Category Archives: Fake News

A Canadian Broadcasting Company vehicle was vandalized in Kamloops over the weekend, with the words Fake News painted along its drivers-side door.

The vehicle was parked in the lot at Second Avenue and Lansdowne Street on Sunday evening, with white paint poured over its windows and the words Fake News scrawled in what appears to be black spray paint.

Some of the white paint was also found on a vehicle two stalls over.

The parking lot is part of the Victoria Building at Victoria Street and Second Avenue, which is home to the CBC Kamloops radio studio.

Come on Kamloops, we can do better than this! So upsetting to see this on my way home tonight, CBC Radio host Doug Herbert posted online. The pandemic clearly brings out the best in people, especially involving media.

A passerby noticed the damaged vehicle at about 6:15 p.m., and a police report was filed by the CBC later that evening.

There is apparently no security camera in that parking lot.

Kamloops RCMP said they received a report of the vandalism at about 8:00 p.m., but no surveillance footage was located in the area.

Anyone with any information about the incident is asked to contact the Kamloops RCMP at 250-828-3000 and reference file 2021-10513.

CBC head of public affairs Chuck Thompson told KTW via email that the cost of repairs isnt known yet, but he anticipates the entire vehicle will have to be repainted.

Thompson said the CBC will be adding adding security personnel to the area over the next few days. Once the corporation has had some time to assess the situation more thoroughly, it may implement new security measures.

While we have no idea who is responsible for thisincident, we do know we live in different times and the media has been under attack, Thomson said Needless to say, our number one concern is always the safety and well-being of our employees and we will do whatever we can to keep them safe.

The term fake news false or misleading information presented as news has become a popularized phrase to criticize legitimate news outlets over the last four years as former U.S. President Donald Trump used it to describe any unfavourable, albeit factual, reporting of his administration.

This story was updated with comment from Kamloops RCMP on April 6

See the original post here:

CBC Kamloops vehicle vandalized, with 'Fake News' painted on door - Kamloops This Week

Misinformation, or fake news, is infectious and divisive. It spreads like wildfire, but it is not intended to deceive. On the other hand, disinformation is intended to deceive and mislead the public to believe and regurgitate narrow-minded ideologies.

So why do we gravitate toward fake news?

Regardless of intent, fake news is sensational. Its simultaneously awe-inspiring and terrible. Its drama, and drama is more attractive than factual news. Its more fun to believe in fantasy than reality, but after a while, fantasy becomes reality.

According to Chrysalis Wright, an associate lecturer at the University of Central Florida, if people start to believe false information then they start to doubt accurate information.

Conspiracy theories have existed for centuries, but recently they have become more widespread. Joan Donovan, a researcher at Harvard Kennedys Shorenstein Center, believes that the Internet is to blame.

The Internet gives conspiracy theorists a place to connect, and social media gives them a way to quickly disseminate their ideas on a mass scale, Donovan said in a March 1 NPR interview. Weve come to start to think about it (conspiracy theories) as an attack on the supply chain of information because lies at that scale do displace truthful narratives.

Roy Schwartzman, professor and head of the Communications Department at UNC-Greensboro, is an expert on misinformation with several research publications on the topic.

It (misinformation) is dangerous because it undermines the ground for making sound decisions, Schwartzman said. Its as if we are trying to construct a building while some of the bricks of the foundation are cardboard imitations. Our arguments and the decisions we make are only as strong as the evidence that supports them. If our proof is absent or flawed, then our positions cannot withstand serious scrutiny and will crumble.

Most misinformation is spread because it confirms bias. Vaile Wright, director of research and special projects at the American Psychological Association (APA), says we seek out information that confirms the beliefs we already have as opposed to seeking out information that might counter it.

We are inherently close-minded because we cannot accept humility. We have a burning desire to be right, and sometimes, that desire can cloud sensitivity and promote selfishness. It can lead to racism, political extremism and religious persecution.

In a February 2020 article published by the National Institutes of Health, Kazuki Shimizu of the National Center for Biotechnology Information reported that fake news about the coronavirus has led to xenophobia towards patients and Chinese visitors. That month, misinformation was spread via social media proclaiming that infected Chinese passengers passed through quarantine at the Kansai International Airport in Japan. After the fake news leak, #ChineseDontComeToJapan was surging on Twitter.

Opinions about the coronavirus pandemic have been particularly widespread in the news media. According to Zara Abrams, author of a recent APA article titled Controlling the Spread of Misinformation, fake news on COVID-19 is so pervasive that even some patients dying from the disease still say its a hoax.

