Jestin Coler, the man who owns Disinfomedia, a fake news company with multiple faux sites such as washingpost.com.co and NationalReport.net. His history in the fake news industry started in 2013 and became a figurative god father of the industry due to the election. The interesting part about Mr. Coler was his explicit reasoning for the creation of these sites. He says they create these stories with an end goal of pointing out their inaccuracies and making a point.
The main issue with this tactic is the recall factor. Similar to recall rates among physical products, invalid information is just as difficult to take back. A common theme among these incorrect viral stories is that any corrections made do not reach the same audience.
One piece that received a lot of attention was an article that bashed Colorado’s welfare program. The article highlighted a serious exploitation of food stamps, and claimed that many people we using foodstamps to purchase marijuana. Three months later there was a bill proposed to prevent this from happening. So far, the only thing proven is the inability of this elected official when it comes to the verifying information.
This is an anomaly, as the damage done was seemingly minimal. The bill proposed might have left the representative embarrassed, but the premise behind the proposition was well meaning. More frequently than not, the incorrect statement is never properly retracted or corrected as publicly as the initial false story.
Consider a few examples on Twitter. About a week after President Trump’s inauguration there was a viral tweet. Dana Schwartz, of the Observer, tweeted a photo of Trump and asserted that his hands appeared to be photoshopped. This tweet reached thousands of viewers. Unfortunately, Dana’s additional tweet, in which admitted she was not sure if the picture had been edited, was only retweeted 12 times.
Another showing of this was the “tri-state election hack” claim by Gabriel Sherman. In his report in New York Magazine he cites computer scientists’ and lawyers’ calls for a recount to back his theory. The story was shared approximately 145,000 times on Facebook alone. A day later it was found that there was demographic information that explained the curious voting numbers, and, unsurprisingly, this new information was shared only about 400 times on Facebook.
Mr. Coler seems to have forgotten how hard it is to take something back. While his intentions may be well meaning, he knowingly spreads untrue information with a goal proven to be impossible. Journalism is a tool of humanity, and Mr. Coler is misusing it. In addition, to those who fall to the lure of fake news, I ask you not feel embarrassed, but to feel a responsibility to spread the truth as much as the lie.
By Maxwell Wallach
Meet the man who proclaims his manipulation of journalism is an act of justice.
Is there a good use of fake news?
Jestin Coler defends his use of fake news. Photo coutesy of Flikr.
"The incorrect statement is never properly retracted or corrected as publicly as the initial false story."
The Charger, May 2017
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