... the creation of partisan outlets masquerading as local news organizations. An investigation by the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia Journalism School has discovered at least 450 websites in a network of local and business news organizations, each distributing thousands of algorithmically generated articles and a smaller number of reported stories. Of the 450 sites we discovered, at least 189 were set up as local news networks across ten states within the last twelve months by an organization called Metric Media.
Titles like the East Michigan News, Hickory Sun, and Grand Canyon Times have appeared on the web ahead of the 2020 election. These networks of sites can be used in a variety of ways: as ‘stage setting’ for events, focusing attention on issues such as voter fraud and energy pricing, providing the appearance of neutrality for partisan issues, or to gather data from users that can then be used for political targeting...
Over a two-week period starting November 26, we tapped into the RSS feeds of these 189 Metric Media sites, all of which were created this year, and found over fifteen thousand unique stories had been published (over fifty thousand when aggregated across the sites), but only about a hundred titles had the bylines of human reporters. The rest cited automated services or press releases. ..
Websites and networks can aid campaigns to manipulate public opinion by exploiting faith in local media. The demise of local journalism in many areas creates an information vacuum, and raises the chance of success for these influence campaigns. The strategy is further made possible by the low cost of automating news stories, repurposing press releases (including obituaries from funeral homes), and replicating design templates, as well as the relative ease with which political or single-issue campaigns can obscure their funding and provenance. ..
26 December 2019
The rise of "pink slime" journalism
The term apparently borrowed from the product sometimes sold in delis that looks like meat but is really a meat by-product. So, this is about material that looks like journalism but really isn't -
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Even though I am conservative, I had long thought that the supposed liberal-bias in most mainstream media were quite overblown by the wild-eyed, Ruby Ridge Forever types.
ReplyDeleteIt was not until President Trump did I begin noticing something I had not noticed before (and which I imagine my liberal friends have seen in FOX News for a long time). What I noticed was not necessarily outright lying about the president, but rather an almost continuous focus on his negatives (of which, it must be admitted, he has plenty).
Where are the glowing reviews of his earlier breakthroughs with North Korea? Where was the applause that our president got in the face of North Korea, bringing about a face-to-face meeting that led to, if not friendship, at least an easing of concerns that North Korea might at any time roll southward or launch a missile toward the U.S.?
You would think that the more liberal instruments of the media would have celebrated Trump's moving the American Embassy to Jerusalem. After all, the Democrats like to consider themselves good friends of Israel. Yet the applause was missing. Instead there was hand-wringing over the damage that would be done, etc. In fact, the Jews in America were upset, while the Jews in Israel were celebrating! Odd, don't you think?
The economy has been splendid. But apparently Trump had nothing to do with it, at least if you read the newspapers--if it's reported at all. The best unemployment numbers in a generation, zip. The best unemployment numbers for African Americans? Why, to hear the media talk about it, it was apparently an accident, since Trump was a bitter racist (made all the worse by the fact that he is an anti-Semite who has a Jewish daughter and son-in-law, and, oh, yes, moved the embassy to Jerusalem as a way to diminish Jews everywhere).
Now, I said all of that to say that I still enjoy the New York Times...but I've learned to take ANYTHING about Trump with either a grain of salt or a healthy dose of "wait for it...wait for it." And the Huffington Post never has ANYTHING good to say about Trump, it seems. I cannot imagine the elation they will experience (although they will print solemn copy) if Trump keeled over dead tonight.
So, the bias is not (in many cases) so obvious has just one hate-filled article after another against the president, but rather death by 20 million cuts--each cut being dismissive or bad news about this administration.
Anyone who single FOX out (I seldom listen to it or read it) needs to understand that BOTH SIDES play this wicked game. FOX wouldn't give Obama credit for hardly anything...and now Trump is getting it from the non-FOX sites.
I remember how Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize...FOR NOT BEING GEORGE W. BUSH. And Trump, even if he brought about world peace and apple pie for all, couldn't win that prize if his life depended on it.
It is all rigged. We must all think for ourselves...or the media--left or right or both--will be more than happy to do it for us.
Where are the glowing reviews of his earlier breakthroughs with North Korea?
ReplyDeleteWhat breakthroughs? The fact that North Korea's nuclear progress continues?
if not friendship
They're the enemy. The last person you want to be friends with.
You would think that the more liberal instruments of the media would have celebrated Trump's moving the American Embassy to Jerusalem.
No of course not. Jerusalem is still half occupied by Israel. On top of that it's an enormous security risk. And an affront to everyone involved in the peace process. Except Israel of course.
The economy has been splendid.
Only for the wealthy.
since Trump was a bitter racist
Is a bitter racist. Look at what has says and does. If that's not racism, what is.
Anyone who single FOX out (I seldom listen to it or read it) needs to understand that BOTH SIDES play this wicked game.
The point of all the attacks on the media, by the president and FN have the exact purpose of making people disbelieve everything. Have you never thought about the fact that it's odd that the most successful news network (foxnews) leads the way in screaming about bias? If they're the most successful and the least biased, then what's the problem? They're winning!
We must all think for ourselves
Then start thinking. And start looking at the truth. Not at the world of spin you live in.