Emily McCord, news director of Winston-Salem public radio station WFDD, agrees with Abrams. Misinformation has corrupted science, McCord says, and because of this, people are in danger.

With misinformation spreading and so many people therefore unwilling to get it (a vaccine), the health of our entire population is at stake, McCord said.

In September 2020, Hope Yen of The Associated Press wrote about the spread of disinformation for political gain. According to Yens article, during the 2020 presidential campaign, Joe Biden tweeted a video that presented a distorted account of President Donald Trumps words on the coronavirus, wrongly suggesting Trump branded the virus a hoax.

The video was created to intentionally mislead Americans to believe that the Trump administration did not take the coronavirus seriously. Though Donald Trump had underplayed the virus on numerous occasions before Bidens tweet, the video spread fake news and purposefully contributed to public deception.

Of course, the Trump administration was notorious for spreading disinformation. Weeks after Biden won the 2020 presidential election, Donald Trump claimed the election was fraudulent and called it fraud to the American public. The former president posted a 46-minute video on Twitter and Facebook asserting falsehoods. The video went viral and stirred up a tornado of political tension among the public.

According to a December 2020 article written by Michael D. Shear of the New York Times, all of Trumps assertions about voter fraud were proven false. Attorney General William Barr also confirmed the legitimacy of the election in an AP interview on December 1, 2020. To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have affected a different outcome in the election, he said.

But despite confirmation of the truth, Trump demanded that his supporters fight for justice. In his eyes, he won the election. If you dont fight like hell, youre not going to have a country anymore, Trump said at a Jan. 6 political rally near the White House.

Trump incited anger among American right-wing extremists, and on the same day, radical Trump supporters marched to the Capitol and stormed it with the intent to harm. Sadly, five people died, illustrating that misinformation and disinformation have the power to mobilize violence and inflame fear and anxieties.

Matthew Armstrong, an author and lecturer in Guilfords English Department, believes that misinformation stems from pro-war entities in government. Tulsi Gabbard, a veteran, woman of color and former Hawaii congresswoman, was an anti-war enthusiast. She quickly fell into the shadows when Hillary Clinton, former U.S. Secretary of State, falsely labeled her a Russian asset.

I voted for Gabbard in the North Carolina primary and Biden in the general election, said Armstrong. I was disturbed, intimidated and confused by Democratic voters who continually trolled my Facebook and Twitter accounts, telling me Tulsi Gabbard was a Russian asset, a fascist and a white supremacist.

Social media is a primary contributor of fake news. It is highly accessible and loosely monitored.

Social media platforms are designed to deliver more of what the user likes and wants rather than what the user may need, Schwartzman said. It spreads information very widely, very quickly, very easily and very cheaply with essentially no quality control. Thats a breeding ground for misinformation to flourish.

McCord believes that social media, though positive in some ways, has had a negative impact on news and information. It (social media) has created a silo system, where people can surround themselves only with the media they want to consume, and then sharing that information widely is as fast as the click of a button, she said.

Jim Hood, Interim President of Guilford College, expressed similar thoughts.

It (social media) tends to limit our intake of information to a certain perspective instead of giving us broader perspectives.

Allison Van Voorhies, a former student-athlete and graduate of Guilford College, said that social medias ability to customize information can be dangerous. While a student at Guilford, she studied many cases about the spread of misinformation and social medias connection to the problem in her psychology courses.

The average consumer gets fed more daily information than ever before, and with that comes a new age of bias and customization, she said. This is the dangerous part, in my opinion. In an attempt to get more engagement and attention, social media outlets tailor polarizing content to individuals.

According to McCord, social media also may negatively affect how people perceive local news. I do believe that social media can erode trust in local media, and that can affect the bottom dollar, she said. If there isnt trust, then local news will not thrive.

And studies show local news is rapidly declining. According to an article published in December 2020 by the Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life, more than one-fourth of the countrys newspapers have disappeared, leaving residents in thousands of communities living in vast news deserts. Because of this, small, rural communities are dependent on social media and other digital news platforms heavily saturated with misinformation.

Schwartzman believes that there is a correlation between misinformation and places where theres a death of local news.

The decline in local news, one result of ongoing financial struggles faced by local media and by print and broadcast media, means more consolidation of content to fewer sources. Thats generally a dangerous trend because there are fewer sources to serve as checks and balances for false or misleading content.

News consumers can help decrease the spread of misinformation by fact-checking sources and supporting local news. Its important to read the full story, and not all news sources provide the same information.

