Hunting fake news (1)

Cong Corrales

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” – Dr. Seuss

AS promised, I will be sharing to you, my dear readers, tips on how to hunt for fake news. More importantly, what to do about it. Understandably, this will take more than one column. Here’s the first of two parts on fake news.

Ever since social media platforms became “weaponized” for political gain, fake news has been the buzz word all over the blogosphere. I cited an example about Philippine News Agency’s fake news article entitled “95 nations in 3rd UPR convinced no EJKs in PHL” in my last column. I also discussed PNA’s attempt to cover it up with another article–slightly reworded but equally deceiving “PHL’s human rights situation commended at UPR.” A government functionary said they were commended by the UN Human Rights Commission on its 27th Universal Period Review. They didn’t. The team was commended on particular points like what it has done to combat human trafficking but other than that the review pretty much grotesque. To say that UPR27 commended the country for its human rights situation is a lie meant to deceive the more gullible, Facebook “like” addicts and share-a-holics.

Then last week, another seeming example propped up.

While terrorists burned buildings and soldiers dropping bombs in Marawi City last week, Manila-based Philippine Daily Inquirer’s web platform posted five photos which supposedly depicted the aftermath of the siege of the city. However, these photos were actually outdated and some of the photos were not even taken or depicting Marawi City.

An enterprising troll made a meme on PDI’s editorial gaffe which naturally trended on social media platforms. I say “naturally” because the meme obviously meant to rile up netizens. A troll even actually suggested to burn down PDI’s offices in Makati.

On May 24, 6:11 pm, PDI’s web platform Inquirer.net posted an erratum on it. They claimed the photos they posted came from a reliable source but before they could complete their vetting process or did a simple reverse-image search, they posted all the five photos anyway.

“That was a mistake, and we apologize unreservedly,” PDI’s erratum reads. They then offered to impose “necessary sanctions” to ensure the same mistake will not happen again.

For me, the enterprising troll who pointed PDI’s mistake did nothing wrong although the motive behind the meme is suspicious at best. I think it is healthy to point out mistakes in news articles. News, after all, is communication and the process isn’t completed without feedback.

I have pointed out on my Facebook wall that that is how a professional news organization acts when confronted with their mistakes. However, I would be remiss if I don’t also point out the difference between misinformation and disinformation.

Disinformation and misinformation are two different animals. Misinformation is inadvertent (read: wala gituyo; hindi sinadya) while disinformation is deliberate (read: gituyo; sinadya). The former is unintentionally inaccurate while the latter is intentionally false.

As National Union of Journalists in the Philippines director and Interaksyon editor Nonoy Espina puts it: “Wrong news is a whole universe away from fake news.”

So how can we scrutinize a news post, whether this be a misinformation or a blatant disinformation, on social media platforms in particular and the Internet in general.

1. Check if the uniform resource locator (URL). URLs are the web addresses of the articles in the Internet. Many propagandists have intentionally made web addresses to sound like it is of a legitimate news media organizations. Examples of these include: ABCnews.com.co, Bloomberg.ma, cnn-trending.com, NBCNews.com.co, washingtonpost.com.co, etc.

Notice that most of the fake news web sites have a suffix “.co.”

2. Read beyond the headline of a news post. I, as I assume you do to, see these almost all the time on Facebook. People sharing “news articles” based on the headline but have not really read the entire article. Worse, they will caption the link with an inappropriate comment because as I said they haven’t really read the article.
3. While you’re reading a news article, check for exaggerations. Fake news are meant to rile up or elicit strong emotions to drive web traffic and further inflamed on social media platforms. Naturally, fake news would have exaggerations.
4. Check if the data presented on the “news article” is corroborated or supported by experts on the particular field or other news media web sites. Okay, that sounds more daunting of a task as I would have preferred. Maybe this acronym can help: GIN (Google It, Numbnuts).
5. This next tip will sound idiotic but believe me many have done this–sharing a news article without checking the date of publication. Digong Dada’s drummer boy Peter Lavina did it by posting a photo of a rape victim meant to rile up support for the war on drugs. However, the photo was from another continent, Brazil and from an entirely different timeline. So before you share, check out the date, huh?
6. Always cross-check the site with other reliable sources on the web. Real news articles may differ in angling, perspective, or even syntax but these will always have the same basic accounting of the story. Like if there are two reporters of different news organizations covering a story, they might approach the story differently but they will always be, essentially, the same story.

Now, why would anybody deliberately lie to you on the Internet, you ask.

The answer is simple. As I have written at the start of this column: Social media platforms have been weaponized to serve political interests. It’s no longer just a virtual hangout for your friends.

So be a responsible netizen.

Let me leave you with these words of wisdom from veteran reporter Ellen Tordesillas: “There’s no excuse for spreading lies even if you don’t like a person. If you have to spread lies to protect or promote your principal, that means there is something wrong not only with your principal but also with you.” (to be continued)