Category Archives: Fake News

Fake news has repeatedly undermined efforts to protect people from the coronavirus pandemic.

Those who mainly get their news or information from social media are more likely to believe falsehoods about Covid-19.

Many people share fake news on social media because theyre simply not paying attention to whether the content is accurate, not necessarily because they cant differentiate between real from made-up news.

The current design of social media platforms in which users scroll quickly through a mix of emotionally driven, engaging and serious content, and receiveinstantaneous quantified social feedback on their sharing via likes, comments and shares may discourage people from reflecting on accuracy.

People sharing harmful anti-vaccine content have grown significantly during the covid-19 pandemic.

Social media accounts promoting false information about vaccines saw a boost in followers in France, India, Canada, USA, Brazil, Ukraine, Kenya and Tanzania.

Vaccine misinformation appears to mainly spread in groups where a range of topics such as health, religion, politics and conspiracy theories are discussed.

Covid-19 Vaccine | Sarah Tew/CNET

2021 saw a noticeable rise in misleading claims and conspiracy theories about vaccines.

Anti-vaccine content is largely driven by individuals promoting traditional medicine.

Groups opposing vaccines are small in size, but their online-communications strategies are worryingly effective and far-reaching.

There is also a political and nationalistic dimension to online debates about vaccination in some countries, which often spark misleading claims about foreign vaccines. Anti-vaccine movement is undermining scientific efforts to end the covid-19 pandemic.

1. Read a variety of sources2. Fact check any claim with statistics3. Don't get your news from social media4. Avoid politically driven and unbiased content5. Develop a critical mindset and don't share content that you don't know6. Check the source and who is reporting the story7. Don't take images and videos at face value8. Examine the evidence and check if it sounds right.

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Covid-19 and Fake News: Exponential Rise of Conspiracy Theories and How to Prevent Misinformation - BBN Times

During a live interview with Donald Trump Monday morning,Fox News anchorHarris Faulkner made a rather outlandish error,telling the former president thatDepartment of Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas had resigned, to which Trump declared a "victory." But there's one catch:Mayorkas never resigned.

"I want to get to this because it just happened now," the Fox News anchor began."I want to double-check this with our producers.The DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has resigned, Mr. President."

Without skippinga beat, Trump indulged in the truly fake news generated by the Fox News anchor."I'm not surprised.Good. That's a big victory for our country," he replied.

Faulkner, looking bewildered, was forced to almost immediately correct the record on air.

"Hold on. Let me stop, let me stop. Let me listen to my team one more time.Forgive me," Faulkner said, issuing a retraction of her own reporting."Forgive me. That has not happened, but andI apologize."

Following the botched interview, a Fox News spokesperson told Salon that the mistake was made due to"a virtual working environment" but didnot add any further explanation or details."The error stemmed from an audio issue in a virtual working environment.We corrected the mistake and continued on with the interview," the spokesperson wrote in an email.

During that same interview Monday morning,Faulkner found herself in another awkward situation afteraskingTrump why he is so outspokenabout President Joe Biden's immigration policies.

"Most ex-presidents like yourself don't weigh in at this level.Why did you feel you needed to on this issue?" the host asked Trump.

The former president then replied, "Well, you called me. I didn't call you in all fairness."

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Fox News host feeds fake news straight to Trump on-air, immediately forced to walk it back - Salon

Orly Ades, director general of the Central Elections Committee, decried attempts to delegitimize the committee and the election results, which she said is now a years-old phenomenon.

What Israel's last-minute polls say, and can we trust them? LISTEN to Election Overdose podcast

In an interview with 103 FM Radio, she said that she was disgusted by an article in the Calcalist financial daily "About the campaign being waged against the committee, something very organized you can see that they invested a lot of thought in it."

When asked if this was the work of the Likud party or the right-wing bloc to prepare their refusal of the election results if they do not work in their favor, Ades replied that she would not comment. "The public is wise enough to understand," she said. "I can only say that the public also needs to be wise enough to know not to share these statements, in the coming days at least," while the election results are up in the air. "It can certainly constitute a fertile ground for disseminating information that is very disconnected from reality."