In order to stop the spread of fake news, we must be willing to change. We have to prioritize and defend the truth rather than support drama that is enticing to consume. If we dont, we will only grow further apart as people.

Its time to come together, and we can start by accepting reality. We can choose truth over fantasy. Or can we?

Read more:

Misinformation spreads like wildfire The Guilfordian - Guilfordian

Around the world, there is concern about the spread of fake news. This series gives the floor to professionals from several countries to shed light on this issue that appears to threaten democracy. This file was prepared by Jean-Philippe Warren, Quebec Studies Chair at Concordia University.

Posted April 10, 2021 at 3:00 PM.

Maurizio Ferraris: Unfortunately Italy was advanced in the political field. This was the case with fascism, at the beginning of the twentieth centurye century. This is also the case with populism at the end of the twentieth centurye century. Without a doubt, these developments enabled me to understand certain things very early in my career, even if I wasnt one of those who rejoiced in the fact that Italy was able to function as a political laboratory!

In the 1990s, I was convinced that we were heading towards a more rational society. But in the face of Berlusconis rise to power, which had no facts, but only explanations, I realized the need not to lose sight of the pursuit of objectivity. At the time, I was having discussions with my friend and mentor Gianni Fatimo. I said to this view of interpretation as an infinite interpretation: Listen, there is something wrong here.

I think its a bit like the mild drugs here. When Charles Baudelaire and Thophile Gautier smoke it in Parisian salons, its poetic. But if the captain of the plane youre traveling in is using drugs, thats a problem!

The current pandemic is here to remind us that there are facts, not just explanations. Today, we can very well believe that scientists share their major pharma interests, that they are corrupt and partial. But, in general, Id rather have scientists at the head of our public health policies than shamans. In the end, we ended up finding vaccines!

Post-truth shows social malaise. This is very evident in populism, which rises at the same time against the rich and against the poor: we hate the rich because of their wealth and we fear the poor because of their poverty. And since there are always people who are richer and poorer than us, we end up hating everyone!

We are in a vicious cycle. Social disruptions are related to a technical problem, because automation reduces workstations. And social disruption is expressed through technology.

In practice, an individual loses a job in a factory: he has too much time because he has nothing to do, he is depressed. Thus he spends his time on the computer writing post-truth things, creating more space for technology

Social conflict will be solved in only two ways. We must intervene at the structural level: increase social justice and encourage education.

Most important and most important is the reduction of social unrest. We must limit and minimize social conflicts. We can start by seeing that the massive mobilization of humanity on the Internet is producing value. If it is a value, then it must be taxable. Through this tax, we will be able to support employment and education. I call it webfare (like luxury).

On the flip side, there is an education. Basically, the fact that people say anything is a good sign. Kant said that the Age of Enlightenment was on ones mind. Before, the scientist did not think for himself. Parties and churches decide many convictions, and many opinions. Substantial electoral stability resulted from the performance of the voters as directed. Now in Italy, limbs appear and disappear every five minutes! It is a step forward in human history. People change their minds because they no longer obey the supposed authorities.

But this is not enough. Two more things must be done, according to Kant. First of all, you have to learn to think by putting yourself in other peoples minds. Next, you have to learn to think in agreement with yourself, that is, in a consistent way.

Kant said, From humanitys twisted stick, you can never have anything perfectly straight. It remains, however, that man is the only animal that can be taught. We can teach the horse to perform tricks, but then distort the horses correct postures to make it serve human purposes. On the contrary, raising a person is helping him realize his humanity.

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Fake news virus (9/9) | Post-Berlusconi Italy: Not Saying Goodbye to the Truth - theinformant.co.nz

Twitters loophole allows users to change their profile and spread anti-India fake news.

New Delhi: A loophole in social media platform Twitter is being used by Pakistan-based state actors, who enjoy the support of key members of the present political dispensation and that of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistan Armed Forces, to generate and amplify anti-India disinformation campaign that has the potential to cause loss of lives and property, private experts and government officials have warned.

An India-based private organization, Disinfolab, that is run by a group of Open-source intelligence (OSINT) experts, in its recently released report titled, The Anatomy of Pakistans 5th generation warfare, How Twitters loophole is being weaponized to create conflict in South Asia, has put out in the public domain undeniable proof that proves how Pakistan-based individuals, who are closely related to the present political party in power, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the Pakistan army, are indulging in a massive disinformation campaign against India for the last few months by using Twitter.

