UMass Journalism News Literacy Week 13: Deconstructing Social Media

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Deconstructing digital age media

Today we explore how the deconstruction techniques we learned over the past two weeks can be applied to digital-age media from social media posts to viral videos and websites.

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After this lecture, you should be able to:

Apply News Literacy deconstruction techniques to a variety of reports on a variety of news platforms.Know how and where to go to verify the authenticity and reliability of information on the Internet.Post information on the Internet responsibly.

This slide intended for instructors as a focusing tool, but can be shared with students to prime them. Each lecture will include a slide like this with specific lecture outcomes that refer to course outcomes.Here is what the syllabus declares students will be able to do if they successfully complete the course:Analyze key elements of news reports - weighing evidence, evaluating sources, noting context and transparency - to judge reliability.Distinguish between journalism, opinion journalism and un-supported bloviation.Identify and distinguish between news media bias and audience bias.Blend personal scholarship and course materials to write forcefully about journalism standards and practices, fairness and bias, First Amendment issues and their individual Fourth Estate rights and responsibilities.Use examples from each days news to demonstrate critical thinking about civic engagement.Place the impact of social media and digital technologies in their historical context.

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Would you share this?

A viral video purportedly shows a man jumping from a plane 9,000 feet above the earth with no parachute through a small opening in a roof and onto a trampoline. Knowing what you know today, would you share it? 3

Would you share this?Man_jumps_out_of_airplane_without_parachute_onto_trampoline.mp4

Insert video here to play automatically (or click on hyperlink to launch in youtube)4

I-M-V-A-I-NA SYSTEM FOR EVALUATING THE RELIABILITY OF SOURCES

Independent sources are better than self-interested sources

Lets apply the IMVAIN system to evaluate the source of the information to determine its reliability.

Is the video from an independent source or is their self-interest involved?

Twitter and Facebook are great tools for launching a viral video. Looking through the many tweets, we found an odd one with the title This Really Happened at our California Park. An Internet search turned up various articles reporting the improbable jump, and several mentioned Sector 6, a trampoline park opening in New Orleans. It has a Facebook page, where one of the videos shows the skydive and includes the line This Really Happened at our California Park.5


Independent sources are better than self-interested sources

And this version of the video ends with the logos of the new park and its sister site in California.

Whatever else this video is, its not independent. It appears to have been created to promote the new venue.

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Independent sources are better than self-interested sourcesMultiple sources are better than single sources

Multiple or single? The question of corroboration.

On the surface, the answer might be multiple because stories about the video can be found on numerous websites, including the London-based Daily Mails news site.

But they all show the same video. You wont find any independent coverage of the event anywhere. Not the New York Times or the L.A. Times or CNN. If you were staging this dramatic event, would you forget to alert the media?

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Independent sources are better than self-interested sourcesSources who Verify with evidence are better than sources who assertMultiple sources are better than single sources

Video, News Lit teaches us, is the most powerful form of verification. Seeing is believing, right? The power of this video is whats drawing all the attention. But is it authentic? There are no obvious signs of manipulation. But one online commenter noticed something odd. The spot where the video signal dramatically halts, putting the error messages Connection Lost and End of stream on screen mimics a common error screen from the popular game Minecraft right down to the odd capitalization. Coincidence? Not likely 8


Named sources are better than unnamed sources Authoritative/Informed sources are better than uninformed sources

Is our source authoritative, informed or even identified?

No one is named in the video. No names, no credentials. The closest we get is the jumper identified only as Travis.

Another interesting choice. The closest thing to this video on You Tube is a 7-year-old video featuring extreme sports athlete Travis Pastrama, who jumped from a plane with no parachute but used two companions with chutes to slow his descent. It was a stunt created to promote Red Bull.

Would he do something even more daring and not be fully identified? Wouldnt his home page or Twitter account mention the event or show the video. Theres no mention on either, nor can you find any mention of the jump on skydiving news sites.

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So who made the video?

The final scene showing Travis being celebrated after the jump flashes an ID Sky Newz viral

No such news organization exists. Its an obvious play on the name of Britain-based Sky News, a news and entertainment company. 10



Not independent. Not multiple. Verification is in doubt. No authoritative source in sight. No real names.

Would you share it as news?11

Abraham Lincoln@realAbrahamLincoln

Dont believe everything you read on the Internet just becausetheres a photo with a quote next to it. A key challenge facing digital-age news consumers is a crisis of authenticity.

The challenge is not new, but the tools to deceive are more widely available and more convincing. There are too many fakes out there to take almost anything at face value.12

We need to apply the key lessons weve learned to not only become better news consumers but also responsible news producers.

