[Neurons] 2018 Neurons #31 HOW TO DETECT FAKE NEWS

Sun Jul 22 18:52:29 EDT 2018

From: L. Michael Hall

2018 Neurons #31

July 23, 2018

HOW TO DETECT FAKE NEWS

Regarding fake news-it has been around since the beginning of time.
Creating dis-information and distorting information is as old as the human
race.  But more recently, especially since Donald Trump enter into the
political arena, it has become part of the everyday conversations.  This is
especially true since Trump regularly calls CNN and MSNBC and other new
sources "fake news."  Now each time he does whether in rallies or in press
conferences, it stirs up the crowds as he pokes fun at them for delivering
fake news.  But what is fake news and how can we accurately detect news that
is truly fake?  That is the question.

Fake news is news or information that is inadequately presented so that it
leaves an impression that you would not get if you got the full story.
Sometimes fake news is fake because the information is exaggerated so what
is unreal is the over-statements.  Sometimes it comes from untrustworthy
sources which is repeated over and over by others, some who are trustworthy.

1) Fake News confuses descriptive from evaluative language. 

Journalism schools used to teach the difference between language that is
descriptive and that which is evaluative.  In older books on journalism this
was a fundamental distinction.  But apparently no longer.  Whether in print
in the New York Times or on air, journalists often confuse the two and, of
course, when they do (intentionally or unintentionally) they create fake
news.  Now what they seek to describe empirically in see-hear-feel terms
(sensory-based) are described in language that requires evaluation.  In this
way they impose their opinions and judgments into what should be "the news."

This often occurs when a reporter adds a few words to help "explain"
something.  "Mr. X , trying to recover from what he said yesterday, today
said..."  But that explanation is mind-reading.  The best cure for this is
the Meta-Model of Language that NLP introduced in 1975.  You can find this
in The Structure of Magic, Volumes I and II, Magic DeMystified, and
Communication Magic.  

2) Fake News imposes the speaker's perspective in its reporting.

While descriptive language enables us to get to "the facts, and just the
facts" of the case, even that is not perfect.  There is always the problem
of perspective.  "From who's point of view?"  "From who's perspective are
the facts being reported?"  It is in this way that all news involves spin.
Technically there is no such thing as "a no spin zone" (with apologies to
Bill O'Reilly).

Now true enough, there are Spin Doctors- people who intentionally and
purposefully spin the reporting of events and comments so that it serves
someone's particular agenda.  That's what those who are "commentators" on
the news do.  If they acknowledge that they are commentators and that their
comments are their perspective and opinion, all is fine.  But they often do
not.  In fact, they often present their comments as if they were the facts
and that they are reporting the news.  It is at that point that their words
become fake news because it is not news that they are reporting, but their
opinion and agenda of the news.

3) Fake News edits the news to fit an agenda.

The way I often detect and catch fake news is watching an actual speech or
report and then listen to a summary of it in "the news" on some station.
What I saw and heard in the actual press conference and what is later
"reported" may not be "spin" proper, or even the confusion of descriptive
facts with evaluative views, but an editing of the comments and/or pictures
so that the edited version leaves an impression that one would not have
gotten from watching the whole thing.  Whoever edited the piece, and whoever
asked for the editing in a cut-and-paste manner, did so to slant the news so
that it conformed with their agenda and opinion.  Recently I have seen that
often with the way President Trump's comments are edited.  When I am out of
the country and see the news and then go home and see the recorded
presentation, it is like looking at two completely different news reports.

4. Fake News uses assumptive questions to direct perspective. 

An even trickier and more subtle way to create fake news is to ask a
question about an event or speech (the actual news), a question that
presupposes a particular perspective and then use the event to answer that
question.  This happened most recently with the separation of families
coming across the southern border.  By inventing questions, and especially
using rhetorical questions, then the so-called reporters can show pictures
of the event and prejudice public opinion so that it is spined in their
direction.  One reporter asked, "Is it moral to separate mothers from small
children and infants?" then showed pictures of the event.  The answer to
that particular question is obvious, its relationship to the legal question
about the border, however, is never posed.  The end result, a false
impression.

5. Fake News tends to sensationalize and over-dramatize an event.

As we all already know, the "news" on radio and television tends to focus on
the negative because "negative news sells papers."  Negative news gets our
attention in a way that positive news can almost never get attention.  So it
is really no surprise that news becomes fake (unreal) due to this very
factor as it is given far too much emphasis.  Then, given how that news
stories and images on television can be dramatized and supplemented by other
pictures, the bad news is distorted so it seems as the norm.

All that is called news is not news.  Some of it is propaganda, some is
commentary, some mind-reading, and some personal judgments.  Today it
requires a discerning reader/listener to think critically and effectively
about the news.  

Order your copy of Executive Thinking - click  on --- 

http://www.neurosemantics.com/products/executive-thinking/

L. Michael Hall, Ph.D., Executive Director 

Neuro-Semantics 

P.O. Box 8

Clifton, CO. 81520 USA                             

               1 970-523-7877 

                    Dr. Hall's email:
<mailto:meta at acsol.net\hich\af31506\dbch\af31505\loch\f31506> meta at acsol.net

    ISNS new logo

Dr. L. Michael Hall writes a post on "Neurons" each Monday.  For a free
subscription, sign up on www.neurosemantics.com.   On that website you can
click on Meta-Coaching for detailed information and training schedule.   To
find a Meta-Coach see  <http://www.metacoachfoundation.org>
www.metacoachfoundation.org.   For Neuro-Semantic Publications --- click
"Products," there is also a catalog of books that you can download.   

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://pairlist8.pair.net/pipermail/neurons/attachments/20180722/d2dab178/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 10627 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://pairlist8.pair.net/pipermail/neurons/attachments/20180722/d2dab178/attachment-0001.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image002.wmz
Type: application/x-ms-wmz
Size: 2213832 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://pairlist8.pair.net/pipermail/neurons/attachments/20180722/d2dab178/attachment-0001.wmz>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image003.png
Type: image/png
Size: 259051 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://pairlist8.pair.net/pipermail/neurons/attachments/20180722/d2dab178/attachment-0001.png>