Such is the stake of the Pakistan-based state actors in this disinformation campaign that an entire fake organization that goes by the name of South Asian United Social Media Front (SAUMF) has been brought into existence, that has fictitious members from different SouthAsian countries, to lend credibility to this warfare campaign.

This disinformation warfare campaign has already made its mark on Indias external relations which was evident after an Omani princess had to clarify that her name and pictures were misused by a Twitter user to portray a message that the Omani royal family was angry over Islamophobia in India. This Twitter user was traced to Pakistan and was found to be a part of this very disinformation warfare campaign.

As per the experts at Disinfolab, who spoke to The Sunday Guardian, they came across multiple evidence that shows the support these actors behind this campaign were receiving from members of PTI, including a sitting minister of Imran Khans cabinet, to spread disinformation in India by using Twitter as a platform that has a reach of close to 20 million users in the country.

A Twitter spokesperson, in its response to the queries shared by The Sunday Guardian on what steps it was taking, if any, to prevent such misuse of its platform for anti-India activities, said: At Twitter, we have a zero-tolerance approach to platform manipulation, including spam and any other attempts to undermine the integrity of our service. Using technology and human review in concert, we proactively tackle attempts at platform manipulation and mitigate them at scale by actioning millions of accounts each week for violating our policies in this area. Platform manipulation refers to the unauthorized use of Twitter to mislead others and/or disrupt their experience by engaging in bulk, aggressive, or deceptive activity. This prohibited activity includes, but is not limited to, spam, malicious automation (malicious use of bots), and inauthentic account abuse (fake accounts).According to our latest Twitter Transparency Report for the period of January-June 2020, we saw a 54% increase in anti-spam challenges and a 16% increase in the number of spam reports, compared to the last reporting period of July-December 2019. As is standard, when we identify information operation campaigns that we can reliably attribute to state-linked activityeither domestic or foreign-ledwe disclose them to our public archive; the largest of its kind in the industry. We continue to be vigilant to protect the public conversation on our service.

The report prepared by the Disninfolab, which was also analyzed by relevant Indian agencies, has found that spreading of disinformation has become an easy task due to Twitters facility / loophole which allows the users to change their profile (name and username).

As per the report, This loophole has been deployed by various Pakistani social media accounts in propagating anti-India fake narrative. Easter bombings of Sri Lanka, Islamophobia in India, Galwan valley clash, farmers protest of India are few of the many incidents where Pakistan has falsely accused India as the architect of these incidents.

The experts found that by July 2020, the Pakistani establishment decided to create a full-scale fake news industry by way of SAUSMF. SAUSMF website was hosted by Pak Cabinet Minister and one of the closest advisors of PM Imran Khan, Jahangir Khan Tareen, on his server. The website was removed from the server once the report by Disinfolab became public.

The main members of disinformation warfare, the report reveals, includes Aftab Afridi, Awas Javed Satti and Asim Khan who share direct links with Pak army, team Imran Khan and Pakistani businessman Jahangir Khan Tareen, the man who ensured Imran Khans electoral victory. The report also has several pictures that proves the proximity between the members of this cyber campaign and members of Pakistans ruling party. The investigators also found that apart from politicians of PTI and serving officers of the Pakistan army, including the former spokesperson Asif Ghafur, others who were amplifying the propaganda that is being run by these cyber-terrorist group include the state broadcaster Radio Pakistan.

These experts, in their report, have also questioned the double-standard used by Twitter in the case of India and other South-Asian countries regarding using a proper verification process when it comes to changing account and user names, a practice that it has started in other regions, including in the United States, despite India being the third biggest user market of Twitter.

The primary aim of this disinformation warfare, the experts told The Sunday Guardian, is to spread anti-India fake news with the objective to create conflict between India and its neighbours including Nepal and Sri Lanka.Officials tracking the developments said that such disinformation campaign, if not stopped in time, can easily lead to incidents of riots and large scale public disturbance. These Pakistan-based individuals, according to officials, have become an expert in using Indias internal and external issues like farmers protests and border stand-off with China to spread anarchy in India by sharing fake/ misleading videos and posts. In some cases, one such Twitter handle changed his name at least five times to target Indias interest by spreading fake news before it was identified.

Twitter operations in India have already come under increased scrutiny as the medium was used by anti-Indian entities to misuse the farmers protest to fan trouble in India. Telecom minster Ravi Shankar Prasad, too, has taken a tough stand on Twitters reluctance to act quickly and decisively to thwart such anti-India operations. His ministry had on 25 February announced a set of guidelines that Twitter and other similar media platforms were expected to follow to stop the spread of such disinformation campaign. The guidelines were expected to be applied within a deadline of three months which ends in roughly six weeks from now. The new revelations by Disinfolabhas added to the concerns among the officials who are already under pressure to tackle the menace of fake news that is being spread through various social media platforms, primarily Twitter.

