Inform or Influence

No spoilers here.                                                                

Before the Fall
by Noah Hawley

Faith Flaherty's review

really liked it

bookshelves: fiction

Noah Hawley's novel, Before the Fall, is about the news media and questions the role of journalism. Ask yourself if you watch the news to be informed or to be entertained. Why can't it be both? Because they're two different genres that most of the time don't gel together and trying to do both too often leads to sensationalism.

The storyline of Before the Fall involves a plane crash where only two characters survive. The novel will explain who is who and why they are on this particular plane at this particular moment in time. Because the people on that plane are high profile millionaires the media descends upon the story like the Pharisees upon Christ.

Once the facts of the incident are known, the news starts to speculate and influence the public. The hero who saved a four-year child by swimming all night with a dislocated shoulder is vilified. The reader will see our hero's stock plummet due to the machinations of a journalist and his news outlet.

It's painful to read.

But it's not the whole story. Our hero doesn't cave. He gives as much as he's gotten. He's the moral example of how to behave. (There is literally no explicit sex scenes.) Sex, money, and fame are not important. Children are. And saving and protecting a child defines heroism.

A Major Literacy Problem

It's not a technological problem, it's a  news literacy problem.  It's an information literacy problem, says Kalev Leetaru in his article for Forbes,

A Reminder That 'Fake News' Is An Information Literacy Problem - Not A Technology Problem.

I myself wonder when Facebook is going to fix its problems with hate speech, misleading pages, too many ads, etc.  Leetaru is correct when he said it's the readers' problem, not technology.

My mother tried to teach me that lesson seventy years ago, "Believe half of what your eyes see and none of what your ears hear."

News Used to Manipulate

I'm working on writing an article on how to spot "fake news."  As I come across information that I think is worthwhile, I'll share it in a post.

Here are some examples of misinformation:

satire

misleading headline that really isn't discussed in the article

pictures that look photoshopped

information without data

outlandish claims obviously meant to deceive people

complete fabrication--the whole story is false

Did you know that Hitler founded the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda under Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels?  And that Goebbels got his ideas from Hollywood's advertising, which were obviously using manipulation to publicize their movies.


Joseph Goebbels

Papers For Sale!

John Waters in his article, "The End of the News," in First Things, bemoans the decline of real news--trustworthy reporting.

If you have read my posts about the proliferation of fake news, then you know I wholeheartedly agree.  What I want is a respectable news source to come forward and take dominance in the news reporting. Hopefully, the public will leave the sensational, click-bait sites and prove that people want the truth.

Waters takes a different view. He wants the fake to fake itself to death.  When everyone is fed up and doesn't read anymore, then we will see what will arise out of the ashes.