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EDITORIAL: Fake news in the Chief? No way

Before Donald Trump ran for president, the term “Fake News” was rarely heard in daily conversation. Now it is bandied about like the term “spaz” on the 80s school playground.
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Before Donald Trump ran for president, the term “Fake News” was rarely heard in daily conversation. Now it is bandied about like the term “spaz” on the 80s school playground.
It has become too easy for readers to label stories they don’t like as “fake” news.

Recently, the term  was even levelled at The Chief and that is concerning, because we never — ever — publish fake news.
The term seems to have been watered down so lets be clear what it means.
Fake news is the printing and dissemination of lies written specifically to distract or deceive.  And there’s no doubt such propaganda is plentiful online.
“Computational propaganda is now one of the most powerful tools against democracy. Social media firms may not be creating this nasty content, but they are the platform for it. They need to significantly redesign themselves if democracy is going to survive social media,” reads an Oxford University 2017 study.  

The World Economic Forum has identified the rapid spread of misinformation online as among the top 10 dangers to society.
So yes, worry about being manipulated, but the community paper isn’t where your concern should lie.

At The Chief we have professional journalists with ethics training. We don’t set out to be pro or con anything — nope, not even for or against LNG, Garibaldi at Squamish or any politician.

A little secret is, for most real journalists there are only good stories and a bad stories, but that is not based on taking a “side.” A good story has insightful sources willing to speak on the record. A bad story is the opposite, an idea with no one to speak to it.

The most valuable story is one that gives voice to the voiceless — someone or a group of someones who doesn’t have power or influence.
We don’t ever intend to manipulate.
There’s no political agenda here.

To avoid falling prey to fake stories in less reputable media, read more than the headline and click the site’s “About Us” section. Who is behind the stories? Google the writer. What else has she written? Google the source quoted to see what else he is associated with.

Is the person writing the story also a source? That is a real red flag.

But labelling actual news stories “fake news” because you don’t think the story shines a favourable light on something you support is dangerous. It devalues the role of the media in a healthy democracy.

Media across the board is hurting due to the advent of online platforms that aren’t as lucrative for revenue, thus resulting in fewer journalists working to get to the truth in every city across Canada. That is a scarier reality for many of us than the prospect that any Canadian news organization is disseminating false news.

So, be careful what you label fake, while still watching for actual manipulation online. The future of our democracy depends on it.

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