On April1, a Russian court fined Twitter 8.9 million rubles for not taking down tweets that encouraged minors to take part in unauthorized rallies. The decision had come almost two weeks after Russias state communications watchdog Roskomnadzor threatened to block Twitter within 30 days if it doesnt take steps to remove banned content. Roskomnadzor had earlier accused Twitter of failing to remove content encouraging suicide among children, as well as information about drugs and child pornography. The agency later announced that it was slowing down the speed of uploading photos and videos to the platform.

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Pak using Twitter 'loophole' to trigger violence in India - The Sunday Guardian Live - The Sunday Guardian

Marwa Elselehdar came under attack from an online fake news campaign claiming she was to blame for the week-long Suez Canal blockade in March. Egypt's first female captain was falsely accused of being behind the container ship Ever Given wedging itself across the Canal despite being on duty thousands of miles away from Suez. Speaking about the smear campaign, Ms Elselehdar told This Morning: "They just said I was the captain of the ship

The original headline, taken from an article by Arab News profiling the Egyptian Captain's for her career success, appeared to have been doctored to link Ms Elselehdar to the Ever Given accident.

Several social media accounts picked up the fake headline and helped spread the false claim about Captain Elselehdar's role in the Suez Canal crisis.

After learning of the fake articles, Ms Elselehdar said: "This fake article was in English so it spread in other countries.

"I tried so hard to negate what was in the article because it was affecting my reputation and all the efforts I exerted to be where I am now.

READ MORE: Queen's Gardens overwhelmed with interest' - Royal fans hit with hour-long queue

She added: "My message to females who want to be in the maritime field is fight for what you love and not let any negativity affect you."

According to the latest data, women make up only two percent of the international seafaring community and still face incredible discrimination.

Officer Joanne Rawley last month raised the issue about the treatment female seafarers receive across the community.

Officer Rawley, a former member of the Royal Air Force, claimed women suffered through the systematic and intentional violation of a crew members rights to be safe at work.

Originally posted here:

Egypt female captain hits out at Suez Canal 'lies' that accused her of sailing Ever Given - Express

Mino Raiola has sent a social media message over the 'fake news' in the media regarding his client Erling Haaland's future.

Manchester United are among the clubs interested in a move for the Borussia Dortmund striker, while Barcelona and Real Madrid both held talks with Raiola and the player's father last week.

Manchester City and Chelsea are others keen on Haaland, 20, who has enjoyed a prolific 15 months with Dortmund. The MEN understands City are confident they can secure Haaland's signature as Sergio Aguero's long-term replacement.

His representative Raiola gave an interview last week in which he suggested he was "too careful" sending Haaland to Dortmund in January 2020 when he could have moved to an even bigger club.

Now the notoriously controversial agent, who also represents United star Pogba, tweeted a video that included screenshots of a number of online Haaland stories from mainland European media and the captions 'fake news' over them.

Raiola also wrote alongside the video: "Fake news travel quick and far" with a rocket emoji.

It's unclear which exact aspect of the Haaland speculation is being referenced, though it wouldn't be unlike Raiola to be outspoken about the coverage of his client in the media.

Speaking last week, he said: With Haaland, everybody was wrong. He did things much quicker than everybody imagined.

"Haaland is in front of his own development. He is ahead of his own schedule. Maybe I was too careful when I said, Oh no, lets move to Dortmund instead of I-dont-know-where.

This boy Im 100 per cent convinced and everybodys convinced can move to any club, wherever he wants, already on this level. And he could have done that last year."

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Raiola brands Haaland speculation 'fake news' amid Man United and City interest - Manchester Evening News

The spread of misinformation in the form of unsubstantiated rumour and intentionally deceitful propaganda is nothing new. Even in antiquity, Antony and Cleopatra were were cast as villains through fake news shared by Octavian.

However, the global proliferation of social media, the 24-hour news cycle and consumers ravenous desire for news immediately and in bite-size chunks means that today, misinformation is more abundant and accessible than ever.

Fake news has been particularly associated with high-profile events like the 2016 Brexit referendum, the 2016 US presidential election, and the pandemic. It has shaken trust in institutions, governments and even the COVID vaccine.

But our new study shows fake news doesnt affect everyone equally. People with greater emotional intelligence are better at spotting it.

