Mainstream Media Stokes the Fear Factor

Guy Hatchard | 7 Aug 2022 Our Covid-19 infection rate is declining, but the New Zealand Herald continues to stoke the fear factor. They lead today with “Analysis: Covid-19 now one of NZ’s biggest killers” by ‘Science’ Reporter Jamie Morton. Statisticians are probably laughing into their coffee cups, and school teachers wondering whether to use it as an…

UN Declares War on ‘Dangerous’ Conspiracy Theories: ‘The World Is NOT Secretly Manipulated By Global Elite’

News Punch | 1 Aug 2022 The United Nations has declared war on conspiracy theories, describing the rise of conspiracy thinking as “worrying and dangerous”, and providing the public with a toolkit to “prebunk” and “debunk” anybody who dares to suggest that world governments are anything but completely honest, upstanding and transparent UNESCO has teamed…

Lies, Damned Lies, and Fact Checks

Paul Thacker | 5 July 2022 Hundreds of fact-checking “experts” gathered in Oslo, Norway to stop false claims on the Internet, but why won’t they fix their own misinformation? Several hundred people from 69 countries gathered in Europe last week to rub shoulders and make business connections in the burgeoning fact-check industry, where jobs continue…

The WHO Is Changing the Name “Monkeypox”… Is It Really Because of Racism?

OffGuardian | 16 June 2022 Yesterday Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organisation (WHO), announced the WHO was officially changing the name of the monkeypox virus. This decision was allegedly taken due to “stigmatization” and “discrimination” of the current “inaccurate” name. I’m not sure how “monkeypox virus” can be an inaccurate name for a virus…

BBC Disinformation Reporters Flub Disinformation Journalism, Create Confusion, Concern and a Touch of Comedy

Paul Thacker | 14 June 2022 Back in 2019, BBC’s Panorama released a documentary “Is Labour Anti-Semtic?” that delved into widely reported allegations within Jeremy Corbyn’s party. But one person who failed to embrace the documentary was Corbyn ally, Justin Schlosberg, a professor of journalism at the University of Birbeck, and former Chair of the Media…