Just facts — not fake news

Iam so weary of the headlines that exclaim someone is “disgusted”, or somebody has “slammed” someone else. (Whatever happened to “criticised”?)

Type “rage” or “shock” into the NZ Herald search box and you’ll be overwhelmed with returns.

The synagogue killings in the United States are a shock. Yes, they certainly are. But according to the Herald headline writers, so is the leaking of the new All Blacks jersey design; along with a “shock delay” in the next Wonder Woman movie.

There is so much to be genuinely outraged by but, instead, we are immersed in contrived drama focused on trivia. We desperately need a strong, fair, independent fourth estate . . . now more than ever. We need journalists and publications we can trust to report what is true, and what is important.

And something substantial is also required of us. Will we listen to and consider information that challenges our cherished views? Even more fundamentally, can we distinguish fact from opinion?

A headline this week cheerfully informed me that younger Americans were more skilled at distinguishing between facts and opinions compared to those over 50. By the time I waded through the data and took the survey myself, any cheerfulness had thoroughly dissipated. You can test yourself here: https://pewrsr.ch/2JxYPEA

Your task is not to evaluate whether a fact is correct or whether you agree with an opinion. It is to simply distinguish between facts and opinions. For instance: “Democracy is the greatest form of government.” Or: “Health care costs per person in the US are the highest in the developed world.”

If you get them all right, you’re in a minority. Only one in four of the 5000 respondents in the original research could correctly identify all five facts. They did slightly better at identifying opinions (but still only 35 per cent got all five right).

It seems that too many people need to sharpen their understanding of what a fact is — in a slightly circular definition, the researchers called a fact something “that could be proved or disproved based on objective factual evidence”.

Whereas my opinion that there’s something wrong with you, or society, if you can’t tell a fact from an opinion, cannot be proved or disproved. It simply exists. You can disagree with me, but can’t disprove that I have that view.

Other research by The Media Insight Project indicates a lack of familiarity with basic media terms.

What you’re reading right now? It’s an op-ed. You knew that, right? And that an op-ed is content on the opinion pages of newspapers written by columnists and guest writers?

Yet fully half of Americans surveyed said they were not at all familiar or only a little familiar with the term. I’m not confident New Zealanders would do any better.

How can democracy work if all those who vote cannot understand how facts differ from opinions and cannot gauge whether purported facts are true? Donald Trump is doing all manner of damage to civil society — and not just within American borders — and I fear one of his lasting legacies will be an erosion of trust in the media.

The term “fake news” came into use in 2014, describing completely false information that was created and spread for profit. But Trump and his spin doctors have taken a trick straight from an Orwellian copy book, redefining “fake news” to mean news reports he doesn’t like.

Trump keeps bellowing “Fake news!” as if to drown out the scandals that beset him. And it’s working.

In a poll by Ispos, 79 per cent of Republicans think the mainstream media treats President Trump unfairly; nearly half agreed that “the news media is the enemy of the American people”. Most frightening of all, among those surveyed who identify as Republicans, 23 per cent believed “President Trump should close down mainstream news outlets.

If we want media we can trust, which will break the stories that matter, we need to do our part as readers and subscribers. Shock news! Every time you follow clickbait, you’re voting with your attention for more of the same.

Q:

What happens to a frog's car when it breaks down?

It gets toad away.

A: 1923:

Adolf Hitler launched his first attempt at seizing power in Germany with a failed coup in Munich that came to be known as the “Beer-Hall Putsch”.

During the Korean War, the first jet-plane battle took place as US Air Force Lt. Russell J. Brown shot down a North Korean MiG-15.

Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kennedy defeated Vice President Richard M. Nixon for the presidency.

Edward W. Brooke (R-Mass.) became the first black candidate to be elected to the US Senate by popular vote.

A federal judge in Cleveland dismissed charges against eight Ohio National Guardsmen accused of violating the civil rights of students who were killed or wounded in the 1970 Kent State shootings.

11 people were killed when an Irish Republican Army bomb exploded as crowds gathered in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, for a ceremony honouring Britain’s war dead.

1950: 1960: 1966: 1974: 1987: 2016:

Republican Donald Trump was elected America’s 45th president, defeating Democrat Hillary Clinton.

● Actor Norman Lloyd is 104.

● Singer Bonnie Raitt is 69.

● Former Playboy Enterprises chairman and chief executive Christie Hefner is 66.

● Singer-songwriter Rickie Lee Jones is 64.

● Singer-actor Leif Garrett is 57.

● Chef and TV personality Gordon Ramsay is 52.

● Rock musician Scott Devendorf (The National) is 46.

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Volkswagen Lime 3. 6th Trinidad and Tobago 5 Florida.

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