She said that this phenomenon began ahead of the September 2019 do-over election, and started up again before the March 2020 election in order to delegitimize the results. At this point it's not so much the election results being called into question, she said, "but those who have roles on the committee and the committee itself."

When asked if she sees any similarities to those in the United States who refused to accept that Donald Trump lost the election, Ades said, "I want to believe we're different. I really want to believe we have better things to learn from the United States."

She said that she has not personally been threatened, and that she does not have her own security detail. "I really hope it happen here," she said. "It kind of nauseates me on a personal level that I'm having this conversation now all in all, I'm a civil servant doing my job with love."

The Labor Party requested on Sunday that Ades prevent attempts by the right-wing Im Tirtzu group to collect data on the identities of poll workers and election transparency observers acting on the organization's behalf. Im Tirtzu sent out text messages in past days to its activists, asking them to declare whether they were approved to work at polling stations in these positions, which are supposed to be apolitical.

Labor's Legal counsel, attorney Omri Segev, wrote in the letter to Ades expressing fear that this process will allow Im Tirtzu, which is identified with Likud, to cause disturbances during Election Day while collecting data from the ballot boxes in real time.

Im Tirzu denied Labors shameful claims, insisting the group is working to maintain the integrity of the vote. The Central Elections Committee said that the make-up of the team of observers at each polling station ensures that no individual official can influence the count.

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Israel's election panel chief warns against fake news in days following the vote - Haaretz

March25, 20218 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

The democratization of content has given us an explosion of knowledge. But, also, the (false) perception that we can all be instant experts in cooking, trading , Bitcoins, atomic physics, politics, soccer, vaccines and a thousand other things.

Thus, obtuse and uncertain arguments proliferate on YouTube and social networks, such as, for example, fake news , flat Earth, conspiracy theories or various forms of denial (evolutionary, against climate change, anti-vaccination, 5G ...).

Errors and ignorances have been a constant throughout history. The difference between the present and, say, the Classic Era is that there was no Twitter or TikTok then, and that what was criticized in agoras and forums was nothing more than temporary heat. But today citizens are connected with other citizenships and, like COVID, stupid things can go viral.

I see no malice in being wrong and defending the mistake. Even the wisest people admit that any theory can be refuted and exchanged for another. The bottom line is that there have always been interest groups that take advantage of the ignorance of others to inject wrong thoughts into society, knowing that they are wrong.

These groups design, manufacture and spread false mental frames, metaphors and narratives so that many other people believe in (or doubt about) certain things, depending on their interest at the time.

Nowadays, manipulators have it very easy thanks to social networks and the infodemic, which is that kind of avalanche of data that we receive at all hours. Furthermore, although they spend most of their time in hiding, they tend to manifest themselves more vigorously when, as now, discontent grows in the streets.

In your day-to-day life as an Internet surfer, surely you have come across one of these evangelists of error, with their biased and torturous comments. Maybe you wanted to send him to the club. But, before you get to that extreme, take good care of it.

When I meet someone who criticizes without having the slightest idea what he is saying, but who boasts an authority that he does not possess, I try not to lose my composure or disrespect him. The insult is rude and, furthermore, it is only practiced by those who lack real arguments to defend their position.

Rather, I use a system to decide whether the debate is worth entering and, if so, to ensure the quality of my arguments. It was invented in 2008 by entrepreneur and visionary Paul Graham.

In his article "How to Disagree," Graham defined seven ways of arguing that range from gross to sophisticated. And, since stupidity seems more common than intelligence, the author imagined it in the shape of a pyramid.

Graham's Hierarchy of Disagreement (2008)

Source: Wikimedia Commons

The good thing about the scheme is that it helps you see what level you are on and move on to the higher level. From now on you can fight the obtuse stories without behaving like a madman.

