The industry of truth
THE annual tradition of marking the end of the year in reflection on what the big news moments were in 2016 is the subject of a major feature in this edition, with thoughts and views shared by some of our regular contributors.
Together they rein in the Trumps and bumps of the year that’s been – and you’ll be relieved to know, it’s not all bad.
Yes, it’s about the giant talents we’ve lost, the highs and lows of technology and climate change, and even the importance of kindness in a world gone mad.
Beyond all the darkest hours of suicide bombings, current events in Aleppo and the disturbing relentlessness of death cults, one thing 2016 slammed on the table as a wake up call, above all else, was truth: who is and isn’t telling it, why and for how long it’s been going on and importantly who is being hoodwinked by it against their will, and who is lapping up falsehoods without asking one critical question: is what I’m being told actually true?
The Panama Papers would be the cherry on top of this cake, revealed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) exposing politicians, criminals and the rogue industry with 11.5 million financial and legal records and a system which enables crime, corruption and wrongdoing hidden by secret offshore companies.
To date since their release in April this year, 150 investigations are underway in 79 countries and $110 million has been recouped by governments so far.
It was a bombshell that all is not as it seems and a revelation that a minority operate above the law on one hand, yet demand the rest of us to comply with the rules they set, on the other.
It was a blow to the head of Trust; in governments and the people who run them.
Donald Trump is the pin up boy of that murky place between truth and lies brought about by events of 2016 and his new best mate, Vladimir Putin are fast becoming a tight knit billionaires playboy club with highly questionable morals, ethics and care for humanity, and, significant power.
Given fake news has been news and it’s ties to Russia are as the crow flies, 2017 is looking interesting, nyet?
It’s little wonder the Oxford Dictionaries (OD) has declared the International word of the year for 2016 is “post-truth”, a bosom buddy of fake news.
By OD’S definition, post-truth is information “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.”
A characteristic of this is facts are not facts which get shared like gossip, among like minded people who agree without question. Lies became truth in 2016. Fact checking has been a casualty of the Digital Age in 2016 fermenting an industry of lies where via social media in particular, it is near impossible to retract incorrect information give the speed a story can spread globally.
In a sad irony the rise of fake news also comes at a time when traditional journalism is in demise.
Incorrect facts in print, on TV or radio, if proven, can be retracted and corrections announced.
This is increasingly no longer the case. There are just too many sources and not enough editors.
What didn’t make podium in the Oxford Dictionaries nod also say a lot about the year that’s passed.
They include “adulting” (behaving like a responsible adult), “alt-right” (an ultra conservative ideology which uses social media to spread their message), “Brexiteer” (a person in favour of the UK leaving the European Union), “chatbot” (a computer program designed to simulate human interaction), “coulrophobia” (irrational fear of clowns), “glass cliff” (where a member of a minority group ascends to a position of leadership where the risk of failure is high), “hygge” (cosiness and a defining characterising of Denmark apparently), “Latinx” (a gender neutral way of saying Latino) and “woke” (being alert to injustice).
Don’t know these words? Where have you been? Waiting as many have to put 2016 in their rear view mirror, perhaps?
Whatever lies ahead in the Year of the Rooster/2017, from all of us at Dubbo Weekender we wish you one of inner peace and happiness, simplicity and calm.