What do fake news providers gain from the spread of damaging misinformation? Broadly, they could be trying to legitimise an extreme view, political or otherwise. But at the base level, the answer is often money.

Fake news providers seek to capture a users attention with wild claims in the hope theyll click on it and go to the source website or share it. The provider can then raise revenue through advertising on their website. The more outlandish the claims, the more likely people are to click or share it. The more site traffic the provider receives, the more advertising revenue they can raise.

Over the past few years, research in psychological science and political science has started to assess who falls for fake news and how we can help people to detect and discard it.

In 2019 Gordon Pennycook, a psychology researcher at the University of Regina in Canada, and his colleagues assessed a variety of factors which may influence which individuals are more or less susceptible to fake news, using participants and news items related to the polarised political climate in the US. They found that being able to think analytically was one of the main drivers in successful fake news detection.

Our new research was a collaboration between us, two experts in government and public policy Mark Shephard and Narisong Huhe and Stephanie Preston, the student who led the study. We sought to build upon and complement Pennycooks work, by assessing fake news detection in a sample of UK participants across a range of news topics including health, crime, immigration, education and climate change.

Participants were asked a number of different questions about the veracity of each news item. Their responses generated an overall fake news detection score. While distinguishing the real from fake news content was challenging, on average, participants were more likely to make the correct decision than not.

Read more: Now there's a game you can play to 'vaccinate' yourself against fake news

Looking within the group performance, we wanted to assess whether there was a link between people who had greater levels of emotional intelligence the awareness of and ability to regulate your emotions and understand the emotions of others and those who were able to detect fake news.

We wondered whether it might be the case that those with greater levels of emotional intelligence would be better at discarding the often overly emotional and hyperbolic content that is often part of fake news, allowing greater focus on the veracity of the content itself.

We tested the emotional intelligence of participants using a questionnaire. Sure enough, those with greater emotional intelligence were better at detecting the fake news content.

The good news is that existing research has shown that emotional intelligence is something that can be improved in people. We are now working on developing a way to train people in emotional intelligence, as a way to improve their ability to detect fake news.

In doing so, based on our findings, this should help individuals discern with a greater degree of accuracy which news is safe and shareable, and which is misinformed and misleading.

More here:

Fake news: people with greater emotional intelligence are better at spotting misinformation - The Conversation UK

HOUSTON, TX The mad fury of activity for the Houston Texans that started with the advent of the new league year shows absolutely no signs of abating. At the time of this writing, the team has added 33 new players. In addition, with the restructuring of the Laremy Tunsil deal and whatever Whitney Mercilus conned the last full-time general manager into giving him, there is just that much more cap room to add even more players.

I saw where sooommmeee organizations out there were talking about our high unemployment numbers a while back. We, I should think we blew those numbers WAAAYYYY OUT OF THE WATER!!! We are hiring, and we cant fill all the roster holes fast enough! noted an exultant Cal McNair. At this rate, we may just set a record for greatest roster turnover, and we havent even gotten to the draft. Thats at least eight more players we can add...and the financial value of those picksman, we may just have a BRAND NEW TEAM!!! The losers from last year, they are all GOONNNEEE, BABY!!! Now, if youll excuse me, I have some real work to get back to..

He said that?! Mother[Easterby]!!! I thought we had cordoned him off from the press? [Easterby!, Easterby! Easterby!] noted an exasperated staffer. Caserio has gone even more insane signing players. We even tried to tell him through the Most High Easterby that even God took a day off. We just saw three employees collapse at their desks after trying to look up the bios for another twelve players no one has ever heard of as of today. At least we have had a couple of minutes to restno, wait, now we need to update the player profiles of another 3no, 4no, 5no, 10.HEEEELLLLLPPPPPPP!!!!

Yes, we have been busy observed Texans GM Nick Caserio. However, the state of this team when we got here wasnot good. Gotta rebuild the culture and I dont have time to waste. The sooner we fix this roster, the better we can be to build the model organizationand by model organization, I absolutely do not mean to model this organization like the team I spent my entire professional front-office life. Nope, that whole P******s South thing is absolutely not driving every single one of my decisions. In fact, I will show you the simplified checklist we use in targeting and signing players:

1. Are they Smart, Tough, Dependable?

2. Have they ever been associated with the New England Patriots and/or Bill Belichick within at least 3 degrees of separation?

3. Is anyone else interested in these players? (actually, this is not a factor whatsoever)

4. Do they accept the higher power as espoused by the Most High and Exalted Prophet the Blessed Jack Easterby?

5. Does the The Easterby think these players are gullible and desperate are of good moral character and the right culture fit?