Graham's hierarchy of disagreement ranges from the most primitive to the most elaborate. And it is defined in the following steps:

1. The insult. It is the most brutal way of arguing of all. It appears when one disagrees with the opinion of another saying that he is a cretin or a fool (or something more serious). But disrespect does not change the course of any discussion and forever portrays whoever offends. And although some say that gossip is therapeutic, the truth is that when you have a business, the day could come when you regret having insulted someone.

2. The ad hominem criticism. It is the argument of those who want to attack an opinion by attacking the authority of the person who defends it. For example, in a discussion about whether the Earth is flat or round, a flat-earther tells an astronaut that he is wrong because he works for NASA and, of course, NASA is an agency of the American government designed to deceive people.The problem with this argument is that it does not get to the heart of the matter and is therefore insubstantial.

3. The attack on tone. This shape is subtle. Imagine that a very wise person says something that is true, but because he speaks from an apparent arrogance, his opinion is criticized and he is belittled. It is like when we see a politician who doesn't like us saying something in a speech, or like when the star of the rival soccer team pronounces on a result. We simply do not accept your opinion, not because of what you say, but because of how bad it is for us. It is a bad argument: It is based on prejudice, rather than analysis. I do not recommend it to refute opinions.

4. The contradiction. It consists of denying the opinion of the other in a systematic way, idea after idea. To each thing that the other says, the opposite option is presented just for the sake of it, without further argument. If one says that the Earth is round, the other will say that it is flat. If one says they can prove it, the other will say that too. If one says they have maps and math, the other will say they have them on the contrary. It is a form of endless discussion in which both parties want to have legitimacy on their own, but show no evidence. It is an exhausting way that I do not recommend either.

5. The counterargument. It is a more civilized position than the previous ones. It consists of taking a contradiction (link 4) and elaborating it with proofs (or pseudo proofs) that try to support it. The point, according to Graham, is that the counterargument provides inaccurate or adequate evidence to the case. For example: One discusses an idea to the other based on evidence that, in the past, he tried to lie to the other on a different matter. It is about invalidating the opponent with tests that have nothing to do with the ongoing discussion.

6. The rebuttal. This is a more sophisticated and efficient system. But, as it requires work, it is also less frequent. It is about identifying those arguments in which we disagree, analyze them and expose the reason for the error. Many times, if you find yourself at this level of the pyramid and expose the other, their counterattack will turn into insult or ad hominem criticism. This will try to disqualify you. But his derision will prove you right and you will know that you are right.

7. The refutation of the central point. Is the most evolved form of all. It involves expanding the previous link with greater richness and systematic forms. Again, it requires so much work that only people who are experts in a subject usually have the knowledge and ability to develop this rebuttal. For people like you and me, who are not, that depth of argument can help us detect who is right in a discussion we are not part of. So it's a good idea to pay attention to elaborate arguments.

It is known that there are people who live convinced of wrong things, even knowing that the rest of the world warns them of their error. Psychologists say that this is a self-defense mechanism against the world, and that frees them from guilt.

But it is also known that there are political currents that seek to take advantage of these weaknesses. That is why idiocy abounds on the internet and television debates. A poet from my land sang - more or less - that if assholes had wings, we would no longer see the sun.

It is up to you to inform yourself. It is up to you to build a criterion. No longer to avoid error, which will always be present in our lives. But to know when and how to buy a story and when and how to refute it in a civilized way.

And to avoid insults, although sometimes we believe that they are deserved.

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How to Combat False Information Without Resulting to Insults - Entrepreneur

The Central Elections Committee said Tuesday morning that the right-wing Im Tirtzu organization is disseminating false information regarding the app used by election transparency observers.

Members of Im Tirtzu,which has ties to the Likud party,claimed that the app is out of order, which is harming oversight at the polls. The committee said in a statement that the app has been functioning properly since the morning, and that Im Tirtzu's claims are "a continuation of the attempts to undermine public faith in the election results and in the committee."

The committee's director general, Orly Ades, said that "During this election, we are dealing with stubborn attempts to cast doubt on the credibility of the voting process. These developments are well-planned and are coming from political figures as well."

