Nieman Journalism Lab: A cognitive scientist explains why humans are so susceptible to fake news and misinformation. “Although the term itself is not new, fake news presents a growing threat for societies across the world. Only a small amount of fake news is needed to disrupt a conversation, and at extremes it can have an impact on democratic processes, including elections. But what can we do to avoid fake news, at a time when we could be waiting a while for mainstream media and social networks to step up and address the problem?”
journalism
The #ShellPapers: crowdsourcing analysis of all correspondence between Shell and the Dutch government (Boing Boing)
Boing Boing: The #ShellPapers: crowdsourcing analysis of all correspondence between Shell and the Dutch government. “The consortium has filed Freedom of Information Act requests for ‘a copy of all government documents sent by Shell, sent to Shell, or otherwise pertaining to Shell and any of its close to 1600 subsidiaries,’ and it’s created an online platform where the public can follow the path of those requests and collaboratively comb through and annotate the responses.”
Poynter: Here are the winners of the 2019 Pulitzer Prizes
Poynter: Here are the winners of the 2019 Pulitzer Prizes. “The winners of the 2019 Pulitzer Prizes were announced at Columbia University in New York City on Monday. Pulitzers are regarded as the highest honor a journalist can receive.”
Horizon: Can artificial intelligence help end fake news?
Horizon: Can artificial intelligence help end fake news?. “Fake news has already fanned the flames of distrust towards media, politics and established institutions around the world. And while new technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) might make things even worse, it can also be used to combat misinformation.”
Quartz: A new Twitter account is outing shoddy reporting in science stories
Quartz: A new Twitter account is outing shoddy reporting in science stories. “In this era of fake news, it’s not unusual for social media users—including the US president—to accuse journalists of doing bad work. Sadly, when it comes to coverage of scientific studies especially, there’s some truth to these accusations. Science writers do sometimes overstate claims based on research findings, and now one Twitter account exists solely to highlight a particular variety of these misleading stories.”
Nieman Lab: What kind of local news is Facebook featuring on Today In? Crime, car crashes, and not too much community
Nieman Lab: What kind of local news is Facebook featuring on Today In? Crime, car crashes, and not too much community. “…what kind of local news is Facebook providing in the places where Today In is live? Crime alerts and court decisions, mostly. The crime-and-courts-and-death beats — often just TEEN MISSING or SEXUAL PREDATOR ON THE LOOSE stuff, barely digested police alerts — represented more than half of the stories in Today In during a week-long experiment I ran recently. “
Poynter: Who needs deepfakes when bogus crowd photos get thousands of shares on Facebook?
Poynter: Who needs deepfakes when bogus crowd photos get thousands of shares on Facebook?. “In Indonesia, where people are paid to spread deliberately false information about presidential candidates on social media, fact-checkers have been busy debunking similar hoaxes in the lead-up to next week’s election. France 24 reported this week that misinformation has exacerbated religious rifts in Indonesian society. At the same time, a lot of the hoaxes that journalists are going after have to do with crowd size. In the past week, two of the most engaging articles from Liputan 6’s fact-checking team debunked photos that were taken out of context, according to audience metrics tool BuzzSumo.”
