Sorting Through Fake News

For John, BLUF:  Don't trust fact checkers.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Edward Snowden:  Don’t Rely on ‘Referee’ to Censor ‘Fake News’

Here it is, Breitbart and Reporter Lucas Nolan, giving us advice from NSA Whistle Blower Edward Snowden on dealing with "fake news".  Of course there is "fake news" and there is "fake news".  If you are just making things up for clickbait then you are doing face news.  For example Mr Marco Chacon, doing it to earn a living.  On the other hand, there are reports that are incomplete and subject to interpretation.  If my spin is different from you, is my news fake?

Here is the paragraph Law Professor Ann Althouse excerpted.  Mr Snowden is on target here:

“The problem of fake news isn’t solved by hoping for a referee but rather because we as participants, we as citizens, we as users of these services help each other.  The answer to bad speech is not censorship.  The answer to bad speech is more speech.  We have to exercise and spread the idea that critical thinking matters now more than ever, given the fact that lies seem to be getting very popular.”

For sure, the last thing we need is Government as some sort of information gate keeper.  Almost as bad is for large private agencies to assume the role of gate keeper.  Sure, we have editors and publishers, but they tend to have small fiefdoms.  On the other hand, Facebook and Google are large organizations with broad coverage.

While Mr Snowden is still on my private list of bad guys, he is surely correct here.

Hat tip to Ann Althouse.

Regards  —  Cliff