Israelis are heading to the polls for their fourth election in about two years. Since the polls opened Tuesday morning, Meretz, New Hope and Religious Zionism have told the Central Elections Committee that their voting slips have disappeared from stations throughout the country.

New Hope blamed Likud activists for removing their slips in Haifa, Yavneh, Ramle and Sderot. Meretz said that their slips have been removed from stations in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, claiming that it is an attempt to weaken the center-left and boost Netanyahu's bloc.

Police said that since the morning, they have checked a few instances of "suspicion of voting fraud" and illegal campaigning near voting stations.

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Israel election panel: Likud-linked NGO spreading fake news about poll oversight - Haaretz

By Odoobo C. Bichachi

Fake news is one of the things we are most alive to today as we consume information on social media and in the mainstream traditional media.

This has spawned a healthy skepticism that enables many people to ask questions of everything they see or read. Still, there are millions of others that consume fake news without knowing or questioning it.

It is important to note that there is fake news and false news. The former is deliberately created wrong information aimed at influencing the public in one way or the other, usually for politics. The latter, on the other hand, is wrong information innocently (sometimes deliberately) put out to the public usually because of failure or laziness to double check, or just the itch to clique forward.

Sounds a little like splitting hair? Perhaps yes, fake news and false news, after all, are complimentary. What is significant about the two, though, is that they hang in the air for a very long time. I give two examples from the past and very recently.

In 2009, Kenya and Uganda relations dipped over ownership of Migingo Island, a one-acre rocky outcrop in Lake Victoria along the two countries boundary. With sabre-rattling from Kenya and stoic silence from Uganda, President Museveni was asked at a press conference to comment about the issue.

He explained that the problem of the colonial boundary demarcation in Lake Victoria was that some islands are in Kenya while the water is in Uganda. Without understanding the context of the presidents explanation and checking the maritime boundary information, a Ugandan journalist simply wrote a story that President Museveni had said the disputed island is in Kenya while the water is in Uganda!

It was picked up and circulated widely and today, that false information that hangs everywhere whenever you clique Migingo Island. So why does the matter remain unresolved if it was simply a matter of the land and the water?

The other example is the list of achievements by recently deceased Tanzanian President John Pombe Magufuli, specifically the outlandish claim that he oversaw the tarmacking of 50,000km of roads in five years! This claim, wherever it was picked from, has subsequently been thrown around social media and peppered discussion about the great leader.

However, without diminishing his many and truly outstanding achievements in a pretty short time, any discerning reader should ask how possible it is to build 10,000km a year or 27km every day for 365 days considering what it takes to build a road!

For the more discerning people, who include journalist, it should be easy to find out that the driving distance in Tanzania north to south from Mutukula to Songea is 1,625km.

Conversely across the country, the driving distance from Dar es Salaam in the east to Kigoma in the west , is 1,374km. In fact, the total road network in Tanzania is 86,472km long, of which 12,786km is classified as trunk road and 21,105km as regional road.

It is, therefore, impossible that President Magufuli, his energy and enthusiasm notwithstanding, oversaw the tarmacking of more than half of the countrys road network in just five years! You bet for a long time, many people will give him this credit which he would never have accepted himself.

So just what gives life to fake news and false news? First, its creators that, according to http://www.webwise.ie, are driven by six primary reasons shared below (slightly edited):

Click-bait: Stories using sensationalist headlines to grab attention and drive clicks at the expense of truth or accuracy.

Propaganda: Stories created to deliberately mislead audiences, promote a biased point of view or particular political cause or agenda.

Satire/Parody: Lots of websites and social media accounts publish fake news stories for entertainment and parody.

Sloppy Journalism: Journalists may publish a story with unreliable information or without checking all of the facts which can mislead audiences.

Misleading Headlines: Stories that are not completely false can be distorted using misleading or sensationalist headlines. This type of news spreads quickly on social media.

Biased/Slanted News: Many people are drawn to news or stories that confirm their own beliefs or biases and fake news can prey on these biases.

The second factor is you and me that keep sharing false information without checking it out!

