so funny is twofold:

A) the Fox reporter was seen on multiple occasions talking with Libyan officials during breakfast and

B) the folks from Fox were very rarely seen outside of the hotel the journalists were staying at.

Re:Fox News reported something fake?

[hambone142]

It's on the San Francisco Chronicle website (sfgate.com) right now.

Imagine that. A liberal rag doing the same thing as Fox News.

The link: http://www.sfgate.com/news/art...

Re:Fox News reported something fake?

[Anonymous Coward]

Many news sources reported it. This naming of Fox explicitly, while shoving Left-wing news sources into a "and other news organizations" unnamed category is just using this as another attack in the "Fake news must be banned" campaign.

Many news sources get fooled by a false story, but only one accused of 'fake news' is singled out for attention - and used, again, as an example of why we should oppose 'fake news'. Almost makes you wonder who it was that created this false story... was it, perhaps, someone with an agenda? With an anti-Fox agenda?

Et tu, Slashdot?

[konohitowa]

Does /. really have to embrace and promulgate every media narrative?

Re:Et tu, Slashdot?

[CaptainDork]

Yes.

However, you have the option regarding posting a response.

Re:Et tu, Slashdot?

[konohitowa]

True. Maybe it's time to stop frequenting this site. It's a bit like reading a really bad book from a series that started out well; I keep hoping it will get better.

Re:Et tu, Slashdot?

[CaptainDork]

You can check out any time you like.
But you can never leave.

Re:Et tu, Slashdot?

[Anonymous Coward]

Have you found any appealing alternatives? I'm in the same position. I've been waiting a long time for Slashdot to reverse course back towards nerd news and it is only getting worse.

Re:Et tu, Slashdot?

[serviscope_minor]

Try asking again in English.

Re:Et tu, Slashdot?

[Anonymous Coward]

Does it have to?

Yes. Because it's not the "indie" community driven news source it claims to be.
It's completely corporatized. It's just as much a part of the media machine as any network television.

Any site with a significant number of readers was/is a target for consolidation. And Slashdot has a particularly lucrative community of well-paid engineers. The kind of people that if they were to get rebellious would damage the economy by not filling jobs alone, not to mention the strength they could lend by applying their talents elsewhere. This was a priority target.

You have to realize, if a site gets bought out from its creators, it means only one thing. It's the establishment's mouthpiece now. Whether it be centrally controlled by a government agency or it be managed by establishment sympathizers, the kind of people who buy rather than create all tend toward one type of purpose and can be manipulated easily by bribery or intimidation.

Re: Et tu, Slashdot?

[Anonymous Coward]

And I was thinking to myself, this could be heaven or this could be hell.

Re:Et tu, Slashdot?

[dbarclay10]

The current "media narrative" stories are probably the single most important issue of the day, underpinning pretty much everything else. Without a functioning media (and everybody agrees it's dysfunctional), we collectively and individually lack the data necessary to make good decisions, and the people as a whole lack the focus to support good decisions and decry bad ones. Good job Slashdot editors; GFY, konohitowa.

Parrots!

[Anonymous Coward]

They repeat what they have heard - mindlessly....
HaHaHaHaHaHaHAHAHAHAHAHA-deeply inhale...
hAhAhAhAhAhAhAhAhAhAhAhA!

So what?

[OrangeTide]

What's wrong with fake news? Most people don't vote anyways.

Re:So what?

[CaptainDork]

There are no national elections right now.

Re: So what?

[Anonymous Coward]

Wait till you see what happens next!

Small wonder

[nospam007]

" CNN did not run porn for 30 minutes Thursday, as was reported by Fox News,"

Everybody knows that Fox 'News' has only fake 'news'.

Re: Small wonder

[Anonymous Coward]

CNN did not run porn for 30 minutes Thursday, as was reported by Fox News -- rather, Fox News ran 30 minutes of porn, as reported by CNN.

Re:Small wonder

[Anonymous Coward]

Funny that CNN confirmed it. Almost as if this wasn't some sort of completely retarded PR effort to promulgate a "fake" news story and then decry others for reporting on it.

The reality is that they confirmed that they showed it. If their confirmation was a lie, it is on them. They shredded their already non-existant credibility.

It was their weather segment ...

[CaptainDork]

... talking about porn down rain.

Saddam's WMD stories were also fake news?

