Friday, March 10, 2017
I'm sure we have all recently heard the term "fake news". Fake news is false information that is published to look like authentic news. One fake news story I recall hearing about was around the end of January 2017 about the travel ban. It was reported on a Fox station that "a local business owner who flew to Iraq to bring his mother back home to the US for medical treatment said she was blocked from returning home under President Trump's ban on immigration." The business owner said that while his mother was waiting for the approval to fly home she died. This became a big deal because this story was shared many times on Facebook and other news reporters were talking about it. The only problem with this convincing story was that it was all a lie. He lied about when the death of his mother was and the Fox station that reported it did not research whether or not the man had lied before reporting the story. The truth always comes out in the end.
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Very brief here - I appreciate your in-class comment about this post.
ReplyDeleteThis is a good example of how a local news report can become the basis for lots of Tweets which then become the basis for a larger "understanding" of an incident; even when the local news report proves to be inaccurate.
The goal of this initial assignment was to identify an area where the prospect of "fake news" or propaganda has emerged. An article which would attempt to paint the current administration as racist and uncaring using stories such as this would be an appropriate artifact for our course - but, as you suggested, you might still look for another area to explore.
Please let me know how I can help.
I agree with you when you said how this is a basis for a larger "understanding" of an incident. I myself read or see the news usually through social media apps such as Facebook and sometimes share the things I find interesting. It is such an easy way to spread stories around. My fake news story shows that no matter whether the story is true or not it still gets spread by many readers. In my opinion this story originated by the local business owner looking for attention and wanted to prove that the travel ban is not a good idea. As I said in my blog the truth always comes out in the end. Even though this story is fake I'm sure that some people can relate to it. There are many people in other countries that come to the US in need of medical treatment. Now that there is a travel ban it will make the process of getting the treatment much harder. After the local business owner and his mother had to wait to renter into the US he most likely saw this as a way to bring negative press to the travel ban. Even though the story was a lie it can still cause problems for other people trying to get treatment.
DeleteBrief here. Please remember that our course carries the "WI," or writing intensive, designation; which is based primarily on the word count produced by each student in the class.
ReplyDeleteI would agree with you that this story was, to a large extent, a publicity stunt. Consider, however, how some political analysts might cite stories like this - even when inaccurate - in articles which are designed to impact public opinion. It would be this sort of effort, rather than merely a falsely reported story, which would be most appropriate as an artifact choice for our assignment.
You are on to a good area here. Please let me know how I can help as you develop this project.