{"id":3435,"date":"2017-07-03T07:35:36","date_gmt":"2017-07-03T06:35:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/amdf-centre.org\/?p=3435"},"modified":"2026-07-05T20:14:44","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T19:14:44","slug":"journalists-across-the-globe-see-fake-news-as-a-shape-shifting-monster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amdf-centre.org\/2017\/07\/03\/journalists-across-the-globe-see-fake-news-as-a-shape-shifting-monster\/","title":{"rendered":"Journalists across the globe see \u2018fake news\u2019 as a shape-shifting monster"},"content":{"rendered":"

H R Venkatesh<\/a> |<\/p>\n

Fake news, to me, is a bit like a fast-moving cancer. You\u2019ve got to look really hard to detect it, but once you do, you realize it has spread everywhere. Like some aggressive variants of the disease, it can fester undiagnosed, but as soon as you\u2019ve detected it, it\u2019s metastasized into something really nasty.<\/p>\n

I began my inquiries thinking that all the recent hand-wringing<\/a> about<\/a> the \u201cfake news problem\u201d in the global<\/a> media<\/a> was because, well, the global media is dominated and influenced by the U.S. media, as well as the U.S. tech companies behind the platforms used to spread fake news. But as I spoke to journalists around the world, it became clear that disinformation has long plagued many countries, feeding off a wide range of political or ethnic tensions and causing divisions that, more often than not, benefit certain special interests over others.<\/p>\n

In Brazil, for example, the 2016 impeachment process against former President Dilma Rousseff was accompanied by multiple fake news reports. According to a study by the University of S\u00e3o Paulo, three out of the five most widely shared news stories on Facebook during the week preceding the impeachment vote were false, BBC Brazil reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Our newspaper reporting is compromised and sloppy; our television journalism is atrocious…\u00a0As a result, there are other ways for vested interests to commandeer the stream of news and insert their disinformation into the flow.<\/em><\/h3>\n

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\u201cFake news has been an issue in Brazilian politics since the 2014 general elections,\u201d said S\u00e9rgio Spagnuolo, a data journalist who runs Volt Data Lab<\/a> in Brazil. \u201cOne of the main candidates died in a plane crash<\/a> in the middle of the campaign that year. Imagine the lies and unproven rumours people published.\u201d<\/p>\n

In India, the ease at which disinformation spreads is exacerbated by the fact that the nation is home to 22 languages, which makes it harder for news consumers to properly verify what a video or text is purportedly showing. In April, a grisly clip<\/a> showing a murder in Bangladesh was falsely passed off as<\/a> the murder of a Hindu man by Muslims. As technologist-turned-activist Pratik Sinha tracked on his self-described \u201canti-propaganda\u201d news site Alt News<\/a>, the same video went viral once again<\/a> in May, with some falsely claiming that it showed the murder of a junior police officer in India\u2019s troubled Kashmir region.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow communication has become so complex, if you see a video with an elaborate script behind it, you tend to believe that such a thing happened,\u201d said Sinha.<\/p>\n

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A video from Bangladesh is being circulated as Kashmiri students killing a CRPF Jawanhttps:\/\/t.co\/Ilrj1JpXD1<\/a><\/p>\n

— Pratik Sinha (@free_thinker) May 29, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n