[bogaboga]

while, as of early Saturday morning some sites are still running the original story claiming CNN did, in fact, broadcast 30 minutes of porn.

In the time leading to the 2003 Iraq war, the WMD coverage must have been fake too. This story ran for more than a year!!! [Respectable] news outlets blabbing with government propaganda, that resulted into an unnecessary war, that killed several thousand people! So, this is an example of fake news too?

Then after that, we blame Russia and those other entities we may not like? Can some soul explain this please? And what is the solution anyway?

At the State Department, the spokesman dodges questions saying he can't confirm this or that - if the news isn't what the government wants to hear but confirms hospitals as having been bombed since all information is from "credible sources".

I am saddened by all this. Who takes the blame I have no clue!!

Re:Saddam's WMD stories were also fake news?

[Anonymous Coward]

Are you really claiming they didn't have WMDs? What about the US solders that died from them? My neighbor lost her husband and a good friend of mine I went to high school with died from sarin gas in Iraq.

Plus, that argument isn't valid since there was a ceasefire based upon agreeing to inspections. Hussein broke the ceasefire.

Re:Saddam's WMD stories were also fake news?

[Anonymous Coward]

Sorry for your loses. That's the real trick, though. By saying WMD they were actually using a technical term that includes chemical and biological weapons, which yes, Iraq did have left over from the 80s. But what they wanted everyone to believe, and were fairly successful in getting across, is that Iraq was about to gain nuclear capability.

Re:Saddam's WMD stories were also fake news?

[Anonymous Coward]

From what I understand there is no proof that the Iraqi government ever used any chemical weapons on US forces. Most of the exposures to chemical weapons that did occur was the improper "disposal" (IE blowing it up) of old munitions by US forces and I believe most reputable reports say that all of those were manufactured in the 80s and many were (poorly) dismantled or had degraded to the point that they were less harmful than your average kitchen cleaner. The handful of cases where US soldiers were intentionally exposed to chemical agents were by "insurgents" who managed to get their hands on a few stray shells/canisters.

Re:Saddam's WMD stories were also fake news?

[Anonymous Coward]

No, fake news is when a news organization makes up a story. The spread of fake news is when a news organization publishes a story which has been made up by someone else. While the difference may be subtle, and both are very bad, in the second case we have to allow for some leeway for deception.

The US intelligence agencies were pushing false information as justification for that war and many government officials believed it, from congressmen to Colin Powell. That wasn't fake news, that was just a lie. A lie which was convincing enough for the congressmen who voted for the war, and for the news organizations who repeated it, and for most of the American people at the time. You could call that the spread of fake news if you wanted, though I don't think the term fits exactly, but it's hard to blame the news organizations for failing to spot that particular deception.

This does not mean that they should always get a pass, TFA is talking about spreading a preposterous story based on nothing more than a tweet. While the news organizations in question may not have made up the story themselves, spreading that kind of utter nonsense is almost as bad. This does not seem like an honest mistake made by responsible reporters, this is highly irresponsible.

So "Real News" runs with the fake news story

[hsmith]

What does that say about "real news" that they didn't due the due diligence to actually discover if the reports were legitimate? Just that "real news" is just as much bullshit as "fake news."

Re:So "Real News" runs with the fake news story

[smooth wombat]

We're talking about Fox News. Due diligence and legitimacy are not in their lexicon.

Re:So "Real News" runs with the fake news story

[Anonymous Coward]

CNN also reported it. You know CNN, the network that supposedly had Anthony Bourdain replaced with half an hour of hardcore porn by the local cable network? At least according to a random Twitter post. No one at CNN bothered to check on this? Couldn't even be bothered to reach out to the local cable company? Maybe tried to find an Anthony Bourdain viewer in the Boston area who could corroborate things?

Let me repeat: CNN, the network that supposedly had it's programming replaced by porn, reported the story without ANY attempt to verify the truth of it based on a single Twitter post. Some people should probably be checking to see if their journalism degrees are signed.

Re:So "Real News" runs with the fake news story

[Anonymous Coward]

Lie

From variety.com: (should have been your first hint btw)
Correction: An earlier version of this story reported that pornography aired on CNN in Boston via cable operator RCN based on a statement provided directly to Variety by a representative for the network, which read, “The RCN cable operator in Boston aired inappropriate content for 30 minutes on CNN last night. CNN has asked for an explanation.” The statement was misinterpreted as a factual assessment of what transpired.

