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comment by OftenBen
OftenBen  ·  2921 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Angela Merkel Backs Fake News Ban

Who gets to decide what's fake news?





mk  ·  2921 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Apparently, the German Government.

A much smarter move would be to create a public/private accreditation body that simply rated articles on their truthfulness. In turn, media sources would have overall ratings based on the average. It's not perfect, but it's far better than trying to enforce journalistic integrity though the legal system. That's obviously a recipe for disaster.

user-inactivated  ·  2921 days ago  ·  link  ·  

i'll do it if they pay me enough

goobster  ·  2921 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Who cares?

The simplest fact-checking can prove any news story as plausible or bullshit. It's Journalism 101. The thing that first year J-school students do as an internship for the New York Times, or whoever the Newspaper happens to be in their town.

OftenBen  ·  2920 days ago  ·  link  ·  

People who don't want Big Brother Merkel deciding if they get to receive messages from people known to propagate bad-think

goobster  ·  2920 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Right. Because Angela Merkel will be involved in some practical way in tagging fake news sites.

Seriously, man. You can do better than that.

Fact-checking is a well-defined and understood skill set that is simply being applied to new medium that desperately needs it. This isn't hard, technologically, logically, ideologically, manpower-wise, or in any other way.

(Shit, let's just flip the problem around and create a Verified tag, like Verisign did. That's a 20-year old solution that still works today.)

OftenBen  ·  2920 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I'm not worried about Merkel. I'm worried about those who come after.

Part of the reason Trump is so dangerous is because he's being trusted with tools that we shouldn't have even trusted Obama with.

I don't trust who comes next.

user-inactivated  ·  2921 days ago  ·  link  ·  

The six mega corps that control the news you see and hear. Don't want anyone off message after all.

OftenBen  ·  2921 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Remember, if you don't work for CNN, you can't read Wikileaks.