Micro Issues

$1.$ Do stories such as the ones noted above support journalism$$s

commitment to truth telling? Why or why not?

$2.$ How would you distinguish between the concepts of fake news and

internet hoaxes?

$3.$ Evaluate the approach of the KUSA story in trying to provide

viewers with tools to independently verify internet content.

Compare that with the approach employed by the New York

Times and the Washington Post. Which do you think is the better

approach? Justify your choice using philosophical theory.

Midrange Issues

$1.$ Many news organizations have a standing policy of not reporting

things such as bomb threats to schools because they are so frequent

and are often pranks. Analyze this approach in light of the most

recent mass shooting in the United States. When is it inappropriate

to report a rumor?

$2.$ Many critics noted that Stephen Paddock, the gunman in the

Mandalay Bay shooting, was Caucasian and that he was treated

differently by journalists because of his race. Evaluate this criticism.

$190$ Chapter $6$

$3.$ News organizations that spend time debunking rumors shift

resources from other stories to provide this sort of coverage.

How would you justify assigning a reporter to such a story? What

elements of craft$$for example, proximity$$and ethical news

values$$for example transparency$$might support your decision?

Macro Issues

$1.$ Alexis S$.$ Madrigal, writing in the Atlantic on Oct. $2,2017,$

blamed the problem on Google and Facebook, and their corporate

managers, for refusing to put more human beings in the loop to

decide whether particular posts and shared stories are bogus. $$The

truth is that machines need many examples to learn from. That$$s

something we know from all the current artificial$-$intelligence

research,$$ Madrigal wrote. $$They$$re not good at $$one$-$shot$$ learning.

But humans are very good at dealing with new and unexpected

situations. Why are there not more humans inside Google who are

tasked with basic information filtering? How can this not be part

of the system, given that we know the machines will struggle with

rare, breaking$-$news situations?$$ Analyze these comments. What

philosophical theory supports your analysis?