Monday, January 9, 2017

First reading assignments

Click and read each story.
1. Israel media corruption
2. Foreign influence on American media
3. Turkey jailing journalists
4. Collapse of free press in Turkey
5. Fake News International

Comment below by 9 a.m.  Jan. 11.  One or two sentences each.
1. How widespread do you think news media corruption is?
2. How can American news media avoid this?
3.4. Do you see any danger in America like this?
5. How can we combat fake news?

12 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. 1. News media corruption is prominent throughout the world. Very many people in the media will succumb to news media corruption by providing unethical, unoriginal, and dishonest work, similar to the article, some will do their best to create a better (sometimes false) image of themselves for the public.

    2. American news media can avoid this by maintaining democratic openness, as the article suggests. And remaining objective to avoid biases and seeing what is true, rather than what they want to be true.

    3&4. I hate to bring Trump into this, but I see it as a perfect example. I do see some danger for journalists in America now that Trump is POTUS. He doesn't seem like a fan of the press, he primarily uses Twitter, which has changed the game in politics. But if America became the next "Prison for Journalists," I wouldn't be too surprised.

    5. Make sure what is being read comes from a credible source. And deeply research the "credible source" to ensure that it is indeed credible and reliable.

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  3. 1) Wherever there is news media, there is likely to be corruption. Media is viewed through perception and biased opinions, which can easily be skewed. “When consuming news media: buyers beware.”
    2) Make sure journalists and readers understand the motivations behind foreign government leakers, without losing newsworthiness. And maintain a democratic openness. Thalen turned down publishing articles that would feed into the Russian interests.
    3)&4) I don’t see danger like this happening in America, because of the 1st amendment. Especially with an emphasis on freedom of speech, and freedom of the press, and the precedents made to establish them.
    5) Even though social media platforms, like Facebook, are easily accessible, users can’t be fully dependent on those sources for providing 100% real news. Facebook and Twitter users have to develop a better understanding that a majority of posts are filled with biases and fake news.

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  4. Wong Yi Wen
    1. News media corruption basically occurs everywhere. Not only in political issues, but in every field that are in contact with news. People who have power can easily control the content of the media and this result in false information.

    2. American news media can avoid this problem by democratic openness as stated in the article. As a journalist or news reporter, one must understand and be alert about the motivation of foreign governments. They have to be smart and always think rationally about the gathered information for news article, whether it is trustworthy.

    3&4. From my impression and knowledge towards America, I do not think that jailing journalist occur very often in this country because it is a country that protects the freedom of speech. I couldn't guarantee this will not happened in the future as the new elected president is Donald Trump. I am not sure about America but in my home country, people’s comments towards him are not positive and false , and who knows one day President Trump will take action upon this behaviour.

    5. People who are responsible for the publications of articles or information on the social media can't really do much do combat fake news. For instance, social media like Facebook is so influential because information always goes viral before anyone can even identify if it’s true or false. The only way will be the users of social media have to be smart when reading the articles by understanding the information is not fully trustable and always do research if users find that particular topic is interesting, rather than believing it blindly.

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  5. 1. News media corruption is obviously pretty widespread of we wouldn’t be reading stories like this every other week. Corruption doesn’t have to be as overt as in this story. Tweaking your coverage to reflect the agenda of your publication’s owner is a much more common form of media corruption.
    2. The link kept sending me to the Israeli story.
    3. My greatest fear with Trump centers around his constant attacks on the 1st Amendment. Unfortunately, he will assume office at a time in our history when public opinion of American media is at an all time low. I don’t think it is a stretch for us to expect to see an attempt to suppress journalism in this country.
    4. Trump has already managed to paint the “liberal media” as the enemy. I’m afraid there would be a great many who would support the imprisonment of journalists. Hopefully this trend toward the right, toward this fearful sense of nationalism, doesn’t get as extreme as we see in other parts of the world.
    5. People like reading news that they agree with. People also tend to operate within their own comfort bubble. Unfortunately, a lot of people are also ignorant to the fact that fake news is seeping into every corner of their social media lives. A far right die hard Fox News fan is extremely unlikely to open The Guardian and start fact checking, however, they are very likely to see some crazy story in Breitbart and totally agree. Our own President-Elect has cited the Drudge Report as one of his personal favorites…so we’re basically screwed.

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  6. 1. News media corruption is a very common thing in the media field. It because of the different morals and ethical dilemma.

    2. American news media can avoid this by keeping certain sources closed off. Also the article explained democratic openness.

    3&4. I don't see this being a problem in the US just because of the simple fact of the 1st amendment. Also, the press knows their limits as it could effect their job security and lifestyle.

