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Re:Open letter from the BMJ to Mark Zuckerberg by hedora on Friday December 17, 2021 @02:44PM (#29597398)
As the letter points out, in this particular case, fact checking is not hard.

In fact, this is one of the easiest scenarios for a fact checker to handle correctly.

The source is a reputable, top-tier peer-reviewed publication. Even an inexperienced (but competent) fact checker could check run literature searches on the journal, reviewers and authors. This would reveal that they’re working at reputable institutions, and have been for decades.

Re:Open letter from the BMJ to Mark Zuckerberg by pyuser583 on Friday December 17, 2021 @05:28PM (#29599135)
That’s not fact checking, that’s reputation assessment.

It’s not hard to keep a list of journals and assign them a reputation score. Commercial services do exactly this.

But even the best journals screw up, especially in their blog posts!

Remember the “fact-check” wasn’t for the peer reviewed article itself, but a blog post promoting it.

Even if the BMJ has a high reputation score, not all of its blogs should share that. It might be run by the social media team - not the editorial staff.

Re:Open letter from the BMJ to Mark Zuckerberg by srcreigh on Friday December 17, 2021 @03:05PM (#29597669)
No.. the fact checker should also make sure true facts aren't being used out of context causing the reader come to incorrect conclusions. That's what is happening with the BMJ article.

That's why the fact check report doesn't mention any specific factual inaccuracies. Context matters, missing context is a problem.

EDIT: see here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29597047

Re:Open letter from the BMJ to Mark Zuckerberg by mmcgaha on Friday December 17, 2021 @04:12PM (#29598403)
Please do not protect me from the truth even if it leads me to inconvenient conclusions.
Re:Open letter from the BMJ to Mark Zuckerberg by srcreigh on Friday December 17, 2021 @04:28PM (#29598556)
BMJ is protecting you from the truth by hiding additional relevant information.
Re:Open letter from the BMJ to Mark Zuckerberg by hammock on Friday December 17, 2021 @03:42PM (#29598075)
What incorrect conclusion and who came to it?
Re:Open letter from the BMJ to Mark Zuckerberg by sul_tasto on Saturday December 18, 2021 @06:43AM (#29603758)
The BMJ article being discussed points out flaws in the medical validation of the covid vaccine. While true, this medical journal article is being used by the anti-vaccination advocates to make a more general claim that the vaccine is ineffective/dangerous/evil, etc.

Even though the medical journal article accurately shows problems with this specific aspect of the medical/clinical review of the vaccine, the vaccine is proving effective in combating the transmission and severity of the covid virus. Many of the people currently going to the hospital for covid are unvaccinated. This is placing a heavy burden on the hospitals and preventing other people from getting the care they need.

People are fighting over specific facts because they are trying to influence the broader narrative/discourse going on in society about covid, vaccinations, lockdowns, etc.

Comments in this thread are discussing facebook, journalists and fact-checkers, and their roles in influencing public opinion and social discourse.

Re:Open letter from the BMJ to Mark Zuckerberg by hpoe on Friday December 17, 2021 @08:22PM (#29600497)
Under that system a young German scientist who wrote about the photovoltaic effect would be ignored and classified as non-reputable. Just saying being part of the institutions doesn't make on right it makes one prominent.