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The US Government Funds A War On Online Fake News (bangordailynews.com)
An anonymous reader quotes the Washington Post:
Congressional negotiators on Wednesday approved an initiative to track and combat foreign propaganda amid growing concerns that Russian efforts to spread "fake news" and disinformation threaten U.S. national security. The measure, part of the National Defense Authorization Act approved by a conference committee, calls on the State Department to lead government-wide efforts to identify propaganda and counter its effects. The authorization is for $160 million over two years...
The Senate Intelligence Committee, meanwhile, has approved language in the fiscal year 2017 intelligence authorization bill calling for new executive branch efforts to combat what it characterized as "active measures" by Russia to manipulate people and governments through front groups, covert broadcasting or "media manipulation." "There is definitely bipartisan concern about the Russian government engaging in covert influence activities of this nature," Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in a statement. "If you read section 501 of this year's intelligence authorization bill, it directs the President to set up an interagency committee to 'counter active measures by Russia to exert covert influence over peoples and governments.'"
Several senators on the intelligence committee also asked President Obama to declassify any information relating to the Russian government and the U.S. election.
The Senate Intelligence Committee, meanwhile, has approved language in the fiscal year 2017 intelligence authorization bill calling for new executive branch efforts to combat what it characterized as "active measures" by Russia to manipulate people and governments through front groups, covert broadcasting or "media manipulation." "There is definitely bipartisan concern about the Russian government engaging in covert influence activities of this nature," Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in a statement. "If you read section 501 of this year's intelligence authorization bill, it directs the President to set up an interagency committee to 'counter active measures by Russia to exert covert influence over peoples and governments.'"
Several senators on the intelligence committee also asked President Obama to declassify any information relating to the Russian government and the U.S. election.
The time is coming where any news expressing something the government doesn't want us to hear will
just have a FAKE label slapped on it, followed by a "Fake News Removal Order" (Evolution of the DMCA) sent to the hosting website.
If it were really about eliminating the fake news threat; a major goal would instead be to improve education of the people to more readily spot suspicious content, evaluate it logically and rationally, and not be fooled by snake oil.
The Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012 (part of the National Defense Authorization Act) has repealed the domestic prohibition, allowing the government's propaganda to be directed at/created for Americans for the first time in over 40 years.
That's sort of near "the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people".
It's a living, breathing document. So it means (or, in these cases, doesn't mean) whatever powerful people want it to mean today. Tomorrow it may mean the exact opposite. Because power. And because shut up.
You remember.......the one the Obama administration blamed for the Benghazi attack? Does that count as fake news?
"The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
This is windfall of the long-term, intentional program of the right to destroy competent US primary (secular) education. An ignorant populace is an easily deluded and manipulated populace.
This priority is right up there with dog-whistling intolerance and minority voter disenfranchisement.
All hair our great Fuerer Trump and his new Mobocracy.
You're a recent college graduate and on drugs, aren't you?
For what it is worth, I am a PhD and definitely not a recent college graduate. Most of those are legitimate news sources, but then that has less meaning than it used to. I do watch a fair amount of CNN, or rather listen when I'm doing something else. CNN tends to be mostly correct, but they also gave Trump lots of free air time, not because they like Trump, but because they like money. CNN is also fact light. They need to fix that, but first they need to fire all the shills. If your primary purpose is to represent a party or a candidate, you should be gone.
Still, to be fair, CNN was certainly way better than the crap that was floating around Facebook. It was beyond criminal that this crap wasn't denounced by _everyone_, but then Trump never complains when he is helped, regardless of how bad it is for the country.
How do we fix it? My suggestion is this.
1) Enough tax money to pay for many independent news agencies at various levels, local, state, etc.
2) The boards leading the agencies can be elected, but cannot have any association with any political candidate in the past so many years.
3) Each agency checks the reporting on other agencies. Have promotions linked to either outstanding reporting or uncovering lies of other reporters. Whether a reporter gets promoted is reviewed by a random set of his peers that changes. Rotate who checks whom. Yes, I don't like all the potential back stabbing that is possible, but the truth is a precious thing, and it can be objectively proven. We need to do that.
4) Agencies remain independent. If the associated board fails to act to stop bad reporting, then the recourse is for the town to hold a special election to replace the board.
5) To prevent the emergence of a fox news town, provide a way for a set of independent agencies to basically declare an entire agency a failure. De-fund it and redeploy the resources elsewhere. This should be a high bar and not done easily. One possible indication of failure is if repeated surveys on common provable factual information reveal that the people that watch said news consistently believe lies, well that would mean they have been nicely indoctrinated by lies. Garbage in. Garbage out.
6) Move people around somewhat. Make sure that you rotate different providers so that people see a range of viewpoints, or at least have them available during the most common news hour. When fact checking provide multiple links when possible. For instance, if say 3845 out of 3902 accredited news agencies say Trump is a liar, well people have no excuse if they believe the opposite.
7) Make sure people know relevant details. What some con man tweets is not necessarily news worthy. His myriad conflict of interests and the sheer vastness of his lies are. The fact the vast majority of accredited news sources didn't endorse him is a relevant piece of news as well as why they didn't endorse him, and no it wasn't because they were all in the tank for Hillary.
Now you can't entirely stop people from following non credible sources, but we can do our best to make sure credible reporting is supported. It is sort of like broccoli. If you put it in front of a kid, tell him it is good for him, and he still throws it on the floor and refuses to eat anything but french fries, well, if that is how our country ends, then so be it.
I hear and see a lot of thing on RT about the USA that isn't covered by the MSM and I'm not sure that it's 'fake news'.
If you want facts about a foreign country, watch your national TV. If you want facts about your own country, watch foreign TV.
"Trump!!", the new Godwin.
In denial that the left's echo chamber is why Trump won. The 100% pro-Clinton coverage by the entirely of mainstream media - Fox didn't help. 24x7 propaganda on every channel for a year didn't help. Why? Because no one buys it any more. That dog won't hunt.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.