Send your feedback/complaints topublic-editor@ug.nationmedia.com orcall/text on +256 776 500725.

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Fake news hangs in the air for long time - Daily Monitor

TCPalm's Rob Landers brings you some of this week's top stories on the News in 90 Seconds Treasure Coast Newspapers

When I heard last week Indian River Countys Republican Party website listed Donald Trump as president with a term expiring in 2024, I figured it was mistake.

Nope, said Jay Kramer, chairman of the county GOPs executive committee.

"Trump hasn't conceded, and it's our opinion the election was stolen," Kramer, the former mayor of Vero Beach, told TCPalms Josh Solomon last week. "It's important to make a statement and to make sure the statement stays relevant for the next 3 years."

I asked Kramer Monday about the website, which had been changed to list Trumps 2016-2020 presidential term.

In a video on Twitter, President Trump acknowledged his President-elect Biden's election victory and called for a "smooth" transition of power. USA TODAY

It shouldnt have been changed, Kramer said of the website, adding (Trump) still says there was fraud involved and he has not conceded.

The fact isno court has determined the November election was stolen. Joe Bidenwas sworn in as president by John Roberts, chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

President Joe Biden takes the oath of office from Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts as his wife, first lady Jill Biden, stands next to him during the 59th presidential inauguration in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021. (Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times/TNS) ORG XMIT: 6515091W(Photo: By Linda Borg, MA_Worcester_TG)

The country has accepted the fact Joe Biden is the president, said Tom Lockwood, who led the countys GOP for almost 25 years before retiring from the post in 2018. I have mixed emotions. ... It is what it is. We need to move on.

Indian Rivers GOP no longer is the party of thoughtful legends like Lockwood, Carole Jean Jordan (tax collector and former state head of the GOP) and Jeanette Riel, honored as the oldest delegate at the 1996 convention.

U.S. Senate candidate Mel Martinez, former secretary of Housing and Urban Development, left, Carole Jean Jordan, chair of the Republican Party of Florida, Thomas Lockwood, chairman of Republican Executive Committee, and Bob Von Buelow, Indian River County fire investigator, chat during the annual Lincoln Day Dinner at the Grand Harbor Golf Club on Thursday night Feb. 12, 2004.(Photo: CHRIS WEATHERLY/TCPALM)

They were among the pioneerswho, amid the Reagan revolution, helped turn the county from blue to red and kept it that way. They helped to build a party that has a plurality of county voters,46.4% vs. 27.4% Democrats.

Last week TCPalm found at least 10 Florida county GOP websiteslisting Trump as president. Some had not been updated since the election.

St. Lucie County GOP Chair Kenny Nail said its listing was unintentional. The website has been corrected.

Regardless of what Kramer said, Trump conceded Biden would become president in a speech Jan. 7, the day after insurrectionists stormed the Capitoland interrupted Congress' electoral vote tally.

A new administration will be inaugurated on Jan. 20, Trump said. My focus now turns to ensuring a smooth, orderly and seamless transition of power.

This moment calls for healing and reconciliation, he continued. Defeating this pandemic and restoring the greatest economy on Earth will require all of us working together. We must recognize the sacred bonds of love and loyalty that bond us together as one national family.

A screenshot from the Republican Party of Indian River County website taken on March 16, 2021, lists Donald J. Trump as the current president. Currently 10 Florida county Republican Party websites are showing Donald J. Trump as the current president.(Photo: SCREENSHOT FROM INDIAN RIVER COUNTY GOP WEBSITE)

More: Some Florida GOP websites still list Donald Trump as president

More: Bumpy plan ride kindled relationship between Bushes and Jordans

Susan Auld, former head of the Martin County GOP executive committee and former GOP House leader in Vermont, tended to agree.

A divided country will not thrive, she told me Tuesday. We need to come together around positive principles that lead us all forward. Were headed on a downhill slide because were divided.

Unitingas a party is critical, she said.

A divided party will not win elections and that's where we are headed at the moment, she said, noting the GOP ought to focus on such items as peoples liberties, states rights and such. We have to rally around the principles of the party.