"Fake" News

[Anonymous Coward]

This is insane.

Building an infrastructure to censor News just because they don't want to fact check any more?

This only proves

[TVmisGuided]

...that Edgar Allen Poe was far ahead of his time...especially when it comes to modern media.

Believe only half of what you see and nothing that you hear.

not sure if i should be surprised

[nimbius]

when ever major news outlet is run as a corporation with a mandate to generate 15% revenue increase per year its a wonder any real reporting occurs at all. Youll also be shocked to know that sometimes news about disease and illness is sponsored by pharmaceutical companies in the form of interrelated advertisements for analgesics and prescription drugs.

Good

[penguinoid]

It seems it has come to this -- we need to occasionally create fake news to see which are the fake news sites that will mindlessly repeat things without fact-checking.

Re:Good

[smooth wombat]

We already knew Fox was a fake "news" site. They mindlessly repeated the Republican lie of wmds in Iraq despite reputable news site asking the hard questions about the supposed evidence.

Even when presented with absolute proof the yellowcake document was a forgery, Fox still ran stories using that document as evidence, then turned around and blamed Valerie Plame's husband for showing the document was fake.

It's the reason for change

[Okian Warrior]

What's wrong with fake news? Most people don't vote anyways.

Fake news will be the reason to implement all the "fake news" site blockers that the major players have been wanting.

They spent two weeks bringing the term "fake news" into the public consciousness, now they need to convince everyone that it's a real problem.

Soon we'll start seeing mitigation attempts. Google will delist certain sites, ad companies will drop certain sites (which has apparently already happened), some sites will lose their domains, some will get hit with trademark violations of their names, etc etc.

You have to convince the people that there's a need for change.

That's why it's important right now.

(They don't want a repeat of this year's election.)

Re:It's the reason for change

[OrangeTide]

I've been calling it fake news before it was cool.

*adjusts hipster glasses*

Re:It's the reason for change

[Anonymous Coward]

This is about pizzagate. The pedos are terrified of being exposed.

Re:It's the reason for change

[tehcyder]

I've been calling it fake news before it was cool.

*adjusts hipster glasses*

I stopped wearing hipster glasses when they became too mainstream.

Re:It's the reason for change

[OrangeTide]

Me too, now I stumble around with myopia. It's great because I am the only one doing this, I hope to form a coffee shop clique of myopics where we spill hot drinks on each other.

So much this

[argStyopa]

...yes, I understand the entire point of the "fake news" claim is to blame THAT for Trump's victory (setting aside the entirely horrible candidate that routinely insulted half the electorate, approached the election as an entitlement, and never took her opponent seriously), but the fact is that 'fake internet news' has been a thing since the internet was.

And the reason it's a thing IS BECAUSE the 'real' news organizations have long since (for a number of reasons) lost any credibility whatsoever.

Fake news happens because ...

[CaptainDork]

... journalism is dead, replaced by "media," including main stream and social.

Because there are no longer any reporters on the ground, pranksters and nefarious operatives easily exploit the vacancy.

The big players save money by scraping crowd-sourced comments as "news" and poor quality is the norm, anyway.

Re:Fake news happens because ...

[Anonymous Coward]

... journalism is dead, replaced by "media," including main stream and social.

Because there are no longer any reporters on the ground, pranksters and nefarious operatives easily exploit the vacancy.

The big players save money by scraping crowd-sourced comments as "news" and poor quality is the norm, anyway.

Journalism is dead when you get your news about CNN from Fox News who's source was Variety.
I see a problem in there, and it's not Fox News or even Variety, it's you.

It's your fault for believing news reported in 24 hours from happening as error free and completely accurate, EVER. That's YOUR fault!

Is US more prone to this?

[kanweg]

Aren't Americans more susceptible to fake news for cultural reasons? Firstly, entitlement. Everybody is entitled without any reasonable responsibility to back the opinion up by facts and arguments.
Secondly, the for a developed country high percentage of religious folks who somehow are not only OK to ignore or even deny facts like evolution but even want it to be taught in science class. Critical thinking is not promoted or particularly valued.

Bert

/. please become interesting again

[Anonymous Coward]

Nonstop US political drivel and climate reports. Just can't stand it anymore.

