Thursday, January 12, 2017

Did Fortune Magazine just publish fake news?


There is no mention of a hack in the short article.
The network says the problem was likely a routing issue, since RT is one of the networks that C-SPAN regularly monitors.
Anyone reading the headline will come away with the idea implanted that "the Russians" hack C-SPAN.

That's sewing disinformation, especially since it is well-known that most people only read headlines.

Fortune
C-SPAN Confirms It Was Briefly Hacked by a Russian News Site
Fortune Editors and The Associated Press

9 comments:

Matt Franko said...

"since it is well-known that most people only read headlines."

I wouldnt say this is well-known by most people...

Matt Franko said...

Tom you generally give people too much intellectual credit....

Matt Franko said...

Which is nice you think that way of people but we should seek to be realistic...

Tom Hickey said...

I wouldnt say this is well-known by most people...

I didn't say that it is well-known to most people. It is not, but it is well-known to people in the media, advertising, PR and other forms of persuasion how most people react to stimuli. It's their business, after all.

Most people have no idea how they are being acted upon consciously through exposure to information and entertainment. But people whose business it is know it very well and use it.

Matt Franko said...

Well it is well known by just a small cohort of clued in people ... sort of an oxymoron...

Tom Hickey said...

Well it is well known by just a small cohort of clued in people ... sort of an oxymoron...

It's actually a lot of people. The research on this is produced in academia so most psychologists and sociologists would likely know of it since it concerns motivation. The field of professional persuasion is also large — marketing & advertising, public relations, media executives, intelligence services, and consultants. This is a small cross section of the population but it includes a sizable number of professionals that are involved either directly or indirectly.

This was based on political propaganda, which has a long history. Political propaganda was adapted to civilian use post WWI and it has grown into an important sector today covering the fields I mentioned above.

For example, Karl Rove got his start in direct marketing and adapted his skills to politics. He was famous for saying that perception is reality and that the shapers of perception create the reality in which others live.

This is illustrated by The Matrix, for instance.

Tom Hickey said...

Speaking of reality as perception, I am noticing that silo-thinking and groupthink are increasing exponentially to the degree that left and right are no longer living in the same universe, even through what they are reacting to is the same. The media they are exposed to in their silos is resulting in groupthink that is not just divergent but opposite. There is no basis for communication among these silos. The "facts" are different. This doesn't bode well for the social fabric going forward and there is going to be increasing conflict and probably social dysfunction. The country was divided before the election but now it at a completely different level and getting worse.

Peter Pan said...

I only read a fraction of the articles that Tom posts. I value my sanity.

Penguin pop said...

Tom's summaries of these articles are usually enough for me and then for the really good stuff like from George Lakoff or Bill Mitchell I'll actually read.