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But first,you need to be ableto decide whats true.

Is it journalism? Is it true?14

What you should take with a grain of salt.

Sometimes, the best a news consumer can do is to look at news reports with some skepticism., to take into account concerns of self-interest and limited proof.15

And whats a rumor

or worse.

And sometimes, what we see is rumor or even something more troubling.

This image began to circulate on social media the Saturday after the Paris attacks claiming to show one of the Paris attackers wearing a suicide bomb vest. It was even shared by one of the largest though unofficial pro-ISIS channels on Telegram, the app that the extremist group used to take credit for the attacks in Paris.

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The problem is that the man was not a Muslim extremist wearing a suicide bomber vest and holding a Kuran. Hes a Sikh gamer holding an iPad who was victimized by a rival using Photoshop, Buzzfeed reported.17

But once itsout there,its out there.

But before word got out of the fabrication, it appeared on the front page of a Spanish newspaper and was widely shared18

Paris Attacks Give Rise to Fakes and MisinformationBY KATIE ROGERSTHE NEW YORK TIMES What happened in Paris fits into a pattern of behavior that seems to emerge every time a catastrophe strikes in real time: People will share anything online in order to share something online.

Weve discussed on a number of occasions the power of social media to do good uncovering information through crowdsourcing and, sadly, to do harm, as in the case of Reddits search for the Boston Marathon bombers. The Paris terrorist attacks earlier this month showed both.19

After Paris,lights outon the truth

Among the spurious posts were photos and videos that told us the lights on the Eiffel Tower had gone dark after the attacks for the first time since 1889, some said. The video that was widely shared of the Eiffel Towers lights being switched off was actually from January, in the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo attacks. Actually, the tower goes dark daily at 1 a.m. But SkyNews posted it and the New York Post, among many others, re-posted it. (Nor, by the way, did the Empire State Building change its colors.)20

Heres the world-renowned street artist Banksys take on the tragedy.

Or is it?

The Banksy Twitter account is a hoax account (or fan account, as its bio says) that regularly reposts other artists work without credit. The Eiffel Tower image was actually created by Jean Jullien.21

How could you know? Just check the bio on therealbanksy Twitter account.

The Banksy Twitter account is a hoax account (or fan account, as its bio says) that regularly reposts other artists work without credit. The Eiffel Tower image was actually created by Jean Jullien:22

But there is another side to crowdsourcing social media outlets dedicated to correcting misinformation.

Organizations like Grasswire use crowdsourcing to correct misinformation online. Listen to an interview with Joanne Stocker, managing editor of Grasswire, on last weeks episode of On the Media, where she spoke with co-host Brooke Gladstone. (Click to start)23

The problem is that the man was not a Muslim extremist wearing a suicide bomber vest and holding a Kuran. Hes a Sikh gamer holding an iPad who was victimized by a rival using Photoshop, Buzzfeed reported.24

On Nov. 13, 2015, the day ISIS attacked several sites in Paris, France, the website for the Powdered Wig Society, a partisan group (when you go to their webpage youll receive a message urging you to vote for Donald Trump), posted this story and circulated it on social media.

http://powderedwigsociety.com/first-syrian-refugees-arrive-in-new-orleans/#25

The website Conservative Treehouse takes it and runs with it, and later updates with a letter from Governor and presidential candidate Bobby Jindal to Pres. Obama. Jindal seeks to ban Syrian refugees from the state.

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The image and link make the rounds thru social media, in an apparent attempt to stir fear among Americans that refugees will perpetrate an attack like the one in Paris on the 13th. 28

The image in these false headlines is actually from a Sept. 3, 2015, article in the Calgary Sun. And it depicts refugees in Hungary, not New Orleans.29

In fact, only 14 refugees have entered New Orleans.

http://www.wwltv.com/story/news/local/2015/11/15/officials-14-syrian-refugees-get-access-louisiana-year/75828694/30

On the Media put out a new Breaking News Consumers Handbook a Terrorism Edition and, by the way, this one and all the earlier editions can be found on Blackboard among your handouts. When it comes to social media, the key takeaways are in the final two points. Think before you tweet and be patient. Follow the story.31

The digital ages information revolution has transformed the landscape for news producers and news consumers.But one constant remains. You need to ask a two-word question:Says who?

