Fortunately The Journalist Investigates

Michael Hedges January 23, 2017 - Follow on Twitter

The negative effect of fake news, hate speech and propaganda on civil society is beyond question. Only those wishing to upend The Enlightenment are delighted with the onrush of noxious, veracity-challenged dribble affixed to media - old, new and social. There is no easy fix.

Swedish comic magazine Bamse is taking on fake news in a style that speaks to the most impressionable. And it speaks volumes. In February the first of two issues will take on scary monsters, rumors and finding the truth. The title is “Bamse and the dark forest” or, in Swedish, “Bamse och den mörka skogen.”

In the story, skittish character Lille Skutt (Little Hop) imagines seeing a monster in the dark forest and tells everyone he meets. The tale is - as tales are - quickly embellished. Fortunately, another character - Nina Kanin (Nina Rabbit), the journalist - investigates. That monster, it turns out, was but a pig swimming in a pond.

“The internet is a bit like the dark woods where Lille Skutt (Little Hop) sees a monster,” explained Bamse chief editor Charlotta Borelius, quoted by Svenska Dagbladet (January 19). “Given how our media consumption looks like today, you have to be critical and you need to learn this at an early age.“

The second story on the same theme, to appear later this year, has a character wrongly accused and victimized by rumor. “You encounter this when talking to children. Someone hears about something on (social media) and believes it’s true.” Bamse is published by Egmont Kids Media AB and each issue reaches 102,000 Swedish kids. The series also appears on video.

Fake news meant to sow confusion with misinformation does, indeed, have a long history. Repelling its effect usually involves a battlefield after which the vanquished are marched off to meet their just rewards. Melodrama noted, the victors are left exhausted. The stakes, therein, are high.

The preferred - and rather civil - recourse to fake news is name, shame and fact-check. The Czech government formed a task-force “to counter fake news and state-sponsored disinformation,” reported public broadcaster Radio Praha (December 28). In the Baltics, Scandinavia and parts of Eastern Europe threats from fake news are being taken seriously. UK public broadcaster BBC launched a fact-checking service.

Feeling certain heat for enabling fake news distribution, social network Facebook now flags some of the worst offenders in the US and Germany. The service may be extended to other countries. In Germany, with the sword of legal action hanging high, Facebook enlisted non-profit online researcher Correctiv to investigate user complaints and, if warranted, call-out offenders. The task being daunting Facebook has, reportedly (die Welt, January 20), has reached out to big German publishers and television networks for assistance.

Perhaps effective in pushing back the fake news of non-State actors is cutting off the money. Online ethics community Sleeping Giants, based in the US, has persuaded 610 advertisers, including BMW, Nespresso and Daimler Benz, to suspend spending with fake news purveyor Brietbart News. “We define an environment in which we want to see our advertising,” said BMW spokesperson Bernhard Ederer, quoted by German daily Tagesspiegel (January 17). “Breitbart News doesn’t belong.”

Propagandists and those intent of reaping their rewards are striking back. Calling legitimate news outlets “fake news” for reporting inconvenient facts is now a common tactic among disruptive trolls and those who love them. A Facebook page uncovered by Swedish daily Aftonbladet reporter Anders Lindberg (January 13) meticulously trolls fact-checking sources calling them “fake news.”

Meanwhile, German internet providers association eco complained about a floated government proposal to mandate web portals, Facebook in particular, promptly remove fake news or face stiff fines. “We’re turning the wrong screws,” said deputy chairperson Oliver Süme, quoted by news agency dpa (January 19). “We are moving into the very sensitive relationship between freedom of opinion and criminal utterances.”

“A lie is not an alternative point of view,” said Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius to AP (December 28). “One can say it’s freedom of speech. But if it’s a resourced propaganda machine brainwashing people, it’s not just an alternative point of view. It’s a weapon.”

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