"According to neo-institutional theory, the survival of institutions in society is predicated on a cultural discourse. Dubbed “the institutional myth,” this discourse reflects the core values, practices and aspirations of an institution and legitimizes its existence to internal and external stak
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eholders alike. In this paper we suggest that recent attacks on mainstream news outlets—notably President Trump’s accusations that they constitute “fake news”—have led journalists to defend the journalistic institutional myth as part of their efforts to re-legitimize their profession. Our findings indicate that journalists seek to bolster and uphold their institutional myth through a range of discursive strategies ranging from highlighting established journalistic norms and practices and emphasizing journalism’s central role in the maintenance of democracy, to attacking the accuser and calls to action in which journalists make a case for ignoring the president’s rhetorical assaults and continuing to do their job." (Abstract)
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"On December 15, Facebook announced that it had taken down three separate networks that it had discovered for “coordinated inauthentic behavior” that targeted communities across Africa. One, centered on the Central African Republic (CAR) and Mali, was linked to individuals associated with the Fr
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ench military. The other two, centered respectively on CAR and Libya, were connected to the business and influence operations of Russian oligarch Yevgeniy Prigozhin, founder of the mercenary organization Wagner Group and the Internet Research Agency “troll farm.” The French and Russian operations in the CAR tried to expose each other, and repeatedly clashed in groups, comments, and cartoon wars. We have documented the first of the Russian operations in a joint report with Stanford University entitled “Stoking Conflict by Keystroke”; this report focuses on the French and Russian operations that targeted CAR. For the sake of brevity, the operation linked to individuals with ties to the French military will be referred to as the “French operation” in this report, while the Russian operation attributed to individuals associated with past activity by the Internet Research Agency (IRA) and previous operations attributed to entities associated with Russian financier Yevgeniy Prigozhin is referred to as the “Russian operation” in this report. It is worth highlighting that Facebook did not attribute the operation directly to the French Government or the French military, and that this report similarly does not offer evidence of institutional involvement from French governmental and military entities." (Executive summary)
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"This book serves as a convenient entry point for researchers, practitioners, and students to understand the problems and challenges, learn state-of-the-art solutions for their specific needs, and quickly identify new research problems in their domains. The contributors to this volume describe the r
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ecent advancements in three related parts: (1) user engagements in the dissemination of information disorder; (2) techniques on detecting and mitigating disinformation; and (3) trending issues such as ethics, blockchain, clickbaits, etc. This edited volume will appeal to students, researchers, and professionals working on disinformation, misinformation and fake news in social media from a unique lens. (Publisher description)
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"Since the start of the Trump era, the United States and the Western world has finally begun to wake up to the threat of online warfare and the attacks from Russia. The question no one seems to be able to answer is: what can the West do about it? Central and Eastern European states, however, have be
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en aware of the threat for years. Nina Jankowicz has advised these governments on the front lines of the information war. The lessons she learnt from that fight, and from her attempts to get US congress to act, make for essential reading. How to Lose the Information War takes the reader on a journey through five Western governments' responses to Russian information warfare tactics - all of which have failed. She journeys into the campaigns the Russian operatives run, and shows how we can better understand the motivations behind these attacks and how to beat them. Above all, this book shows what is at stake: the future of civil discourse and democracy, and the value of truth itself." (Publisher description)
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"Without proper training in digital news verification, the dissemination of misinformation is both rapid and disastrous. Journalists are often processing a massive amount of information through social media with very little time to verify it--this presents unique challenges for journalists working w
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ith or in digital media especially in times of a pandemic. These problems have manifested themselves in situations where journalists and news organisations have also fallen prey to fake news and disinformation online. It is important to educate journalists and media practitioners regarding the use of proper tools and resources to check the authenticity of a news." (Introduction, page 5)
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"Taking a global and interdisciplinary approach, the Routledge Handbook of Conspiracy Theories provides a comprehensive overview of conspiracy theories as an important social, cultural and political phenomenon in contemporary life. This handbook provides the most complete analysis of the phenomenon
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to date. It analyses conspiracy theories from a variety of perspectives, using both qualitative and quantitative methods. It maps out the key debates, and includes chapters on the historical origins of conspiracy theories, as well as their political significance in a broad range of countries and regions. Other chapters consider the psychology and the sociology of conspiracy beliefs, in addition to their changing cultural forms, functions and modes of transmission. This handbook examines where conspiracy theories come from, who believes in them and what their consequences are." (Publisher description)
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"Para contestar la pregunta de qué hacer frente a las “Fake News”, se prohíbe dar respuestas simplistas. El presente dictamen argumenta que borrar “Fake News” de las redes sociales no es una panacea. Todo lo contrario: Los populistas percibirían su eliminación como una confirmación de s