    5. We can't, especially with all of the social media we have nowadays. It is easy to corrupt some readers minds by mixing their thoughts and emotion with fake news and facts that can be highly reliable.

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  7. 1) Its everywhere, as long as money, power and self-interest are involved than so will media corruption. because everybody wants to be the "good guy" in the eyes and ears of the public.

    2) It's up to the reporters and journalist to have a grasp on the interest of these foreign hackers. To be able to decipher whether or not releasing such information will play further into the hackers game.

    3&4) Unless, we decides to no longer uphold the rights of the 1st amendment, I don't see a situation like this occurring in the United States. Especially putting stress on our freedom of press and speech.

    5) we can't solely depend upon, social media platforms to always provide credible information from credible sources. So it is up to us to research and seek further understanding on topics that we may or may not believe to be true.

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  8. 1. Global. Anywhere there is media, there is most likely corruption. Many outlets filter their media in order to tailor to their readers' biases and skewed writing is hard to avoid these days. Without hearing all sides of a story, people can't truly perceive the whole truth.
    2. According the article, American media can avoid corruption by practicing democratic openness and objective writing.
    3&4. As long as we continue to honor the 1st Amendment, this shouldn't become a problem in America. I do worry that if Trump continues to discredit the media like he has been, the reputation and future of journalism will suffer.
    5. I think most outlets need to take a step back and remember to write the truth and only that. When you worry about fluff and readership, you start to skew towards a truth that might be far from it. Give the facts and let the people form their own opinions. Another problem is knowing the difference between a credible source and a faux one. It's important now more than ever that consumers understand who is credible and who isn't.

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  9. 1. I believe it is very widespread and I would not put it past the United State government at all. I do not believe this is necessarily a bad thing, but happens more than we think.
    2. Taking for action to vet sources before making a story public. We live in a world where captivating headlines are more important than a factual story.
    3. No because there is way too much money in entertainment through media platforms. If press is restricted then the economy will suffer.
    4. Work with social media platforms to penalize people for slandering anyone, including public figures.

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  10. 1.As long as the media has human influences there will always remain corruption. It is possible to have complete freedom of press but that does not necessarily equal accurate and objective reporting. When power and financial gains are to be had the media can be susceptible to corruption.

    2. American new media can avoid this by remaining a democratic country that stays true to its constitutional belief that freedom of press allows for a more self governing entity to exist.

    3-4. I don’t see the american system becoming more like Turkey for two reasons. The initial reason is that freedom of the press is a fundamental part of our history and constitution. The first amendment exists to allow for a more self governed body by informing and educating the people so that they can make the proper democratic decisions. Unless our political system changes into a more authoritarian one, that limits what can be said in the press, then our media will never be completely controlled. Additionally because media is such a big business, that can rely on inflammatory and critical sensationalism, the media outlets stand nothing to gain by being completely controlled by a governing body.

    5. We can combat fake news by checking facts and using greater judgement to keep the information from being spread as truth. It is on both the journalists and media outlets to properly vet information, as well as the public absorbing the information to use their best skeptical judgement instead of following with a blind eye.

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  11. 1. I think media corruption is more prevalent in developing nations and in nations like South Korea that don’t have free press. However, this story about Israel highlights the fact that it happens everywhere.
    2. Journalists need to report without bias and remain objective. Politicians don’t need to be trying to sway news media and push their agenda.
    3. I see that this danger is likely to increase with the incoming administration. Trump’s press conference today was a good indication of his tolerance of the press and it doesn’t look good for journalists of news outlets in general. He’s openly told member of the media that their organizations weren’t real news
    5. We need to educate our population on how to decipher what is real and what is fake. Uneducated people are the ones who believe most of that fake stuff, especially in developing countries.

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  12. 1. I think news media corruption is widespread all over the world. The places where they do not have well defined standards of how the press should operate is more likely to be prominent especially in matters of the state. In America and other more prominent countries I think the most rampant form of media corruption is where corporations sway the papers to write stories that are more reader friendly to sell ads or to withhold stories that may hurt a corporation.
    2. I think the most effective way is to hold journalists to the standard of know exactly who their sources are. Even though the content may be newsworthy, the journalists and editors have a duty to know where the information is coming from and what the possible agenda behind putting out the information could pose
    3. I highly doubt this could happen in America. Although I hate to say anything absolute. The widespread idea of the freedom of the press would make it too difficult to successfully incarcerate a journalist due to his work, even with some of the most radical of judges. There may be individuals out there who would like to, but I feel the number of people on the side of journalists is far greater.
    4. A way to combat fake news is to educate the public about more reputable news sites. When people get their stories from obscure blogs or unknown news sources, they are setting themselves up to be duped. If the public is educated that there are many sites who use fake news as a tool, they may be more likely to be wary of some web sites.

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