News is clearly a hot topic. Who should we trust and why?
Trust is the key issue here.
Society is, after all, based upon trust - a small word which carries such immense gravitas.
Yesterday was a case in point.
@stellabelle posted a piece about the child Twitterer and offered assistance in whichever way she could.
The post was genuine and clearly heartfelt.
I hope we all feel the same sentiments as @stellabelle.
Five days ago I posted a piece read here which exposed the accounts from the girl and others as fake. It is no fault of @stellabelle that she did not see this - unfortunately what she did see was a column in the New York Times which seemed highly plausible. From this came her post. When I saw this I instantly responded but the horse had bolted.
@stellabelle had trusted the New York Times because the New York Times trusted its source - it all looked genuine - and the information could not be verified. As the story was on message for the editorial team, out it went.
It is still, however, one of the most trusted publications in the world, let alone the UK where it is published
The effects of a trusted name are enormous.
Of course the strategy of these vloggers was to get their plight onto mainstream media. Their aim was achieved. Mainstream media does not have the time to validate stories as it used to and, anyway, how do you validate a story in Aleppo when you have no journalists there?
All I would say is that if you put the name of the girl into Google, the second suggested search includes the word 'fake'. Why did the New York Times run that story? Was that demonstrating integrity? Any respect for its readership? Or just allegiance to the owners' agenda? Surely a Google search is a base research function!
Today's search reveals the top story as:
In war, as we have often read and witnessed, the first casualty is Truth.
The perpetration of 'untruth' to quote Orwell's 1984 is anathema.
It explains Fake News and its origins.
I wrote a piece about this some time back. And here is the News - Allegedly
Thankfully there are journalists like Vanessa Beeley who put themselves in harms way in order to give a perspective upon which we can at least hear from someone on the ground in the areas of concern. This still does not guarantee absolute veracity. Perspective is an extraordinary thing. What it does bring, though, is a clear intent at the Truth. For this I laud Vanessa Beeley and thank her for her dedication and service in the line of fire.
Please read more about the extraordinary lady which I posted yesterday. Vanessa Beeley - Valiant Crusader for Truth
I have been in touch with Vanessa and it is my hope that she will join steemit.com.
With the planned steemitnews.online planned, this may be an option.
In the meantime I intend to bring you her posts as they emerge.
Truth can be a case of perspective, let's at least show it respect though integrity of purpose.
If we let the government and puppet companies like Fakebook - N.Y.Slimes - ClintonNewsNetwork determine what news is factual or fake we might as well put on a collar and leash because we have given up the right to call ourselves an independent, sentient being.
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Thank you, yes, without saying it, my message is responsibility - if anyone had just Googled her name ... but an article, a post, is all it takes and more people believe the shit. The US is trying to help Israel get rid of Syria, end of!
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Step back a moment.
. . .
Did you forget the sheeple are just waking up and do NOT possess what you know.
Groggy and in a stupor from their matrix/dream they walk halfway in this world.
Teaching people to research a name may be simple to you.
Remember you're awake.
It's not so obvious for the passive, dumbed down multitudes.
Teaching the general public how to verify the truth is powerful.
Patience for all the grasshoppers in this world.
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The true sadness is that @stellabelle, through no fault of her own, got nearly 230 votes - my two managed 26 combined! It is a micro demonstration of a big name getting the attention whilst the truth suffers in insularity.
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I think this will change > we can learn from it. People are looking for a little kindness along with the truth in this war torn world. Our words must follow with kindness while teaching the truth. People are hungry to learn how to verify the truth. I know I am and you are very good at demonstrating to @stellabelle and those who read your thread how to do this. I know I have been guilty of doing the same thing @stellabelle did and thanks to people like you I/we are learning to be the change.
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Thank you @pitterpatter - you have been very thoughtful in choosing your expression of the situation - it does not go unrecognised, I assure you. It does just make the thing all a bit senseless that @stellabelle is voted for in the name of steem, rendering this platform a bit farcical. There are constant tirades against fake this and that but when the truth comes along it is spurned. How humdrum is the truth! Not nearly edgy or controversial enough to bother with ...
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our media's agenda should be the facts but this hasn't been the case in decades, we are told lies to perpetuate the military industrial complex and the subjugation of its people through disinformation and propaganda, at the same time passing laws limiting our rights, this will be yet another attempt to limit our right of freedom of speech. It is our duties as citizens to search for the truth, media is made by citizens, but the citizens that are in media at them moment are only loyal to their corporate greed and the gain of more control in government and power.
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Great thoughts @ebryans, and exactly what we're pursuing. Thanks for the plug.
We'd love to have journalists like Vanessa to promote. All we could promise her is more exposure and some votes. But such journalism would certainly boost the credibility of everyone involved.
We're actually working on a piece right now practically begging for good journalism on Steemit. There are some great articles and amazing writers, along with some pretty incredible opinion pieces, but very little journalism - and almost zero journalism on world events is written here. It's really wide open for folks who'd like to step up to the plate. But it's a lot of work and requires real contacts to actually do it well.
Loved the video in your linked post. That was classic. We'd use it too, except for the NSFW aspect.
Thanks again. This is a needed post. Unfortunately, it's not a journalistic one, so we can't resteem it. But it did get our vote!
BTW, there's no evidence that Mark Twain was the originator of that quote, or even if he ever said it at all. OTOH, though obviously not the originator, Denzel Washington clearly did. ;)
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Thank you @steemnews.online - you were gracious enough not to point out that I had written your name incorrectly - that says a lot on its own - reminder to self! I have mentioned you before and suggested a look at newzulu.com - user-generated news which I know quite well.
Meantime, I have not given up on Vanessa! I believe she is off to Yemen. I have another idea for you as a sub-tag - 'forgotten news' - there are only so many column inches and so much head space BUT - do you remember the CAR? It is still going on! Do you remember Fukushima? It is still going on! etc etc
Integrity my friends, second most important word in the world; respect being number 1!
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Thank you.
If you're in a position to help develop our effort, please look us up in the SteemTrail Discord server under #steemnews-trail.
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I am aware, @steemnews.online that there is an understanding around mistagging of posts and the clogging effect it has upon channels. News is a channel which can ill-afford a post such as this example - there are many:
https://steemit.com/aceh/@birrulibmc/spicy-cassava-chips-tasty-20161229t25120943z
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