My Westen Civ teacher did a test

[future assassin]

He told the first person at the left side of the room a long sentence. That person then passed it on, when it got to the last person he said write down what you were told and compare it to what I said. The sentence changed quite a bit even by the time it got 1/2 way down the class.

Re:My Westen Civ teacher did a test

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes. It called the Arab telephone or Chinese whispers game. Every kids do that one in elementary school.

What fake news?

[Anonymous Coward]

I watched it!

CNN Helped Spread The Fake News

[Anonymous Coward]

I wonder how many are reporting that CNN itself verified that it had broadcast the porn:

“The RCN cable operator in Boston aired inappropriate content for 30 minutes on CNN last night. CNN has asked for an explanation,” CNN said in its statement, seemingly confirming the impropriety.

It's a shame that big media outfits can't even be trusted to accurately report the news about its own activities. It is also a shame that smaller outfits, like Slashdot, are unable to fairly report the story.

fake fake news

[ooloorie]

Maybe the reason it spread so quickly was that CNN initially confirmed it before then denying it?

CNN first told the DailyMail.com the cable operator 'aired inappropriate content for 30 minutes on CNN last night'
Said in a follow-up statement: 'RCN assures us that there was no interruption of CNN's programming in the Boston area last night'

Also, given how unimportant the story is, people simply don't spend much time veryfing it.

Re:fake fake news

[Anonymous Coward]

You'd think that if you were about to give your employer a black eye you'd be sure about the facts.

I Blame FaceBook!

[Anonymous Coward]

This is all FaceBook's fault. ...and the Russians.

Thanks, Obama.

Only NOW are they talking about "fake news"?

[Anonymous Coward]

What about all the time before the recent "fake" news, when they did nothing but post fake news about "global warming" and other inane nonsense while ignoring, oh, I don't know... maybe the genocide of whites globally? Of course, anyone who knows who owns Slashdot and every other major site/news outlet knows the reason why they never said a word about this.

Re: Only NOW are they talking about "fake news"?

[Anonymous Coward]

"the genocide of whites globally? "

Crackpot alert...

Re:Only NOW are they talking about "fake news"?

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course, anyone who knows who owns Slashdot and every other major site/news outlet knows the reason why they never said a word about this.

Please, do explain.

CNN

[tylersoze]

CNN turned into a hard core porn channel so gradually we barely noticed.

Re:CNN

[Locke2005]

Who still watches CNN? Would anybody notice if they did air porn?

Re: CNN

[silentcoder]

Airport cleaning staff ?

Even CNN reported it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Seriously WTF? How do you report something like that if you don't check?

Well it is Faux News yaknow

[laurencetux]

its just commonly mispelled and Wikipedia is good to find sources for stuff not as a source itself

AP Check Sources

[Anonymous Coward]

I have read a lot of stories I haven't believed and found something very interesting a few years ago. At the time nearly every national story in the MSM was written by the AP. I saw a story I didn't believe, looked for a second source and other than the headline, it was EXACTLY the same word for word. Then I found it again, again, and again. About 5 years ago it was nearly impossible to find any story different in any news source (other than Fox News sometimes).

Its not all AP stories now, but when you find something unbelievable out now, every news source just copies who had it first. Its hard to get a second source to verify something anymore. Now you just have to wait a day or two and see if it is still being reported as true.

I saw this CNN story and didn't believe it. I know they don't have many viewers, but I think people in airports would have reported porn on all the TVs and I didn't see any evidence of that. Wait a few days, and its fake.

Just put a thick pot on your head instead...

[denzacar]

Clearly, tinfoil does nothing for you anymore.
Or maybe you should change the vinegar in your contrail-busting squirt bottle?

My dragon also died of WMDs in Iraq.

[Anonymous Coward]

So did my neighbor's husband's wyvern and a good friend of mine I went to high school with lost a gryphon to sarin gas in Iraq.

Plus that argument is not valid because I will make up a fake reason because what can you do about it?
Cry?

UPVOTE PARENT POST.

[denzacar]

The post above really brings insight to the discussion.

Re:UPVOTE PARENT POST.

[Anonymous Coward]

No it doesn't.

Re:UPVOTE PARENT POST.

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes it does.

And your being discriminatory against anonymous cowards.

Re:UPVOTE PARENT POST.

[denzacar]

Not it does not. You're just angry cause your side lost.

And it's it's you're, not your.

Re:UPVOTE PARENT POST.

