I am tired of all the cries of "hoax" and "fake news" around the very real facts and recommendations from scientists and other experts regarding wearing masks and fighting the COVID-19 coronavirus. My fake news choices this week probably reflect that, to some degree. Let's start with President Donald J. Trump and an interview he … Continue reading Fake News for the Week Ending July 24, 2020
What did John Lennon know about fake news? "Nothing is real," he wrote in "Strawberry Fields Forever," and sometimes it seems that is true. Oliver Taylor is a twenty-something student at Britain's University of Birmingham. He's a coffee lover and politics junkie who was raised in a traditional Jewish home. He writes editorials and blog … Continue reading Fake News for the Week Ending July 17, 2020
Here's all the fake news that's not fit to print... Apparently exposure to Sean Hannity can be deadly. According to experts, misinformation spread by Fox News and other conservative media "may have intensified the severity" of the COVID-19 pandemic. Three different studies "paint a picture of a media ecosystem that entertains conspiracy theories and discourages … Continue reading Fake News for the Week Ending June 26, 2020
There was a lot happening in the world of fake news this week, starting with: A 26-minute excerpt from the upcoming video documentary "Plandemic: The Hidden Agenda Behind Covid-19" has been floating around the Internet. This is not a good thing, as the documentary itself is rife with conspiracy theories and dangerous misinformation. As such, … Continue reading Fake News for the Week Ending May 8, 2020
Here's all the fake news that's real this week: Given the developing situation in Iran, it is not perhaps surprising to see this old bit of fake news make a resurgence. (It popped in my personal news feed from a right-wing friend of mine.) It's a fake tweet from a parody account, supposedly by Muslim … Continue reading Fake News for the Week Ending January 10, 2020
Here's the real news about fake news this week: Donald Trump has done a lot of questionable things in his three years as president, but he did not pardon Charles Manson, despite what alleged Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson thinks. Snopes does the debunking. Deepfake videos are a problem not just for politicians but also … Continue reading Fake News for the Week Ending December 13, 2019
Let's get to it: No, Thomas Jefferson did not say "The government will one day be corrupt and filled with liars, and the people will flock to the one who tells the truth," in an apparent premonition of support for President Trump. FactCheck.org can't track down who originally wrote those words, but it definitely wasn't Jefferson. … Continue reading Fake News for the Week Ending October 18, 2019
The blog took last week off so there's lots of catching up to do in the world of fake news news, starting with: It was bound to happen. The Oxford English Dictionary just added an entry for the term "fake news." Other new entries include "slam-dunk," "promposal," and "circle jerk." Here's OED's tweet: A notable entry … Continue reading Fake News for the Week Ending October 11, 2019
What's real in fake news this week? Take a gander: In a blow for those fighting the spread fake news and hoping for more truth-based pubic discourse, Facebook announced this week that it will not regulate information from politicians on its website. (MediaPost reports on it here.) This means that your favorite politicians are free to … Continue reading Fake News for the Week Ending September 27, 2019
What's going on in the fake world this week? Try these nuggets on for size: Fake news can swing both ways. Case in point, a manipulated photo making the rounds of Ivanka Trump wearing a swastika-like logo on her shirt. She didn't, the photo's a fake. FactCheck.org does the usual debunking. Speaking of fakes, check … Continue reading Fake News for the Week Ending August 9, 2019
