How fake news upends journalism and technology; why it damages society at large

Photo by Joël de Vriend on Unsplash

Let me begin by admitting that I am naive when it comes to editorial integrity. As a child, I wanted to grow up to be Lois Lane. I wanted to be a reporter of high editorial authority and integrity.

I started my writing career over twenty years ago and have always been overly cautious to write the truth. Not only did I verify sources, but worked with additional editors whose job was to fact check every word that I wrote. The idea of putting my reputation behind falsehoods was beyond my ken. I owed truth to my readers; it is my responsibility.

When Propaganda became news

“Fake news” is the new term for misinformation. The practice of misinformation (disinformation, defamation, libel, false news – take your pick), has an incredibly long history. As early as the first century BC, political misinformation was used to overthrow Mark Antony in Rome. This is nothing new. Propaganda machines have inflamed elections, religions and opinions as long as humans have an agenda.

Not only written words but films have been used to sway public opinion. Just like edited video on the internet today, Leni Riefenstahl swayed sentiment to bolster the Nazi mission during World War II.

The term is attributed now to the media who have personal (or paid) agendas. Even when leaders are quoted, the quotes are appended or abbreviated to match the desired storyline. The news is no longer the subject, building the writer’s fame seems to carry equal weight. Media is now a vehicle for persons to build their personal brands in attempts to become highly paid influencers.


Reporting should be written to inform the reader of truths and facts versus being an opinion piece.

“Misinformation is not like a plumbing problem you fix. It is a social condition, like crime, that you must constantly monitor and adjust to.” 

~ Tom Rosenstiel, director of the American Press Institute and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution 

Of course, “storytelling” is the word of the day; all the citizen journalists are using it as the pinnacle of fine writing. Unfortunately, it has extended to the news. False information, along with click bait, draws visitors to sites to drive traffic for ad revenue.

Our era of an information explosion; even verbal warfare

The posts on social media are generally there to promote stories on websites. There’s no governing body checking the veracity of what is written on the over 1.7 billion websites worldwide. The sad fact is that, according to a Pew Research Center report, 55 percent of U.S. adults now get their news from social media either "often" or "sometimes." Any misinformation turns viral and is thereby weaponizes a biased point of view.

This all explains how Facebook became the pivotal player in enabling the spread of political agendas. Claims that any perceived enemy; Russia, China, Korea and more post politically charged posts on the site.

The rest of the news is received through various sources. The traditional media networks have also become a vehicle for entertainment (pandering to politically charged audiences) versus reporting legitimate news. Online media as well. Many of the famous newspapers that have moved online are in the same position. Legitimate sources can only be as good as the editors who fact check writers’ stories and in this era of constantly having to update pages (for more ad views), effective oversight falls by the wayside.

Media sources thrive on gathering more views and I wonder, how many of these people studied journalism? Even if disinformation makes it to publication, tradition required a retraction – or in the online world, an update of the story. Questioners of truth are often shunned and mocked when the truth doesn’t fulfill the narrative expounded by the writer.

“If it’s carelessness, you can tell someone: ‘Hey, you got it wrong; here’s the evidence.’ If it’s disinformation, they don’t care, they will just publish it again. Meanwhile, when you point out the problem, they might decide that you’re a target for harassment.”

~ Craig Newmark, Craigslist founder and Craig Newmark Philanthropies; focusing on Trustworthy Journalism and the Information Ecosystem

Eyewitness to misinformation history

As I write this, we’re in the midst of a worldwide pandemic and a tsunami of misinformation. Certainly, our goal should be preventing the spread of the virus and getting the truth out. This is a time that should bring us together.

As an example, In early February, headlines like “No, You Do Not Need Face Masks To Prevent Coronavirus” appeared all over the internet. Talking heads on the news were busy instructing their audiences that masks weren’t necessary.

This was all part of a concerted campaign to hoodwink an entire society to cover up a medical supply shortage. This time it wasn’t just the media – the advice even came from the Surgeon General of the United States and the World Health Organization.

Seriously people- STOP BUYING MASKS!

They are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus, but if healthcare providers can’t get them to care for sick patients, it puts them and our communities at risk!
https://t.co/UxZRwxxKL9

— U.S. Surgeon General (@Surgeon_General) February 29, 2020

Anyone who’s ever interacted with the medical community knows that masks do something. Yes, to be fully protected one needs an N95 mask; but the traditional disposable surgical mask does “something.” Even if masks have a modest effect on preventing infection, they do have the effect of not spreading the virus from a possibly infected person.

