Thu, Aug 27, 2020 page8

• Facebook’s new rules a warning to news media

  • By Chang Yueh-han 張約翰
  • • 
    • 
    • 

  Facebook on Aug. 11 issued a new policy to its third-party fact-checking partners around the world, stating that if opinions in articles labeled as editorials or op-eds by the media are based on false information, they should still be given a fact-check rating.

  The policy is unlikely to have any impact on people not working in the news media. People in general know little about the difference between news reports and opinion pieces, let alone the difference between different types of opinion pieces such as columns, op-eds and editorials.

  After being accused of acting like a “fake news platform” by US media during the 2016 presidential campaign, Facebook has started to cooperate with fact-checking organizations in many countries to prevent the spread of false information.

  However, opinion pieces were not included in the fact-checking because they are the free expression of personal opinion.

  However, as “misinformation warfare” is becoming more organized, opinion pieces have deteriorated, as some politicians and their allies publish op-eds based on false information.

  On the one hand, they are using the news media as endorsers, and on the other, they avoid being fact-checked.

  For readers and social media users, one of the criteria when judging whether an article contains misinformation is to look at the source.

  If the source is a credible news outlet in their eyes, they do not doubt its truthfulness. Fact-checking centers are helpless against this, so Facebook is now trying to close this loophole.

  Still, it reminds its partners to only give a fact-check rating to opinion pieces when they are based on false information.

  Opinion pieces have always been a section that the US newspapers use to express their stance and to allow a diversity of opinion. Editorials express a newspaper’s stance, op-eds express a diversity of opinion and invited columnists express both.

  As a result, conservative pieces can still be seen in liberal newspapers, and vice versa. With the promotion of opinion diversity, ideological confrontation takes place in the form of debate, instead of violence.

  Unfortunately, social media have changed the news industry environment, as catering to readers ideologically to survive has become a trend and going against this trend shields other ideologies. As a result, ideologies have become internalized in organizational operations and news production of the news media and their journalists, while neutrality has been downgraded from a “value” to an “option.”

  The resignations this summer of James Bennet, a former editorial page editor at the New York Times, and that of Bari Weiss, a former op-ed editor and writer at the paper, are two examples.

  On the surface, Bennet was pressured by colleagues to resign for protecting the space for conservative voices, and the direct cause of the resignation was the publication in the Times of an op-ed by conservative US Senator Tom Cotton, titled “Send in the Troops,” which urged the US federal government to send in troops to crack down nationwide protests.

  Surprisingly for such a high-profile article, Bennet did not even check it personally before publication.

  Judging by the Bennet case, when journalists internalize ideology, making it a part of organizational operations and the news production process, they become less vigilant on opinion pieces that cater to specific ideologies.

  Although Facebook’s adjustment of its fact-checking mechanism might not affect readers and users, it serves as a warning to the news media.

  Chang Yueh-han is an assistant professor in Shih Hsin University’s department of journalism.

  Translated by Eddy Chang
• Most Popular

  • 1

    Philippine banana sauce stopped at border: FDA

  • 2

    Chinese landing ships vulnerable, military expert says

  • 3

    New base in Philippines positioned close to Taiwan

  • 4

    People who clashed with police to be investigated

  • 5

    Olympic medalist Lin pulled from world championships