One of the first lessons of the semester A story is only as reliable as the sources it is based on applies to digital-age media as well.32

I-M-V-A-I-NTHE SAME SYSTEM CAN HELP YOU EVALUATE DIGITAL CONTENT

Named sources are better than unnamed sources Authoritative/Informed sources are better than uninformed sourcesIndependent sources are better than self-interested sourcesSources who Verify with evidence are better than sources who assertMultiple sources are better than single sources

Every tweet has a source. Every website is put up by someone. Use the same tools you use to judge the reliability of news sources to decide how much trust to invest in the content you see online.33

A startling development, if its true. But what is the FARS News Agency?34

Independent sources are better than self-interested sourcesMultiple sources are better than single sources

The websites About Us and Contact links just take you to more stories. But at emergent.info, journalist Craig Silvermans excellent fact-checking site, we discover that this story shared more than 70,000 times is propaganda from the Iranian government. Its certainly not independent. And this is a story you wont find on any reputable news site.35

Lets get ready to Rumblr. Earlier this month (November 2015), promotion for an app called Rumblr have been making the rounds on social media, including Instagram.

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The app is described as Tinder for Fight Club, through which users can arrange to fight each other. Recreational fighters Matt Henderson and Jack Kim are quoted in the article, making the app seem legitimate.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3310184/Tinder-Fighting-app-lets-challenge-people-brawls-Rumblr-pits-users-against-bare-knuckle-clashes.html37

The Daily News caught wind of Rumblr and produced a story on it.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/rumblr-tinder-fighting-app-launch-beta-nov-9-article-1.242762340

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3310184/Tinder-Fighting-app-lets-challenge-people-brawls-Rumblr-pits-users-against-bare-knuckle-clashes.html

Both the Daily News and Daily Mail stories quote the creators of the app, but performed no further verification. 41

When no app was launched, Snopes was on top of it.

http://www.snopes.com/rumblr/42

Sources who Verify with evidence are better than sources who assertBLOG POST ON RELEASE DATE

Hello World,Rumblr started as a portfolio project to help us launch our creative consulting agency, von Hughes. Were a team of college dropouts with backgrounds in marketing, design, and engineering. Rumblr came about organically as a funny idea amongst a group of friends, but quickly budded into an opportunity to showcase our branding skills

So long as media outlets eagerly heap free publicity on exposure-seeking grifters without corroborating their claims, no disincentive exists to dissaude them from clogging up social media fanciful tales ofhorrifying (but fake) app concepts.

Snopes: As is often the case, the media hoaxers behind Rumblr claimed they intended to create a career-launching viral phenomenon while simultaneously maintaining an altruistic motive (in this case, the oft-present goal of "raising awareness"). And so long as media outlets eagerly heap free publicity on exposure-seeking grifters without corroborating their claims, no disincentive exists to dissuade them from clogging up social media fanciful tales ofhorrifying (but fake) app concepts.43

Every tweet has a source. Every website is put up by someone. Use the same tools you use to judge the reliability of news sources to decide how much trust to invest in the content you see online.44

Authoritative/Informed sources are better than uninformed sources

DisclaimerWNDR assumes however all responsibility for thesatiricalnature of its articles and for the fictional nature oftheir content. All characters appearing in the articlesin this website even those based on real people areentirely fictionalandany resemblance between them and any persons, living, dead, or undead is purelya miracle.

World News Daily Report is not produced by an independent news organization with a verification process. Unlike the Fars news agency, the About Us and FAQ do bring you web pages that give you reason to suspect the credibility of the stories you read there.45

Named sources are better than unnamed sources

One of the most obvious clues that something is amiss comes from checking the credentials of the writer. Often, dubious websites have no bylines. In this case, well, the reporter is named. Well, sort of.

Here, clicking on the reporters byline doesnt generate an email or any sense of accountability. Not that the reporters bio inspires great confidence, but it makes clear that this is not a real news site.

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Deconstruction Is deconstruction

Step 1Summarize the main points, comparing headline to the storyStep 2Did the reporter open the freezer? Is the evidence direct or indirect?Step 3Evaluate the sources using IMVAINStep 4Does the reporter make his/her work transparent?Step 5Does the reporter place the facts, the story, in context?Step 6Are the key questions answered? (Who-What-When-Where-Why-How)Step 7Is the story fair? Is balance called for? What about fair play and language?

All of these steps still apply, though many dont come into play until you determine whether what you are dealing with is, in fact, journalism. But lets take a moment to offer a word or two of caution about Step 1.47

Breaking News Consumer's Handbook: Terrorism EditionNew York Public RadioOn The Media2015Audio994858.25xxx - Copyright 2015, nypublicradio.org

UMass Journalism News Literacy Week 13: Deconstructing Social Media

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