What has followed journalists giving testimonials in NA is onslaught of hate & accusations of spreading ‘fake news’. It is fascinating how the eager beavers have taken up the Trump coined term and have weaponised it to suit their purpose. #AttacksWontStopUs
Fake news is a term coined by President Trump to attack &discredit media. Unfortunately, given the state of ignorance & intolerance that is rampant, the term has been weaponised to attack any news & any opinion that doesn’t align with the narrative of power. #AttacksWontStopUs
What we are seeing here is the weaponisation of the term in order to defend party narratives. So far, various items that have been tagged as fake news have not actually contained misinformation. #AttacksWontStopUs
If one aims to become a ‘fact checker’, it is important to understand what misinformation and disinformation is. Tagging every opinion, every comment as ‘fake news’ in inaccurate & simply meant to create public distrust on media. #AttacksWontStopUs
A news story isn’t a personal blog. When a reporter interviews someone, they use most of the information to understand the story & only SOME quotes can be added to the actual story. It is a global practice, doesn’t make anything 'fake’. #AttacksWontStopUs
Journalists do have the right to have opinions & on Twitter, where they are personally engaging, they do give analysis of situations. Analysis isn’t news, it is a reading of a situation that you can agree or disagree with, but it simply cannot be ‘fake’ #AttacksWontStopUs
If anyone aims to be a fact checker, specially when they are publicly discrediting journalists, it is essential that they learn to differ between facts and opinions #AttacksWontStopUs
If a politician changes his/her position on something, it is THEM who is changing their stance, it doesn’t make reports on their previous stance fake #AttacksWontStopUs
If a controversial decision is taken back on media and public pressure, that does NOT mean that reports about the original decision were fake, it simply means media did its job, and did it well #AttacksWontStopUs
In case someone actually finds misinformation in a ’news piece’ do counter, not just with a fake news tag, but with actual information and without abuse. Nobody would have a problem with that. #AttacksWontStopUsI
When the misinformation comes from the government itself, blame the government, not the media. #AttacksWontStopUs
Even when someone does find a real instance of misinformation, it doesn’t justify abuse, slurs, threats and character assassination. Learn to engage in civil discourse #AttacksWontStopUs
Important for political parties to create spaces for civil political discourse online. A code of conduct for their representatives & persistent messaging to their followers pushing for a kind Internet, with zero tolerance for abuse is essential. #AttacksWontStopUs
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