Lockwood, who said he has seen increasing division in the local party the past four years, agreed.

Prior to that we were pretty cohesive, he said of a party that won nearly every local election for more than three decades. If we stay divided, we will fall.

Auld said she has a lot of questions about the election, but its time to move on.

I dont think trying to change this is going to help anyone, she said.

A Suffolk University/USA TODAY Poll in February showed just how divided Republicans are nationally. A plurality of those surveyed, 46%-27%, say they would abandon the GOP and join a Trump party if the former president created one. Others are undecided.

Ive heard Trump supporters say Democrats never acknowledged he won the 2016 election and tried for four years to boot him so theyre not going to accept Biden aspresident. Now U.S. House Democrats arereviewing the Iowa election of a Republican House member.

When will the fighting end and the business of focusing on our nation begin?

U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas(Photo: TCPALM FILE PHOTO)

Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, expressed concern in a recent podcast, particularly with regard to division in his own party.

It's really easy to call all my other Republican colleagues RINOs (Republicans in name only) and say they never do anything, said the former Navy SEAL, who lost an eye in battle. I will never use the term because it's stupid, because it indicates a lack of thinking.

The reality, he said, is if Republicans dont unify they will lose no matter how hard and loud they fight. And losing, when he was a SEAL, was not an option.

It means presenting our case with a moderate audience in mind across a variety of platforms, Crenshaw said. It means actually understanding conservative principles and understanding how those principles make for superior governance and policy solutions.

In other words, Crenshaw thinks the battle for the all-important middle can be won with words, not bluster.

The politicians involved in the effort to block the election knew better, and they still did it, Crenshaw said. They still said this is where we finally fight. And, apparently so, the best way to fight, I guess, according to them, is to engage in unwinnable battles that persuade no one and leave you, their supporters, even more desperate and downtrodden than before.

Even two of those politicians who represent the Treasure and Space coasts issued somewhat conciliatory statements upon Bidens inauguration.

Larry Reisman(Photo: PATRICK DOVE/TCPALM)

While expressing his disagreement with Bidens socialist policies and efforts to appease the radical left, U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, R-Palm City, said he was committed to working with him when we can find areas of agreement, especially on the issues that are most important to me personally: fixing Floridas water issues and serving our veterans.

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Despite the divisions that exist in our nation right now, I do believe there is still more that unites us than divides us, and there is certainly no country I would rather call home!

U.S. Rep. Bill Posey, R-Rockledge, said he shared a letter of Congratulations with President Biden.

Meanwhile, there's deliberate fake news on Indian River Countys GOP website.

Sad, but true.

This column reflects the opinion of Laurence Reisman. Contact him via email at larry.reisman@tcpalm.com, phone at 772-978-2223, Facebook.com/larryreisman or Twitter @LaurenceReisman

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Deliberate fake news on Indian River Republican website shows party has changed | Opinion - TCPalm

Coming off the tumultuous 2020 election, Gannett editors discussed how to look for ways to be more inclusive in all aspects, from race and religion to ideology and income.

I tasked Pennsylvania editors to search for ideas and initiatives we could explore with greater community outreach in any of these areas.

We're chipping away at multiple areas as I write. We have one that's ready to go.

Our state planning director and longtime editor Torin Sweeney recently hit me up with an idea to engage those who stand on the conservative side of the political spectrum.

Weveheard a lot about how divided this country is,probablyenough during the last election cycle to last a lifetime.Theres a reason for that: Its true. We see it on our opinion pages and in comments on our Facebook page. Weve been called biased, fake news, a liberal rag and those are the kind ones.

So how do we overcome this?

Regaining trust once its lost is no trivial thing. Trust in the mediaby those who identify themselves as conservative or right-leaning continues to drop. A Pew Research Center study heading into the 2020 election found that of 30 national news sources, only two, Fox News and ABC,were trusted by at least33 percentof those on the right.

So we want to find a way to constructively engage and connect with that significant point of view, particularly in purple Bucks County.

