The Dark Shadow Shrine

embrace the darkness; that you may see the light nestled within it......

Wednesday, January 04, 2017

What to do when truth is found to be false

Click HERE

-Thanks to the spectacular knowledge-enhancing affordances of the Internet, it is actually easier than it has ever been for alert citizens to establish the facts on most issues. The real challenge for the craft and business of journalism is to take those facts to people who have fallen prey to emotionally appealing populist narratives - and may not even be interested in learning the boring truth.

- Note the role played by technology here:
It is as important to recognise the public responsibilities of what I call the "private superpowers". Google, Facebook and Twitter have been dubbed "Pops" (privately owned public spaces) but they do more than merely provide the paving stones of our global public square. The algorithm of Facebook's news feed determines the selection of news viewed by hundreds of millions of people every day. That is extraordinary power. Research by Professor Filippo Menczer of Indiana University suggests that misinformation is as likely to go viral as accurate information, so if the main criterion for the algorithm is "what your friends have liked", this is not helpful in combating fake news.


Qn: Can the media ever be relied upon to convey the truth?