Traditionally, health authorities around the world have encouraged all citizens to wear masks in public to prevent the spread of disease, irrespective of whether they have symptoms.

The down talking to the citizenry has reached epic proportions. The backpedaling of this storyline is bordering on hysteria. Its not just “other” countries. Our own government manipulates its citizens by feeding us myths to meet their news cycle. If lying to your children isn’t good policy, how can lying to the populace be a solid practice?

How does this help us to believe anything we are told? Many truths are just rumors; who do we trust? Governments have agendas; talking heads have agendas; bloggers get famous; perhaps only eye-witnesses and those without possibility of financial gain can be believed.

Where technology fits in

We’re also battling for truth in technology. Technology is now the battlefield (or so we’re told) for national security and human rights. Truth doesn’t seem to muddle political opinion.

Globalization has caused a crisis in supply chains and security. Indeed, we outsource everything from plucking chickens to building cars. American companies bolstered profits by building factories aboard. It was easier to export labor intensive manufacturing to places where there was low-cost labor and laxer environmental regulations.

If someone is to blame for our fall from international strength, we need to look at ourselves.

Over my lifetime I’ve watched the U.S. turn into a white-collar society; offshoring the manufacturing ecosystem to countries who did it better, faster and cheaper. Steve Jobs desperately wanted to keep Apple manufacturing in our country (in California and Texas); wanting to replicate the success of Sony in Japan. But that was a failed fantasy. Manufacturing for Apple is now centered at Foxconn in China along with other electronics for the international market.

As of 2012, 40% of the world electronics manufactured by Foxconn. There's a good chance that something you own or use was built by Foxconn Technology Group. It is the largest electronics manufacturer in the world. A subsidiary of Foxconn also owns Belkin (Linksys routers .. network switches, Wemo smart home products and Phyn smart home water management). In 2017 they announced plans to open a plant in Wisconsin, but that plan appears to be fizzling. Foxconn is a private company.

Although Walmart, eBay and Amazon are giants in ecommerce, they are basically obliterated by the power of the Chinese company, Alibaba Group. They’re the world’s largest retailer and ecommerce company; expanding into artificial intelligence and media production. Alibaba Group is an internationally stock traded company.

Then there’s Huawei, who announced on March 31 that they had a revenue of $121 billion US, who’s humble start from four employees in 1987 to becoming the top telecommunications-equipment manufacturer in the world and the second largest manufacturer of smartphones.

Their unmatched investment of over $84 billion US in R&D has led their patent count to file over 85,000 active patent applications in 2019, as well as having over 96,000 dedicated to R&D; that’s 40% of Huawei’s total workforce. They lead the world in the development of 5G. Futurewei Technologies, a research-and-development subsidiary of Huawei employed over 900 people in the U.S. until the government made them the posterchild for protectionism.

Huawei is a private company. The Los Angeles Times visited the headquarters in Shenzhen and saw a printed registry on the company’s 100,000 shareholders; their employees.

Not one of these companies is owned by the Chinese government and is free to trade all over the world. For some reason, Huawei became the symbol of possible foreign interference in the U.S. Infrastructure. Articles like those in the Wall Street Journal led the way and piled on the theory that Huawei would support the Chinese government in a cyber war against the U.S. Their experience on cost effective 5G has been proven worldwide. They started with 4G installations in Norway (2009) and grew to service over 170 countries.

Our own country has insisted that other foreign countries not do business with them either – with no concrete proof that a backdoor to their products would be used. Some countries have directly pushed back. The British government decided to allow Huawei equipment in only "non-core" elements of its 5G network. They set up an independent Cyber Evaluation Center (The Cell) to assess the company's hardware and software security annually.

I saw Andy Purdy, Chief Security Officer for the Huawei Technologies USA, address this issue on CSPAN. Requesting inspections and pleading to cooperate with our government.

It’s hard to trust technology when we can’t trust the people who deliver the message

This post is about misinformation in our world today, not just technology. Learn to separate journalism from opinion. As Huawei’s Catherine Chen said in her open letter to the US, “don’t believe everything you hear.” Let’s not make judgements on rumors or click bait posts. Let’s try to find quotes and information directly from the sources.

In your quest for truth, check out the work of the Craig Newmark Foundation and an Irish company, Kinzen. They’re working to rebuild trust in journalism. They deserve your attention and support.

"Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see."

~ Edgar Allan Poe in 1845

FTC disclosure: This is a sponsored post. I only work with and showcase products, events and/or companies I believe my readers will benefit from. I am not employed by any company mentioned in this article. All thoughts and viewpoints are mine. This is disclosed in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.