Weve partnered with the American Press Institute and Trusting News on a project called Reengaging the Right,to study that deficit in trust.And we need your help.

Maybe youre a subscriber, maybe youre not.Maybe you think we get it right sometimes, or maybe you think were fake news.ThatsO.K.You only have to identify as politically right of center.

If youre interested, itstarts with a survey, which you can find athttp://bit.ly/newstrustsurvey.

Basedonthe surveyswe receive, well pick three to five peopleof varying backgrounds, demographics and degrees of conservative belief,and begin reaching out the week of April 5for interviews.Sweeney will help coordinate our efforts here.

Itwont bea debate or a salespitch. Were not going to argue with you or try to change your mind. Well ask you questions, youll answer, well listen. Simple as that.

Theinterviews willlast about an hour and can take place via phone or Zoom, and they will be recorded.Recordingswill not be shared with anyonebesidesthose involved with theproject.Youwon'tsomedayseeyourselfon YouTube.We wont evenidentify you within the project byyour real name.After the interview is complete, youll receive a gift card that can be used at a variety of national businesses.Not a bad deal.

And you'll be part of a bigger initiative. American Press Institute looked for diversity related to geography, community size and platform. The Institute wants to see how answers differ in various parts of the country, in urban and rural environments and among public radio listeners,weekly newspaper readers andmetro TV viewers. It has commitments from at least 30 publications and stations, with a handful of other Gannett properties from various parts of the country.

Our goal as journalists is to serve our community. Full stop. That means everyone who lives and works in our region,liberal or conservative or somewhere in the middle, even if you dont trust us. And if you dont, consider taking the survey and telling us why.

We have to make an effort to listen to one another, for the greater good or our communities.

Shane Fitzgerald is Executive Editor of the Bucks County Courier Times and The Intelligencer, as well as the Pennsylvania State Editor for the USA Today Network. Email: sfitzgerald@couriertimes.com.

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Consider yourself a conservative? We want your opinion on Courier Times and Intell content - Bucks County Courier Times

Issued on: 22/03/2021 - 19:20

Every year the FRANCE 24 Observers brings you a special episode on how to verify online content and debunk misinformation for Frances official Press and Media Week.

For the 7th edition of Truth or Fake, we partnered with the French Centre for Education in Media and Information to answer questions from French high school students about how we cover fake news.

Thank you to the teachers and students who participated in this episode!

It was presented by Derek Thomson and Catherine Bennett in English, Mava Poulet and Alexandre Capron in French, Djamel Belayachi and Fatma Ben Hamad in Arabic, and Erika Olavarria and Natalia Ruiz Giraldo in Spanish.

Every week The Observers team digs into misinformation circulating on the internet, finds the truth behind online posts, tells you where they comefrom and explains how to fact-check photos and videos yourself.

Find more of our debunks and see our shorter, weekly episodes of Truth or Fake on FRANCE 24 English's Instagram page and on The Observers website.

Do you want to get in touch with the FRANCE 24 Observers team about misinformation youve spotted online?

How to contact us:

Email: observers@france24.com

DM us through our Facebook page

Get in touch on Twitter @Observers

WhatsApp: +33 6 30 93 41 36

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Truth or Fake 2021: We answer your questions about fake news! - The Observers - The France 24 Observers

Times change. There was a time when the Chinese and Filipinos worked together in trade and commerce even before Western colonization. All the symbols of this cooperation can be found underground with diggings of Chinese artifacts. Filipinos did business trading silk materials through the galleon trade. So they were friends and intermarried. Many Filipinos have Chinese ancestors and carried the Chinese names up to this generation. Our national hero, Jose Rizal, is one. We should keep in mind this background instead of being bullied by Western colonizers into believing black propaganda into a new cold war.

The COVID-19 pandemic has become a contest on who gives more help to the Philippines in the world crisis. Here are the facts seldom talked or written about.

As promised, the Philippines received the second batch of China of 400,000 more vaccines, following an oversubscription for the 600,000 doses previously donated by China on Feb. 28. It is this donation from China that rolled out the vaccine program for the Philippines.

