Misinformation

[Fuzz]

Moved from Iran thread:

Originally Posted by The Fonz

Which media is not compromised though? Genuinely, I'm not asking that to start a back and forth scrap.

Our media and it's "journalists" in recent history seem to be the greatest purveyors of propaganda. Or maybe it only seems "recent" because of my age - 38. Perhaps it's been going on for decades/generations and I was just too young to understand (or not alive).

An interesting quote from Joe Kent this morning, the Director of the National Counterterrorism Center who just resigned due to America's involvement in Israel's war with Iran:

"Early in this administration, high-ranking Israeli officials and influential members of the American media deployed a misinformation campaign that wholly undermined your America First platform and sowed pro-war sentiments to encourage a war with Iran. This echo chamber was used to deceive you into believing that Iran posed an imminent thread to the United States..."

Well not ABC, or anyone else who so clearly folded to Donald. And honestly, I don't even know who that is down there, maybe PBS? NPR?

FOLKENFLIK: And let's be clear. You know, I've heard from conservative friends in recent days saying, gosh, everything that the press is throwing up there is just designed to discredit Trump and make him look bad. But there are examples of news outlets doing real reporting to try to figure out the facts. Take The New York Times. It did independent forensic work to verify that U.S. missiles did strike a school for girls that was close to an Iranian army base in the town of Minab on February 28. And examining similar satellite footage, NPR made similar determinations.

https://www.npr.org/2026/03/08/nx-s1...ed-war-in-iran


NYT? I understand all organizations will get stuff wrong, but we can't write them all off. BBC, DW, and CBC all are not perfect, but I think instead of writing them off when they get something wrong, you give them a chance to correct it.

[Yamer]

You're pretty safe sticking with news agencies rather than networks.

Canadian Press, Associated Press, Reuters, Al Jazeera, etc.

Look for information, not to be told how to feel about that information.

[Fuzz]

I've been wary of Al Jazeera, is it really that trustworthy?

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

I've been wary of Al Jazeera, is it really that trustworthy?

I find that when it comes to reporting on Middle East news, you can see the Qatari state narrative coming through. On more global reporting, I think it's as good as any.

Media critique websites seems to have them down the middle when it comes to credibility (mixed).

I do like some of their documentary style segments (they had one about UAPs that was kind of goofy, but entertaining), but when it comes to Middle East reporting, I like like to shop around. That's just me.

[Firebot]

Al-Jazeera has journalists readily on hand in areas like Gaza and Tehran which most other news organizations do not have active access, with much more on the ground footage and close quarters info. Make of this what you will.

When you look at articles on touchy subjects, you will find some anti-west narrative seep into what should be a fairly objective news piece. Like in this case with the January riots in Iran you can actually see some very factual statements, but mixed in with words or statements that would never belong in an objective article.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/...-sweeping-iran

Some like using it as it has a side of the news often not covered by 'western' media.

There are also rumours that some journalists were in fact Hamas operatives masquerading as journalists. Of course that is still heavily heated and debated.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/...za-journalists


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anas_Al-Sharif

They are a good read / watch with an * on certain subjects that you need to be mindful of potential narratives overtaking objective reporting

[Fuzz]

https://bsky.app/profile/markhamillo.../3mht2orgshk2l


Even Luke Skywaker's mind is not strong enough to spot...the watermark all over the post clearly calling it satire...

[Locke]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

Can someone be Misterogynistic?

What do you have against Mysterio??

[Fuzz]

Justin Ling wrote a good piece recently, "We Lost the Battle Against Misinformation".

Plenty of smart people acknowledge this reality and yet remain awfully sure that, with the right combination of grit, technology, and institutional buy-in, we can put an end to the scourge of fake news, misinformation, disinformation, conspiracy theories — whatever you want to call it.

But this year’s pick from Merriam-Webster — “slop” — should be an indication that we have melted into a bubbling tar pit of nonsense, fakery, and bull####. There is no amount of fact-checking, media literacy, or platform moderation to solve the extent of this problem. No volume of good journalism or education campaigns will unscrewup our toxic information ecosystem.

This week, on a very special Bug-eyed and Shameless, I’m here to wave the white flag. We’ve lost the battle against misinformation.
And maybe that’s okay.

Unfortunately I don't think his conclusion is all that helpful. Essentially having the people dependent on the machine for interaction to also choose to abandon that, and for media consumers to, I dunno, just become more discerning? End users will never be the driving force of change when they are victims of the system themselves. Sorry Justin, this is not really an out.

I think if any of us were given the power to return newspapers, academics, doctors, and experts back to their central role of arbiters of truth, we’d do it in an instant.

But there’s no way to do that, unless we do a bit of information devolution. We need media outlets, politicians, organizations, and institutions who are more and more willing to engage with people offline — or, at least, far away from the toxic information systems on which they remain.

We need to go on an informational diet. We need to become more discerning with what we want to know, and what we need to know.

Because there is still a war to fight. And the only way to win the next battle, and the one after that, is if we stop fighting on the unreal fields of the oligarch-and-despot-dominated internet.

https://www.bugeyedandshameless.com/...misinformation