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us actitudes basadas en teorías conspirativas y verían otro motivo para criticar a las élites. También es probable que los usuarios más susceptibles en este sentido se retiren hacia lugares más apartados del Internet, con lo cual se refuerza la fragmentación de la sociedad. Por lo tanto, la Ley sobre la Exigibilidad Jurídica en las Redes (Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz, NetzDG) es el enfoque equivocado. También los mensajes de advertencia que de manera generalizada marcan noticias como “Fake News” pueden desplegar efectos más bien negativos: Por un lado, estas advertencias en el News Feed caen fácilmente en el olvido, mientras que la noticia en sí se queda en la memoria del usuario. Por el otro lado, los usuarios pueden percibir advertencias generales en su News Feed como una intervención en su libertad de decisión autónoma y por consiguiente enojarse. Por lo tanto, es importante aplicar estos instrumentos con un enfoque hacia la responsabilidad propia de los usuarios. Las libertades de información y de expresión como libertades fundamentales son indispensables para el funcionamiento de las sociedades democráticas. Las medidas, ya sean dictadas por el Estado o desarrolladas por las propias redes sociales, tienen que tomarlo en cuenta. Por lo tanto, el dictamen recomienda las siguientes medidas: Promoción escolar y extraescolar de la competencia mediática para proteger contra influencias mediáticas nocivas y fomentar un espíritu crítico en el usuario. Utilización de mensajes de advertencia antes de difundir las “Fake News”. Esta medida hace un llamamiento a la responsabilidad de los usuarios, por lo cual tiene sentido. Fomento y cultivo de un diálogo sociopolítico respetuoso para evitar la formación de grupos a favor y en contra de las élites. Intensificación y coordinación de la investigación nacional e internacional sobre el uso de los medios de comunicación y el efecto de las “Fake News” para llegar a una evaluación final de los peligros y un tra bajo informativo eficiente." (Sinopsis, página 5)
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"The findings of a recent Ipsos survey conducted on behalf of the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) reveal that fake news is very much a global epidemic and that its impact is widespread. The poll of over 25,000 interviews in over 25 economies finds that well over four in five (8
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6%) online global citizens believe they’ve been exposed to fake news. Among them, nearly nine in ten (86%) report having initially believed that the news was real, at least once. Indeed, the results suggest that misinformation is woven deep within the fabric of social media, most notably on Facebook, where as many as two-thirds (67%) report encountering fake news. Other common sources of fake news include: social media platforms more generally (65%), websites (60%), YouTube (56%), and television (51%)." (Page 1)
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"Based on an extensive literature review, we suggest that ‘fake news’ alludes to two dimensions of political communication: the fake news genre (i.e. the deliberate creation of pseudojournalistic disinformation) and the fake news label (i.e. the instrumentalization of the term to delegitimize ne
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ws media). While public worries about the use of the label by politicians are increasing, scholarly interest is heavily focused on the genre aspect of fake news. We connect the existing literature on fake news to related concepts from political communication and journalism research, present a theoretical framework to study fake news, and formulate a research agenda. Thus, we bring clarity to the discourse about fake news and suggest shifting scholarly attention to the neglected fake news label." (Abstract)
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"This edited volume examines how the growth of social media and ancillary computer systems is affecting the relationship between journalism and the pursuit of truth. Experts explore how news is perceived and identified, presented to the public, and how the public responds to news. They consider soci
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al media’s effect on the craft of journalism as well as the growing role of algorithms, big data, and automatic content production regimes. The volume’s aim is to confront these issues in a way that will be of enduring relevance; the discussions about contemporary journalism inform current students and help scholars in the future. Chapters reflect on questions such as what is different and what remains the same in journalism’s pursuit of truth now that social media has become such a prominent force in news gathering, dissemination, and reinterpretation? How has reader participation and responses changed? What are the implications for journalistic information gathering and truth claims? What is different now about the social roles of journalists and media institutions? How does interaction between journalists and social media affect democratic practices? The chapters offer a mix of empirical and critical work that reflects on journalism’s past, present, and future roles in our lives and in society." (Publisher description)
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"Thorben Prenzel stellt in seinem Buch die Triple-A-Methode vor, die eine einfache Handlungsanleitung für den Alltag bietet. Diese verständliche Schritt-für-Schritt Anleitung hilft Ihnen, gekonnt die richtigen Argumente zur richtigen Zeit anzubringen." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
"The websites creating misinformation content in Bosnia and Herzegovina can be classified into four categories based on their financial and/or political motivations and the extent to which they provide valuable journalistic contributions. The majority of misinformation websites are motivated solely
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by profit which they generate via Google AdSense. Established media outlets engage in misinformation practices either to compete for readers' attention or on behalf of their political patrons. Two relatively secretive websites have established themselves as influential leaders in misinformative propaganda, primarily preoccupied with benefiting their political patrons rather than obtaining profits. Due to secrecy and lack of regulation, it is extremely difficult to establish the financial background of these websites." (Main findings, page 1)
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"The 2018 general election represented one of the first times digital disinformation occurred on a massive scale in Pakistan. This report examines different forms of disinformation that circulated online in the lead up to the 2018 elections and its impact on the country’s political discourse, and
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considers methods to counter disinformation in Pakistan and elsewhere. Ultimately, combating this growing problem will require a variety of stakeholders to work toward a multi-pronged, collaborative response. Around 65 percent of Pakistanis aged 16-34 consume news through the internet. The rapid spread of disinformation online enables an arsenal of falsities, then used by individuals or groups to target a political candidate. Setting the record straight once disinformation begins circulating online is incredibly hard to do." (Key findings)
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"Social media allow ordinary people, civic groups, and journalists to reach a vast audience at little or no cost, but they have also provided an extremely useful and inexpensive platform for malign influence operations by foreign and domestic actors alike. Political leaders employed individuals to s
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urreptitiously shape online opinions in 38 of the 65 countries covered in this report—a new high. In many countries, the rise of populism and far-right extremism has coincided with the growth of hyperpartisan online mobs that include both authentic users and fraudulent or automated accounts. They build large audiences around similar interests, lace their political messaging with false or inflammatory content, and coordinate its dissemination across multiple platforms. Cross-border influence operations, which first drew widespread attention as a result of Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential contest, are also an increasingly common problem. Authorities in China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and a growing list of other countries have expanded their efforts to manipulate the online environment and influence foreign political outcomes over the past year." (Page 1)
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