Journalists practice a dangerous craft and now are accused of peddling fake news. With the world facing annihilation, is it worth plying that trade? Photographer Shah Marai, among several Afghan journalists killed in a suicide bombing, is buried in Afghanistan, 30...
We gossip today as people gossiped centuries ago. But the volume and speed of information overwhelm us — the downside of the digital revolution. “Flemish Proverbs,” by Pieter Brueghel the Younger (Wikimedia Commons) The year is 1789. You and I pace under a large...
Facebook and Twitter were caught napping when Russian agents tried to sway the U.S. 2016 elections. Now, they are declaring war on disinformation. An empty chair reserved for Google’s parent Alphabet, which refused to send its top executive, is seen as Facebook COO...
The U.S. is not the only country where conspiracy theories abound. But it’s alone in having a president on friendly terms with a conspiracy theorist. A man holding a Q sign waits to enter a campaign rally for U.S. President Donald Trump in Wilkes-Barre,...
Recently I went to Russia. I discovered that Russians view their president, Vladimir Putin, in a much different light than many of us from the West. Russian President Vladimir Putin during a friendly soccer match, Moscow, 28 June 2018. (AP Photo/Alexander Safonov)...
By Marshall Cartwright While commuting to class recently in Paris, I sat on the train watching a parade of dancing thumbs march in unison through their respective digital playgrounds. In 2018, this is an everyday observation for people all around the world. In the...
Fake news: It dominated many conversations in 2017. And it was the focus of the story that attracted the most views on our site last year. (Ad Fontes media) Below is News-Decoder’s most viewed story among the 227 articles that we published in 2017. This is part...
Taking up arms against fake news, a team of experts in Europe’s capital is highlighting fake news peddled by pro-Kremlin news outlets. Rebel soldiers at the crash site of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, Eastern Ukraine, 20 July 2014 (EPA/ Robert Ghement) The...
Fake news is not going to go away. We need to be selective and responsible. And support news organizations that are credible and trust-worthy. (Ad Fontes media) This is the latest in a series of articles on fake news. A woman in the town-library meeting room eyed me...
Fake news threatens democracy by eroding trust. Students and media experts discussed what to do about fake news in three News-Decoder webinars. This is part of a News-Decoder series on fake news. Fake news matters because it goes right to the heart of democracy....