6. Will they accept the only offer they are going to receive fair market value?

7. Does said player have an actual pulse and/or functional brain? (it is not required that said player possess both)

8. Will this player have any issues working with an individual that identifies as dromaeosaur?

(Note: It is not a requirement that said player fulfill all of these requirements. The priority will be items 2 (even if we cant officially say that publicly), 4,5,6, with 8 a personal preference for the GM. Item 8 is also to account for any and all NFL Equal Opportunity Initiatives).

[Editors Note: There is an outside chance this might have been a draft version.]

However, this is not to say that the Texans are only hiring. There have been a couple of cuts. The seemingly smart, tough and dependable practice squad WR Chad Hansen received his walking papers this week. Also, one of the numbers of the new Texans players is a recycling of a recently fired player. Jon Weeks will return to the roster to resume his 11-year career for the Texans. [Editors Note: Yes, the firing and immediate rehiring of a player probably shouldnt count as a new player, but whos going to tell Cal?]

Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in. lamented Jon Weeks in the Zoom call. I was all ready to start the next phase, or you know, find a real team. Unfortunately, my LinkedIn profile didnt get a lot of traction when I mentioned that was mostly known for throwing a football between my legs, and I guess I forgot to change the signature block of Smart, Tough, Dependable. That and I still gotta pay the bills, so yeah, I decided to go back.

[Editors Note: This came to mind for some reason]

Still, the Texans are hoping to make headlines about the mass of new players, preferring to focus on the 33 players brought in, and not on another fast-rising number which was up to 16 at the time of this writing.

We at Totally Not Fake News attempted to get further insights into this, uh, situation that somehow seems to be drowning out the mass personnel upheavals from the Texans front office, but all of a sudden, everyones Zoom channels went blank, immediately replaced by the following statement:

We are in contact with the NFL regarding this matter. We are working through the legal system. All inquiries will be handled by those other guys. Now, if you want to talk about all of the sacrificial lambs, er, super-duper new free agents we just hired and will continue to hire, as well as our new front office promotions, as well as the release dates of that documentary sensation, Building The Texans [Editors Note: We immediately shut off our screens after those words].

All phone calls were immediately cut off with the mention of the question, replaced with the same statement, read robotically.

We even tried to hack interface with Cal McNair during an on-line work session. No success.

Finally, we did get a hold of a staffer, who did note that this situation was receiving serious attention, so much so that Cal actually hit pause on his gaming on-line work session to try to reach out to figure out the story. The written response from Watson:

This is the most serious of matters. We are working through the legal system. All statements and inquires will be answered and handled by my legal representation. *

So it is that we at Totally Not Fake News will continue to monitor and report on what we can for the on and off field situation concerning the Texans. As we can report things to you, our loyal and faithful readers, we will.

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TOTALLY NOT FAKE NEWS: ROSTER TURNOVER (AND SOME OTHER NUMBERS) - Battle Red Blog

COVID-19-related conspiracy theories about 5G network towers, contaminated test kits, immune boosters and vaccine hesitancyare undermining trust and fuelling unnecessary panic.

This handout illustration image obtained February 27, 2020 courtesy of the National Institutes of Health taken with a scanning electron microscope shows SARS-CoV-2 (round blue objects) emerging from the surface of cells cultured in the lab, SARS-CoV-2, also known as 2019-nCoV, is the virus that causes COVID-19, the virus shown was isolated from a patient in the US. Picture: AFP.

CAPE TOWN - More than one year into the pandemic and pockets of fake news and disinformation continue to hamper efforts to effectively deal with COVID-19.

From conspiracy theories about 5G network towers, contaminated test kits, immune boosters and vaccine hesitancy, South Africa has not been spared.

As Eyewitness News reports, these are undermining trust and fuelling unnecessary panic.

Around the world, fake news and disinformation has continued to do the rounds - even from people of influence.

Organisations such as Media Monitoring Africa and the Real411 have been used to mitigate the spread of disinformation.

Director William Bird said that some of the key trends over the last year included unproven theories, such as that COVID-19 didnt really exist and that certain vitamins could prevent the disease.

Bird said that social media was mostly used as a tool to spread these falsehoods.

Some of the other kinds of things that weve seen are the classic conspiracy theories about COVID-19. That its all invented by a western evil force and sometimes that might be an evil Chinese force and sometimes it might be an evil Bill Gates.

Bird said that the spreading of fake news about COVID-19 was another pandemic in its own right.

