Re:The CNN porn scare is how fake news spreads
by Mithaldu on Friday November 25, 2016 @09:12PM
(#13041315)
This is not fake news, but it's a great example of how the rush to be the first, with no verification, spreads misinformation of all kinds.
And this does not only happen to journalist, but normal people too. It is thus a good reminder to people to check before they retweet or share that article.
Re:The CNN porn scare is how fake news spreads
by koheripbal on Saturday November 26, 2016 @12:19AM
(#13041857)
Agreed. Although in this case we don't if the initial report was fake or not. It's just unverifiable. It's entirely possible that some local cable tech decided to play a prank on a specific neighborhood where the tweeter lived. ...it wouldn't be the first time.
Re:The CNN porn scare is how fake news spreads
by ecommerceguy on Friday November 25, 2016 @09:20PM
(#13041337)
I'm sure the Russians had something to do with this.
Journalists are always going to be wrong some of the time and several factors have been ramping that error rate way up but this has been discussed at length for at least a decade now. But, for the most part, legitimate news sites at least try to vie for truth as one of the competing demands on the business.
What's genuinely new is sites whose entire business model is predicated on intentional dissemination of knowingly false stories as a major part of the media landscape. Alex Jones style journalism has always existed at the fringes of the media landscape but now are becoming the main news source of a significant proportion of the country and that's worrying.
Trying to label other things as "fake news" muddies the waters and distracts from the issue.