SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES
Fake news: How Facebook plans to mediate your media
Dec 20, 2016, 3:44 PM
Facebook is taking new measures to curb the spread of fake news on its huge and influential social network, focusing on the "worst of the worst" offenders and partnering with outside fact-checkers to sort honest news reports from made-up stories that play to people's passions and preconceived notions. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
(AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
I studied bias in news media, in depth, when I worked at Microsoft. The job was to sit and think about media within technology. It gave me the opportunity to be a strategist and I got to meet and guide people within both media and technology. Recent cries over fake news have me thinking about that world again.
You know how everyone is now screaming about fake news? Now Facebook is making a decision that is monumentally bad because of those screams.
Herman: Hard left instincts are about political power
Facebook pioneer Mark Zuckerburg wants to put media fact checkers into more prominent positions at Facebook. And this is thrilling to the Democratic Party.
This is a mediation from gatekeepers. The Democrats want to reestablish control over the information flow of America. And that matches right up with the need that old time media companies have to bring their dominance back.
There used to be a day where 64 percent of households got their news in about 30 minutes from one man. Now the world has completely changed. The Democratic Party used to just need to get in touch with Walter Cronkite or Dan Rather.
Now Facebook wants to use fact checkers. But the problem is they are all from liberal media. And fact checking can be simply editorializing. This can create a worst of both worlds situation.
The solution is to present facts as menu items. Encourage people to build onto the Facebook platform with access to source materials, access to voting records, access to the Federal Budget; access to information so people can do the checking on their own.
Why don’t they do for media what they’ve done for self-expression? Open it up and crowd source it.
As always, please listen to the full audio clip for complete context.