COMPLIMENTARY COPY
Students Maintain Momentum With Another Climate Strikes in Pasadena
Two Candidates File for Tom Adams’ Monrovia Mayoral Seat Next Year
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INDEPENDENT Go to BurbankIndependent.com for Burbank Specific News THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12 - DECEMBER 18, 2019
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VOL. 7, NO. 50
DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIAL MEDIA HAS GIVEN HUMANITY A MAKEOVER
Disinformation takes many different forms. – - Courtesy screenshot / CBS This Morning
Terry MILLER tmiller@beaconmedianews.com
T
hose of us so-called “boomers” probably remember the old Memorex ad “Blown Away,” “Is it live or is it Memorex?,” referring to the quality of their analog sound recording tape which is all but obsolete now — except for the purists among us who believe vinyl records and magnetic audio tape are more evocative than anything digital could reproduce. The list goes on for what has essentially destroyed a perfectly happy and content analog life for most machines and many people. Is it all about free speech and global freedom of expression as some say? The digital world has created its very own form of a diablo-monster: replete with false narratives, misleading news articles intended to confuse as well as a plethora of adverts that attempt to sway not only your buying habits
but your vote. This, of course, is part of the international discussion now with interference in the 2016 election. It’s staggering how many people drink the Kool-Aid and get conned into a false sense of security with social media podiums like Facebook and Twitter. According to a new report from the UK-based charity Article 19, freedom of expression has reached a 10-year low globally, as a result of what the report calls "digital authoritarianism" and threats against journalists. Governments in a number of countries have been increasing online surveillance and cracking down on content and behavior that indicates dissent, the report says. The survey notes that while there were some improvements in the overall freedom of expression environment around the world between 2008 and 2013, these gains were eroded in the five subsequent years. According to Article 19's analysis, more than 65 countries with a combined population of over 5 billion
people have seen their freedom of expression decline over the past decade. Digital misinformation is everywhere and we’re inwardly digesting copious amounts of false info at breakneck speed: Here are some recent examples of internet insanity. May 22, a Trump supporter named Shawn Brooks posted a video on Facebook called “Is Nancy Pelosi drunk?” The right wing video suggested that Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, was slurring her words and apparently drunk. Later that day, an additional video featuring Pelosi, was altered and slowed down to imply she was under the influence. The video appeared on at least two pro-Trump Facebook pages; later, it moved to Twitter and YouTube. “In its first few hours online, the doctored video was viewed about three hundred times on Twitter. On Facebook, it was shared 18,881 times—which put it on the same scale as a recent video of a mysterious sea creature someone caught in Alaska. The American far
right, fixated on the notion of strength, often attacks its enemies with the idea that they are weak or sick, and the Pelosi video seemed destined mostly to provide whoever happened to be browsing for hatred that day a temporary sense of affirmation. Were it not for subsequent developments, it would likely have slipped back into obscurity among posts targeting Bette Midler for her online activism and accusing Rep. Ilhan Omar of spreading Islamic law in America.” according to the Columbia Journalism Review. It’s all about the clicks, apparently. Every day scores of digital journalists seek the high that comes from posting first- regardless of the truth or fact checking. Read More on our website under Opinion