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Conspiracy theories, advertising, fake polls and unintentional YouTube censorship

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  • “How I became fake news: I witnessed a terrorist attack in Charlottesville. Then the conspiracy theories began.” Brennan Gilmore witnessed James Fields smash his car into a crowd of demonstrators, killing Heather Heyer and wounding 19 others. Although he immediately shared the footage with police on the scene, it took him a half-hour to decide to post it publicly. He was concerned about how the footage might be used by the “alt-right” and felt uncomfortable knowing that he had probably filmed someone’s death. Hours after, neo-Nazi commentators started posting about him on 4chan, Reddit and YouTube.

“These crack researchers bragged that they had discovered I worked for the State Department (it’s in my Twitter bio), that I have a connection to George Soros (he very publicly donated to the campaign of my former boss, Tom Perriello), and that I spent time in Africa working in conflict areas (information available in major news outlets). Desperate to lay blame on anyone besides the alt-right, they seized on these facts to suggest a counter-narrative to the attack, claiming there was no way that someone with my background just happened to be right there to take the video. They wrote that I was a CIA operative, funded by (choose your own adventure) George Soros, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, the IMF/World Bank, and/or a global Jewish mafia to orchestrate the Charlottesville attack in order to turn the general public against the alt-right.”

  • More than 600 global brands are advertising on fake news websites — and they don’t seem to care. French startup Storyzy spotted 644 brands on questionable sites ranging from hard-core fake or hyper-partisan news sites to clickbait venues hosting bogus content with no particular agenda except making a quick buck. By and large the advertising community’s response is simply appalling, writes Frederic Filloux.
  • Brands are now blacklisting mainstream news sites, including Fox News. Political tensions have reached a point where some brands are perceiving mainstream news outlets as too controversial, leading media buyers to pull ads from those sites.
  • The Washington Post brings artificial intelligence to its native ads. They have built an ad product called “Own” that lets brands use their own content but promises to improve its chances of being seen and read (or watched) with the aid of Heliograf, a news-writing bot the Post built for the editorial side. Own works by serving an ad to people based on their past reading/viewing behavior on the site. It uses Heliograf to generate a personalized welcome message. It’s a form of content recommendation, which the Post has done before with its customizable native ad units called Post Cards, but more personalized.
  • A fake poll can have real influence. If you’re a political observer interested in polls or a journalist who writes about them, you need to be more careful than ever. As Adam Geller, a Republican pollster who worked on the Trump campaign, told FiveThirtyEight, public polls can create news because “they are easy stories to write.” But, he said, “there is far too little scrutiny on the methodology of the poll. To most journalists, a poll is a poll is a poll.” Public polls can also influence donors, Geller says. Donors don’t want to back a likely loser. Voters themselves can be influenced as well. For example, in a primary campaign where voters are trying to decide between ideologically similar candidates in a large field, voters may take into account who they think has the best chance of winning. A fake poll could affect that calculus.

International Journalism Festival is the biggest annual media event in Europe. It’s an open invitation to interact with the best of world journalism. All sessions are free entry for all attendees, all venues are situated in the stunning setting of the historic town centre of Perugia.

⚡ ijf weekly roundup

International Journalism Festival is the biggest annual media event in Europe. It's an open invitation to interact with the best of world journalism. All sessions are free entry for all attendees. Come and join us!

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International Journalism Festival #ijf20 | 14th edition | 1–5 April 2020 | Watch #ijf19 on-demand: media.journalismfestival.com

⚡ ijf weekly roundup

International Journalism Festival is the biggest annual media event in Europe. It's an open invitation to interact with the best of world journalism. All sessions are free entry for all attendees. Come and join us!

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