[Anonymous Coward]

All the posts here are completely unique and totally not fake anonymous cowards trolling themselves.
Just like most other AC posts on Slashdot lately.

Dude that was back in 1988...

[ThomasBHardy]

... keep up with the times!

https:\\www.thisisareallink\donaltrumpdead-imposterrunsforpresident\18277jmcr5

Re:Dude that was back in 1988...

[Anonymous Coward]

404s on me.

Area llink sounds Welsh. Is it only accessable from Cardiff IP addresses?

Re: Huffington Post? Politico?

[coteriescavenger]

CTR hired the same old propagandists to win over the tech community. These stories are the prelude to a move to control media outlets that they don't deem "real" (i.e. the ones that aren't in their pockets).

Impossible anyway

[RubberDogBone]

This sort of thing was possible in the 70s and 80s and did happen a few times for a few minutes on some local stations and networks.

But a lot has changed since then. Every TV and cable station is now heavily automated. The automation programs run the timing and breaks and it is simply not possible for anyone to switch in anything and have it run for 30 continuous minutes. And even if some human did manage to do it AND nobody noticed, which is not likely as they DO have their own people watching the feeds, then the automation would block or override or start squealing and throwing warnings which would get a lot of attention.

Why the hell is anyone taking a tweet for expert and actual reporting anyway? What the fuck? I am running out of sympathy for a world in which bullshit like that can be taken seriously. It's really past time for the next Chicxulub or alien invasion to wipe the slate clean.

Re:Impossible anyway

[Anonymous Coward]

Why the hell is anyone taking a tweet for expert and actual reporting anyway? What the fuck? I am running out of sympathy for a world in which bullshit like that can be taken seriously

Why not? The bullshit spouting from ostensibly "vetted" actual "journalists" is just as likely to be fake. I mean, let's get real: LOTS of different mainstream agencies with said "vetted" journalists ran this fucking shit. So who's to blame? The person that believed the tweet? Or the person that believed the journalist (who's job was, in part, to fact check) who believed the tweet?

Re: Impossible anyway

[Anonymous Coward]

And a single tweet from a single source. I'm pretty sure if this really had happened in a market the size of Boston there would have been MANY more posts about it all over social media not to mention some complaints to the FCC or calls to the broadcaster / cable co themselves.

When I first read about it and saw the picture, I figured it was a made up story and at most the persons DVR had applies the wrong show label to some VOD porn they rented or had on the box

Re:Impossible anyway

[SuricouRaven]

It's the 30 minutes part that makes it look fake to me.

A minute or two I could buy. A mistake, a prank, a very dissatisfied employee seeking revenge, a hacker somehow gaining access to their media bank. It's very unlikely, but it could happen - but if it did the people watching the feeds would very quickly put an end to it, even if that means a hurried phone call down to the technical staff with an instruction to pull the cables out. You're right, there's no way it could last for thirty minutes.

Real story is nobody watching CNN

[Anonymous Coward]

Did anyone watch Bourdane that night? Nobody? No legion of viewers to refute the story. This may be CNN's biggest story of the year.

But how?!

[Anonymous Coward]

How can all these innocent real sites post fake news articles!!!!
I thought these people verified their facts!!

/ idiots

It's funny how these sites won't get blasted for their inability to verify news. (more unwillingness because clickbait provably makes money)
Yet sites that verify facts are being blasted for their fake news because hurt fee-fees.
I love America. It's like a whole new America was born when Trump got elected in. Some sort of... alt-America.

I'm pretty sure it was porn

[slashdice]

Although it may have just been Wolf Blitzer's beard.

How about the real story -- CNN has confused "News" with "Reading Tweets".

Re:I'm pretty sure it was porn

[Locke2005]

You're saying Wolf's face looks like a cunt? No argument from me there...

You Won't Believe What I Saw!

[Anonymous Coward]

You won't believe what I saw.

I saw a Tweet that said that reports that cite Twitter in any way are a clear sign often mainstream media gobbling too many cocks.

I've said since the very first one that I saw; why the fuck is the news reporting on ANYTHING that happens or is posted on Facebook or Twiitter? They are both cesspools of illiterate ignoramuses. There is no "News" there and citing them is not reporting!

I'd rather read the navel gazing blog of a crazy cat lady than hear what someone(even a sitting or elected President) said on Twitter.

