followthemedia.com - a knowledge base for media professionals
Media Rules & Rulers

Everybody’s Off The Hook - Boggled Minds Love Fake News

Projected as an assault on liberal democracies, the blow-back against fake news has landed squarely at the doors of the internet providers, web portals and social media networks that happen to host the vile transgressions. After putting up quaint resistance, typically citing free speech and such, the masters of the digital universe have found their executives sitting before various government panels explaining how they got so rich being so bad. The message from these meetings has always been the same: there’s a real language barrier between digital technology and elected governments.

off the hookThe text of a draft law on “preventing the propagation of false information (fake news) during election cycles” in France was published by daily Le Monde this past week (March 7). The proposed law, as an amendment to the 1881 Law on the Freedom of the Press, will require a response - “cooperation” - from internet and social media providers to identify the sources of “fake news” to authorities, including any financial entanglements from direct payments to advertising. Pending legislative process expected later this spring, media regulator CSA will likely be the enforcer, looking at digital sources “likely to harm the fundamental interests of the nation or to participate in a business of destabilization of its institutions, notably through the dissemination of false news” during the “electoral periods.”

None of this is a particular surprise. In January France President Emmanuel Macron telegraphed his view: "If we want to protect the liberal democracies, we must know how to be strong and have clear rules.” French public opinion is on his side, or vice versa. A survey conducted for public radio broadcaster FranceInfo and daily newspaper Le Figaro, published in January, showed 79% favoring “the idea of a law to stem the spread of false information (fake news).”

It’s a wave. The German NetzDG law came into effect in January, prescribing stinging fines for internet and social media operators slow in removing hate speech and fake news on complaints from the public. The European Commission (EC) has a panel of experts assembling a comprehensive report that might uncover a safe passage through the minefield between fake news and freedom of speech.

While most internet and social media providers held their powder after the French draft law on fake news was revealed, Twitter France was quite expressive. “We will not be the arbiter of truth,” said spokesperson Audrey Herblin-Stoop, quoted by French tech portal nextinpact.com (March 8). "Twitter's open and real-time nature is a powerful antidote to so-called fake news,” echoing the oft-expressed view of Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey. "Entrusting this role to private companies is a short-term vision, dangerous for democracy and actively weakens the vital role of the media in our society,” she added.

Further illuminating the orphan status of the fake news issue, paraphrasing Tacitus (AD 98), publishers, digital and otherwise, are wary of any authority or outsider as the “arbiter of truth.” Under certain pressure from Dutch publishers and politicians, reported public broadcaster NOS (March 9), the EC-funded EU vs Disinfo website removed notifications that had designated the publisher’s websites as fake news. The publishers, including large Dutch media house De Persgroep, filed a lawsuit against the European Commission in February demanding removal of the notifications and restitution. The EU vs Disinfo website was created by the East Stratcom Taskforce that, in turn, was created to “identify, name and refute” Russian Federation disinformation.

While public support for doing something about fake news is clear, the search for solutions is murky. Also last week a large sample study by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) scholars was published in the academic journal Science on “The spread of true and false news online.” News outlets around the world pounced on the the top-line finding: fake news travels faster that real news and that has something to do with the inherent need for novelty by human brain. Suddenly, everybody is absolved of complicity.

Not so fast, wrote Poynter Institute’s Alexios Mantzarlis (March 9), who leads their International Fact Checking Network. “We need to get better. We should be drawing many small lessons about misinformation from these new studies. Instead, we are hammering our audiences with an inaccurate generalization - that fakery is rampant and undefeatable. This message will further increase distrust and disaffection in our online information ecosystem and prevent us from taking academically-sound small steps toward a shared solution.”


See also in ftm Knowledge

Fake News, Hate Speech and Propaganda

The institutional threat of fake news, hate speech and propaganda is testing the mettle of those who toil in news media. Those three related evils are not new, by any means, but taken together have put the truth and those reporting it on the back foot. Words matter. This ftm Knowledge file explores that light. 48 pages, PDF (March 2017)

Order here

ftm resources



related ftm articles:

Digital Football And The Virtual Free-For-All
Fake news, investigators far and wide have concluded, is a big problem. Government leaders, generally, agree. Solutions they have proposed are, unfortunately, so analogue. This video game has pivoted to algorithms.

Taking It To A New Level, Air Required, Hot Preferred
Those who reign supreme in the digital realm see things differently. It is the lofty perch, the money, the power, not to forget pizza on demand. Clear air is everywhere, turbulence under control. They eat what they want. Betting on that bubble bursting is a fools game.

What We’re Learning About The Digital Revolution
Pressure is on media/tech giants to do something about fake news, fake ads and every other fake thing. Applying the tourniquet are consumer protection advocates, advertising support groups, publishers, broadcasters and the politicians who love them. Big online providers, insisting they are but technology companies and never, ever, ever media providers, appear a bit disoriented. After all, the money keeps rolling in.


advertisement

ftm Knowledge

Media in Spain - Diverse and Challenged – new

Media in Spain is steeped in tradition. yet challenged by diversity. Publishers hold great influence, broadcasters competing. New media has been slow to rise and business models for all are under stress. Rich in language and culture, Spain's media is reaching into the future and finding more than expected. 123 pages, PDF. January 2018

Order here

The Campaign Is On - Elections and Media

Elections campaigns are big media events. Candidates and issues are presented, analyzed and criticized in broadcast and print. Media is now more of a participant in elections than ever. This ftm Knowledge file reports on news coverage, advertising, endorsements and their effect on democracy at work. 84 pages. PDF (September 2017)

Order here

Fake News, Hate Speech and Propaganda

The institutional threat of fake news, hate speech and propaganda is testing the mettle of those who toil in news media. Those three related evils are not new, by any means, but taken together have put the truth and those reporting it on the back foot. Words matter. This ftm Knowledge file explores that light. 48 pages, PDF (March 2017)

Order here

More ftm Knowledge files here

Become an ftm Individual or Corporate Member to order Knowledge Files at no charge. JOIN HERE!

copyright ©2004-2018 ftm partners, unless otherwise noted Contact UsSponsor ftm