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White House Pushes ‘Alternative Facts.’ Here Are the Real Ones.
Alternative Facts May Be The End Of Trustworthy Government DataWhen White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer listed his claims about the inauguration crowds and televised audience, he made one demonstrably false statement after another. And when White House counselor Kellyanne Conway called Spicer's statements a presentation of "alternative facts," she attempted to redefine the English language. While you can have alternative explanations or interpretations of facts, you cannot change the nature of reality.However, the claims and language are chilling in a fundamental way. When an administration wants the right to redefine facts, it isn't unreasonable to consider whether it is willing to change data to support itself. Such an action would push the country closer to Orwell's Ministry of Truth concept and undermine a vital resource for intelligent decisions and strategy.
Orwell’s classic tops bestseller chartsFears of a dystopian future have driven George Orwell’s classic novel 1984 to the top of Amazon’s best-seller lists since the weekend, when a TV host sparred with President Trump’s adviser, Kellyanne Conway, over the definition of the word “fact”.Conway told NBC’s Chuck Todd that White House spokesman Sean Spicer had used “alternative facts” when falsely asserting to reporters that the crowd in Washington DC “was the largest audience ever to witness an inauguration – period”.Penguin Books told CNN: “We put through a 75,000-copy reprint this week. That is a substantial reprint and larger than our typical reprint for 1984.” At the time of writing, the book was the number one bestseller on Amazon.com and number three on Amazon.co.uk.
Kellyanne Conway blames refugees for 'Bowling Green massacre' that never happened Donald Trump’s senior adviser uses fictitious incident to justify US president’s travel ban
Fake news for liberals: misinformation starts to lean left under Trump The president’s tumultuous first weeks in office could influence uptick in viral sharing of misleading articles and propaganda that stoke progressive anxieties
Wikipedia bans Daily Mail as 'unreliable' source Online encyclopaedia editors rule out publisher as a reference citing ‘reputation for poor fact checking and sensationalism’Wikipedia editors have voted to ban the Daily Mail as a source for the website in all but exceptional circumstances after deeming the news group “generally unreliable”.The move is highly unusual for the online encyclopaedia, which rarely puts in place a blanket ban on publications and which still allows links to sources such as Kremlin backed news organisation Russia Today, and Fox News, both of which have raised concern among editors.The editors described the arguments for a ban as “centred on the Daily Mail’s reputation for poor fact checking, sensationalism and flat-out fabrication”. The decision by Wikipedia comes amid widespread debate over the rise of fake news, which has widened to include concerns about misleading information in traditional publications. A recent BuzzFeed analysis claimed that there was “little appetite” for completely fabricated “fake news” in the UK because the country already had a highly partisan press.
QuoteWikipedia bans Daily Mail as 'unreliable' source Online encyclopaedia editors rule out publisher as a reference citing ‘reputation for poor fact checking and sensationalism’Wikipedia editors have voted to ban the Daily Mail as a source for the website in all but exceptional circumstances after deeming the news group “generally unreliable”.The move is highly unusual for the online encyclopaedia, which rarely puts in place a blanket ban on publications and which still allows links to sources such as Kremlin backed news organisation Russia Today, and Fox News, both of which have raised concern among editors.The editors described the arguments for a ban as “centred on the Daily Mail’s reputation for poor fact checking, sensationalism and flat-out fabrication”. The decision by Wikipedia comes amid widespread debate over the rise of fake news, which has widened to include concerns about misleading information in traditional publications. A recent BuzzFeed analysis claimed that there was “little appetite” for completely fabricated “fake news” in the UK because the country already had a highly partisan press.https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/feb/08/wikipedia-bans-daily-mail-as-unreliable-source-for-website