Minds are the problem

[execthis]

People are too stupid to use their minds the way we want them to, therefore they should not have minds.

Minds are a threat to order and peace.

Re:Minds are the problem

[execthis]

Therefore if you run a media or technology company and do not support our efforts to curtail minds, you are un-American and we will come after you.

Re: Minds are the problem

[Anonymous Coward]

Are you implying that people actually have a brain?

Re:Minds are the problem

[Anonymous Coward]

You can't do that, because the "news" that Trump won the election is actually fake news.

Liars worried about lying

[execthis]

The lying press worried about lies as it lies.

Hey! You're no supposed to lie! Only *we* are allowed to lie! We own it, bitches.

Obama in 2013 signed in that propaganda was okay

[Nyder]

In 2013 Obama signed a bill that in part, allowed the use of propaganda in the USA. Something that wasn't allowed before then. Since then we seen effects it has had. Mainly in this election with the fake stories being ran along side real stories.

This is why no one fact checks anymore, no need to.

Re:Obama in 2013 signed in that propaganda was oka

[Nyder]

shit, should of said wasn't' allowed since 1947.

Re:Obama in 2013 signed in that propaganda was oka

[Anonymous Coward]

What bill was that ? ... genuinely curious ..

Wag that dog...

[Julz]

One step closer to Idiocracy. Add this to all those "conference" and "journal" sites and businesses that have been doing this for years now.

Re:Memo supposedly created in Word

[hackwrench]

Except someone pointed out there were machines in that era that could have created the "memo" and the Army had some. How it would have come to be typed on such a machine, I haven't seen and someone counterargued that the source of the memo wouldn't have used said machine, but the ball is still very much in play on that note.

Re:initial confirmation

[hackwrench]

Unless the report that they initially confirmed it is fake news too.

Further proof we live in a post-fact reality.

[Locke2005]

We should float a false news report every couple months just to see how many "news" organizations are stupid enough to bite.

Re:Further proof we live in a post-fact reality.

[Anonymous Coward]

We should float a false news report every couple months just to see how many "news" organizations are stupid enough to bite.

Ah, I'm inspired to fabricate, by what I see at bottom of /. : "90% of American adults smoke pot, but 90% of them will not admit it to anyone."

Re:CNN confirmed it

[hackwrench]

Unless the story that CNN confirmed it is also fake.

Re:Memo supposedly created in Word

[Dutch Gun]

Nope, not even remotely. It's been confirmed by those who worked at the Texas Air National Guard during that period that they did not use typewriters which could possibly reproduce the proportional fonts and superscripts in that memo, nor that they typed the memo in question. And are you really trying to tell me that you believe it's even remotely plausible that a memo typed in 1972 would just happen to match up with the default MS Word 2003 fonts and spacing?

Please. It was nothing more than a amateurish attempt at a forgery for rather obvious political purposes. There are other serious inconsistencies, such as the use of acronyms that were not in use at the time, incorrect use of IDs vs SSNs, as well as numerous other issues. Hell, even the CBS review panel eventually concluded the documents were not authentic.

This is the point where you need to listen to the wisdom of Occam's razor, not dream up some implausible explanation, simply because you want it to be true.

False porn

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't know why everyone is up in arms about fake news these days.

I am more worried about the false porn.

Re:Is the report that CNN confirmed it fake?

[hackwrench]

The problem is that you can't even trust the reports that CNN supposedly confirmed it. There's nothing you can trust and to fact check is nearly impossible because any source you fact check with may be fake as well.

Re:Memo supposedly created in Word

[hackwrench]

Just what do you think Microsoft used as a basis for its default font and spacing? Most of what I am reading is saying not that the documents are not authentic without a doubt, but that they can't be authenticated. I don't know what is true. I'm not saying that the other possibility is true, just that I haven't seen enough to rule it out. I don't dream up some implausible explanation, simply because I want it to be true, I maintain a position that something might be false, long after those who claim to know better say they now think it's true

Re:Memo supposedly created in Word

[Dutch Gun]

Just what do you think Microsoft used as a basis for its default font and spacing?