That is what the World Health Organization said, they called it an infodemic, and you know its this idea that you can spread all these rumors which really hamper efforts by government and scientists and doctors to try and mitigate the crisis were in.

Bird urged people to report any fake news to the Real411 a fake news and disinformation detection platform - to help eliminate disinformation and further damage.

The Real 411 said it had recorded 1,300 complaints of fake news over the last year - and more than 900 of these were COVID-19- related.

SPREADING OF FAKE COVID NEWS A CRIME

As per government regulations, anyone that creates or spreads fake news about the coronavirus is liable for prosecution.

Experts agreed that the spread of false information posed a threat to South Africa.

In 2020, Cape Town resident Stephen Birch was charged with breaching the National Disaster Act and defying lockdown regulations.

He had posted a video claiming that medical swabs used during community screenings were contaminated with the coronavirus.

That case is still before the courts and is just one of hundreds of people peddling lies about COVID-19 - especially now with the rollout of vaccines.

Of those 1,300, about 929 were specifically about mis- and disinformation. And of those, the overwhelming majority - about 90% - were about COVID-19, Bird explained.

Wits professor of vaccinology, Shabir Madhi, said that South Africa must act fast to curb this trend.

Unless we get on top of this false narrative around what COVID vaccines are and are not, we are going to be in a very dangerous situation in that people will remain unprotected if they fall for the fake news.

OVERBURDENED POLICE SERVICE

Cyber security experts are pleading that more effort be put into clamping down on fake news related to COVID-19.

Craig Pederson said that the South African Police Service had the capacity and technology to clamp down on fake news.

But as he explained, the police service was already overburdened with so many other crime-fighting initiatives.

The police are lagging behind in investigations in all forms of cybercrime, and fake news is just really one example of that.

Pederson said that in the last year there had been an increase in scammers trying to sell fake COVID-19 tests.

He urged people to verify any videos and COVID-19-related stories that pop up, especially on social media.

The key here is that you really have to search the provenance and the credibility of the author of the video or the article that youre reading and see that they are credible in their own right.

Download the Eyewitness News app to your iOS or Android device.

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The COVID-19 infodemic: A year later and fake news is still spreading - Eyewitness News

Prince Harry has added another job to the burgeoning portfolio career he has built up since relinquishing his royal duties, by joining a US initiative to tackle fake news.

The Duke of Sussex has been named as one of 15 members of the Commission on Information Disorder set up by the Aspen Institute thinktank. Announcing the move, the prince said he was keen to tackle the avalanche of misinformation in the digital world and argued this had become a humanitarian issue.

Harrys fellow commissioners include the former US congressman Will Hurd, one of the only Republican congressmen who criticised Donald Trump; Garry Kasparov, the former chess champion and outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin; and Kathryn Murdoch, the daughter-in-law of the media baron Rupert Murdoch.

It will be co-chaired by the US journalist and broadcaster Katie Couric; Chris Krebs, the former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency; and the race equality campaigner Rashad Robinson, the president of Color of Change.

The commission will begin meeting in April and will hold a series of hearings with external experts.

Harry and Meghan have been highly critical of the media, claiming they contributed to the couples decision to leave the UK. Last month, Harry told James Corden the British press created a difficult environment that was destroying his mental health.

In a statement on his new role, Harry said: The experience of todays digital world has inundated us with an avalanche of misinformation, affecting our ability as individuals as well as societies to think clearly and truly understand the world we live in.

He added: It is my belief that this is a humanitarian issue and as such, it demands a multi-stakeholder response from advocacy groups, members of the media, academic researchers, and both government and civil society leaders.

The commission describes Harry as a humanitarian, military veteran, mental wellness advocate, and environmentalist.

The move comes a day after Harry was announced as the new chief impact officer for a Silicon Valley startup offering professional coaching and mental health advice.

In their interview with Winfrey, Harry and Meghan complained about having to pay for their own security after they stepped back from royal duties.

Since leaving their roles as working royals, the couple have signed multimillion-dollar deals including one to provide content for Netflix, and another to present podcasts for Spotify.

Couric said: In todays media landscape, consumers face a constant barrage of content that reinforces their established viewpoints. Powered by algorithms and shared ideologies, people often get affirmation instead of information, where facts are manipulated if not completely ignored.

This truth decay is a tremendous threat, not only to a well-informed electorate, but to democracy itself. With commentary increasingly replacing reporting, polarisation has deepened and trust in media has declined.

Read more here:

Prince Harry joins US initiative to tackle fake news - The Guardian