Spinning a Web of Lies at Digital Speed

New York Times by Noam Cohen | Oct. 13, 2008 (Special Report)

Experimental sites like newstrust.net hope to create ratings systems from authorities who evaluate news articles on a range of criteria, and are themselves rated by the raters. (One of my articles was vetted by four reviewers and received a 4 out of 5 in terms of accuracy from its four reviewers.)

Fabrice Florin, the founder of News Trust, said sites like his would be crucial to flagging inaccuracy, though he said, “we probably wouldn’t be as ... Full Story »

Posted by Fabrice Florin

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Michael Bugeja
4.3
 by Michael Bugeja - Oct. 13, 2008

The issue of hoaxes, especially on Internet, is important--so much so, that I devoted a chapter to this very topic in Living Ethics Across Media Platforms To bust a hoax, reporters need to think critically; to suspect one, readers and viewers need to as well. Indeed, as Marsha Iverson, a NewsTrust reviewer, states here, it is rare that a news outlets advocates for more critical thinking. We need that in classrooms as well as news rooms. What I especially admire about this Times article, apart from noting the value of NewsTrust.net, is the emphasis on quality journalism that is a theme here and that should be required reading in journalism schools.

I have written and warned about the effect of hoaxes for several years without much support from journalism educators. I'll provide links to some of the issues I explored--a few of which still need follow-up.

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Michael's Rating

Overall
4.3

Good
from 21 answers
Quality
4.2
Facts
4.0
Fairness
4.0
Information
5.0
Insight
4.0
Sourcing
4.0
Style
4.0
Accuracy
4.0
Balance
4.0
Context
4.0
Depth
4.0
Enterprise
4.0
Expertise
5.0
Originality
4.0
Relevance
5.0
Transparency
4.0
Responsibility
5.0
Popularity
4.5
Recommendation
5.0
Credibility
4.0
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