Many friends who shunned the Chinese vaccines are now asking how they can secure shots for themselves.

Critics of the Duterte administration lead the chorus of fake news led by Vice President and opposition Senators Hontiveros, Pangilinan, Lacson, ex-Justice Carpio. They questioned the China vaccine and continue to sow fear and confusion in the public when over 500,000 Filipino frontliners have been vaccinated.

But we still have mountains to climb before we can celebrate. We need a whole of nation approach, the cry of General Luna bayan muna bago sarili rings louder!

It was good to see our top Filipino doctors including PGH Director Gerardo Gap Legaspi, St. Lukes president Dr. Arturo dela Pea (also a COVID survivor), FDA director Eric Domingo, Chinese General medical director Dr. Samuel Ang leading the way. We really should learn to listen to the right experts, not only to lying politicians.

While the critics were demonizing Dutertes seeming preference for the China vaccine, other global health ministers, national leaders from Indonesia, Turkey, Brazil, UAE, among other countries, including royal families and 80-year-old Pele and more than 70 million people worldwide have received their shots of the China vaccine.

The biased naysayers hinder the Philippine recovery. They do not say that it is the richer Western countries who have hoarded the vaccine supplies more than what their populations need. Many Filipinos also dont know that Sinovac has been in the Philippines since 2009, providing effective and affordable anti-rabies, anti-tetanus, flu vaccines to Filipinos with its Filipino partner IP-Biotech that has formed a coalition of biotech and pharmaceutical experts led by Filipinos, as revealed by think-tank Integrated Development Studies Institute.

Lianhua Qingwen was approved in Singapore, Canada, Thailand and of course China and Hong Kong, among a dozen or so countries since May 2020, but it took our FDA until August to approve it, but only if prescribed by a specialist, while the other countries made it over-the-counter!

President Dutertes independent foreign policy and hard work of our Philippines and China diplomats made possible more than 70 flights, including Philippine Air Force planes, have been allowed by Chinese authorities to land in China to pick up such medical supplies for the Philippines, reported Ambassador Chito Sta. Romana.

Ambassador Chito also noted that China prioritizing the Philippines is a direct result of President Dutertes call to President Xi Jinping last June 2020 requesting for the Philippines to be included in Chinas priority list. We must remember China has 1.4 billion people and dozens of countries are also rushing to secure supplies from China.

Yet as early as May 2020, Xi Jinping announced to the world that China will make the vaccine a public good and has since donated vaccines to more than 50 poor countries. The 1 million donated vaccines from China is on top of the donated over a billion pesos worth of medical supplies and other assistance to help our Filipino frontliners in the early months of the pandemic when help was scarce. Latest news is China-led AIIB just approved the loan of $300 million for the Philippines vaccine budget.

It was also Chinese supplies thatdramatically lowered the prices of face masks and face shields that skyrocketed to more than a hundred pesos in the early months of the pandemic... now face masks go as low as P2 and face shields even at P8!

In contrast, the US was caught pirating medical supplies and nurses even from allies in the early months of the pandemic. Now it has cornered over a quarter of the global vaccine supplies, more than what its population needs and has vowed to protect the profits of their pharmaceutical companies. Recently, Pfizer was reported to require sovereign guarantees and even military bases in exchange for vaccines and forcing other countries to extend a blanket liability waiver even if the problems are due to Pfizers own negligence.

This is all part of the propaganda war, but the story was reported by news network from allies of the US like Germany and India. China does not play the demonizing game. How can the Philippines expect to get allocations from the US when Bidens White House on March 1 said that the US will not share vaccines with Canada and Mexico until all Americans are inoculated. After getting criticized, US announced later that it will allow AstraZenenca vaccines to be delivered to Canada and Mexico, which is approved in the two countries, but not in the US, interestingly.

EU has also said it is not ready to supply poorer countries, while securing multiple times more than what their population needs.

Ironically, the pandemic is revealing how hollow the words of those who claim to champion democracy and human rights are, forgetting that for this pandemic, no one is safe until everyone is safe!

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