Microsoft used TrueType fonts, which had kerning compatible with earlier Linotype systems, something those 1970s typewriters did not use. From Wikipedia again:

As Phinney explained, the letterspacing of the Times New Roman font used by Microsoft Word with a modern personal computer and printer employs a system of 18 units relative to the letter height (em), with common characters being 5 to 17 units wide. (The technology allows even finer variability of character widths, but the 18 unit system was chosen for compatibility with the Linotype phototypesetting and earlier hot-metal versions of the font.) In contrast, the variability of character widths available on early 1970s typewriters using proportional letterspacing was more limited, due to the mechanical technology employed. The most sophisticated of these machines, the IBM Selectric Composer, used a system of 9 units relative to the letter height, in which all characters were 3 to 9 units wide. Less complex machines used fewer widths.

Differences in individual character widths accumulate over the length of a line, so that comparatively small differences would become readily apparent. Because of the differing character widths employed, the letterspacing exhibited by the Killian documents (matching that produced by a modern computer and printer) could not have been produced with a mechanical typewriter using proportional letterspacing in the early 1970s. At the time the documents were purportedly created, the matching letterspacing could only have been produced using phototypesetting or hot-metal printing. Since it is not a realistic possibility that Killian would have had these documents printed, Phinney concluded that they are almost certainly modern forgeries.

It's not just that the "documents can't be authenticated." There's essentially a near-zero chance these could have been written on 1970s typewriters at the Texas Air National Guard offices, as claimed. And that doesn't even account for all the inconsistencies in the memo's content.

Re:Memo supposedly created in Word

[hackwrench]

That gets to the main question no one has been able to answer: Why isn't it a realistic possibility that the memos were printed?

Re:Memo supposedly created in Word

[Dutch Gun]

Typesetting and printing was quite time-consuming and expensive before the age of personal computers and "desktop publishing." It would generally only be done when the cost of the initial setup would be offset by the ability to print a reasonably large run of high quality documents, like books or leaflets. An internal memo (or frankly, *any* internal office document) would not be a candidate for this, as it would be a one-off document. It would certainly just be typed, and copies would be made if needed. A typical office wouldn't even have the equipment necessary to actually typeset and print documents.

So, in short, it's not very realistic that a memo would be typeset and printed.

CNN is fake news

[Anonymous Coward]

Fake news networks pretending everybody else is fake news and they are the real.

LOL

They are trying to cover up Pizzagate.

But which is fake?

[jbmartin6]

Although this story claims it all started with one fake tweet, it's pretty interesting that extra details were reported which were not in the tweet. This USA Today story makes it sound like the tweet was all there was. Yet somehow in the reports there are a bunch of additional details. Maybe the denial is the fake story? Or maybe additional hoaxers filled in the oddly speciic details after the tweet. There's no way for me to know.

Re:Memo supposedly created in Word

[Anonymous Coward]

There's no way I can properly moderate this thread...

+1 PatienceOfASaint

TIVO software bug...

[Anonymous Coward]

It's either an outright fraud (e.g. someone doing cut and paste of screen captures), or, more likely, a bug in TIVO software that is playing one data stream but the titling information from another. And frankly, the latter is a whole lot more believeable - although, for many people the "photoshopping" would be the work of a few minutes.

The real question is whether the porn was a live stream or playback from a recorded program (and a review of the broadcast schedules on the cable/satellite networks feeding the original tweeter would tell you with fair confidence what it was).

Ratings

[Anonymous Coward]

Or this just confirms that no one watches CNN.

Stop Feeding the Beast, Already

[Anonymous Coward]

Who made up the term “fake news”? The same people that gave you the prediction that Hillary would win in a landslide?

These people don’t know shit from a hole in the ground – they sure as hell don’t have the slightest idea of how to separate fact from fiction. All they know is how to create hype and drama, because that is what sells.

If you are looking for truth, you aren’t going to find it coming from the mouths, or keyboards, of the people who claim to be “journalists”.

So, stop feeding the beast. Stop listening to them. Stop giving a fuck about what they say. Without the attention (and the money) they will shrivel up and die and the world will be a better place.

Re:Typesetting

[hackwrench]

What are your sources? "Typesetting" may have once been time-consuming and expensive, but where do I go to find out the nature of "typesetting" at the time the memo was made and it's role in the U.S. military?

Read Breitbart article, it is hilarious

[Anonymous Coward]

The Breitbart version of the article is hilarious (if you read it with the right mindset.) I couldn't stop laughing at how much fun they poked at it all, and at themselves.

Just heard about this

[HappyGabby]

Seems like news sources should be fired and replace with people who actually research their news