This semester, for my final studio, I completed Fact Check, which was centred around the concepts of disinformation, misinformation and fact checking. For my major assignment, in collaboration with Julian Favero, Phoebe Garcia and Lillie Hanger, we worked on a media campaign to educate people on the government’s Jobseeker program; mainly focusing on fighting against the ‘dole bludger’ stigma that the media and various government figures have placed on social security recipients.

I hope our assignment made the audience notice how easy it is for politicians and the media to create false and harmful narratives; and how said narratives can affect the political system and create expectations for some voters. While at face value, I want to see audiences actively fighting against the marginalisation of the unemployed; I would also like to see audiences examine the role of the mainstream media in spreading and creating disinformation. I also believe that our use of literal lines from politicians and commentators would also help viewers look at the statements and realise how exaggerated they are.

While I am happy with the overall concept of our media piece, there are a few things that I would work on if I had the opportunity. I believe that the campaign can be expanded upon, either by continuing to look at social security, or by examining other similarly maligned people, such as refugees. Using Change My Mind as our title means that it can easily be used for both strategies.

If I were to make more videos – especially if I kept looking at Jobseeker, I would also mix themes up for each video. Our script worked well for our topic, especially with our use of politicians’ quotes, but alternating between different genres and formats would have the potential of reaching more audiences who might not be as interested in the ‘news and current affairs’ style that we used for the piece to camera.

To talk about the rise of disinformation in modern society, it is important to start with the ways that the media contributes to the poor quality of discussion. I found that Rupert Murdoch’s Media Reach helped me understand how much misinformation has been spread in Australia. Having different artifacts ensures that the information can be spread to a wide audience.

The piece to camera was able to provide a context for the controversies surrounding News Corp, from market share to bias, Eli was an engaging presenter, placing elements of dry humour throughout. The infographics are presented professionally, and are easy to understand, even for someone who quickly glances at it. As for the podcast, Niesha and Tom worked well together as co-hosts, and gave the podcast a conversational feel. Having an interview with an expert also contributed to the professionality of the assignment.

During 2021, misinformation surrounding the COVID-19 vaccine and its rollout is convincing many vulnerable people to risk their lives out of fear over side effects that are either overstated or non-existent. The assignment, COVID-19 Vaccine, examines several aspects of Australia’s vaccine rollout.

The piece to camera focuses on the rate of the rollout, especially checking quotes from the government about how quickly people had been given vaccines. Harrison took a formal approach to presenting the piece, which was effective for the subject matter. They also used a video of Scott Morrison speaking the quote that was being fact-checked, which made it easier to understand the context around the quote.

I found the Tiktoks engaging, especially the way that Emma used an instructional approach, which the viewer could use for their own research. Using specific examples helped contextualise the phone-friendly graphics. I found that looking at both the rollout and side effects was useful, and helped show how necessary fact checking is, even if the source appears legitimate.

I also engaged with Real to Reel, which coincidentally, was also my first studio. It examines non-fictional media, and the different ways that it can be presented. While I enjoyed watching and reading every assignment, Antiquarians stood out to me. Antiquarians is a multi-media presentation that showcases antique shops in and around Melbourne; and introduces us to the colourful characters who own them.

The main artifact is a book that focuses on five different antique shops, in inner Melbourne and North Central Victoria. It features heartfelt stories about the shops, written in Beatrice’s perspective, juxtaposed with photographs of the shops and some of their wares. It also has companion audio interviews with the antique shop owners, which are accessible with QR codes that are printed with each chapter.

I found this project innovative, due to the unique mix of written, visual and audio media, and the way that they work together. This was also helped by the professional quality of the pieces. I believe that Antiquarians is a brilliant example of the experimentation and creativity that Real to Reel was designed to cultivate.

References:

Aitken, S, Cohen-Hunter, J & Madamba, B 2021, Antiquarians, Real to Reel, Media Factory, viewed 8 June 2021, <http://www.mediafactory.org.au/2021-real-to-reel/2021/05/29/antiquarians/>

Buckingham, T, Emeghebo, E, Gerrard, E, Hansen, M & Happell, N 2021, Murdoch’s Media Reach, Fact Check, Media Factory, viewed 8 June 2021, <https://www.mediafactory.org.au/2021-fact-check/2021/05/31/murdochs-media-reach/>

Chalker, H, Volteas, I, Wang, A & Welsh, E 2021, COVID-19 Vaccine, Fact Check, Media Factory, viewed 8 June 2021, <https://www.mediafactory.org.au/2021-fact-check/2021/05/31/9/>

Edguer, K, Favero, J, Garcia, P & Hanger, L 2021, Jobseeker Allowance, Fact Check, Media Factory, viewed 7 June 2021, <https://www.mediafactory.org.au/2021-fact-check/2021/06/01/jobseeker-allowance/>

Richards, R 2021, About the Studio, Fact Check, Media Factory, viewed 7 June 2021, <https://www.mediafactory.org.au/2021-fact-check/2021/06/03/about-the-studio/>

Spong, R 2021, What is Real to Reel?, Real to Reel, Media Factory, viewed 8 June 2021, <http://www.mediafactory.org.au/2021-real-to-reel/2021/05/18/hello-world/>

Reflections:

Assignment 3

‘Corona? 5G? or both?’: the dynamics of COVID-19/5G conspiracy theories on Facebook

The Curative Effect of Social Media on Fake News: A Historical Re-evaluation

The Making of Assignment 4

After Twelve Weeks

Artefacts:

Piece to Camera:

Posters:

Social Media Campaign:

 Link to Instagram

During the past semester, I have been learning more about the concept of disinformation, and the practice of fact checking. I recognise that I was skeptical about the impact of online disinformation at the beginning of the semester, and while some of my cynicism is still valid, I have learned enough to realise what the true impacts of the spread of disinformation. I found the article about Russia and Ukraine (which I wrote about for Assignment 2) particularly alarming.

Do I still stand by my assertion that ‘disinformation’ is a more useful term than ‘fake news?’ I believe that ‘fake news’ is only able to refer to a single variety of disinformation – one that uses a serious tone and uses themes and tropes from traditional news sources. Disinformation, however, is more flexible and can be used for a broader range of pieces, such as doctored photos or videos, and falsified scientific studies; as well as the aforementioned fake news.

I believe that I have made a start on learning the fact checking process, though I feel like I can always benefit with learning more about it in my own time. I still largely use social media to consume the news; but I now make sure I double check the legitimacy of the sources and search for the headline to see if there are other reports on the subject (or to see if the article has already been debunked).

As for reverse-engineering disinformation, that’s a complicated one. I feel like my group used that idea for our concept for the major assignment, but without broadcasting it to a broader audience, I can only speculate on its success. I still believe that it is possible with the right message and messengers.

I feel like I have a lot of room for improvement though, particularly with attendance and keeping up to date with weekly readings and class discussion. While my friends seem to downplay the importance of doing the weekly work – especially when assignments are due, I feel like having a firmer grasp on that work would improve the quality of my assignments (including these reflections), as well as provide me some extra knowledge for after I finish the course.

I feel like I’m not the only one in class who struggles with class discussions though, especially while the course is online. Hopefully it will be easier to practice these things next semester.

This post is a response to my first blog post.

I examined the article, The Curative Effect of Social Media on Fake News: A Historical Re-evaluation, which looks into the history of disinformation, especially through comparing current social media-based strategies, to those created in earlier eras; asserting that although disinformation is often perceived as a modern phenomenon, it has existed for many years, even before the development of the computer.

The article starts by comparing the media landscape between the early 20th century and the current day. Interestingly, the use of emerging technology was one of the similarities. The main difference was the source. The article showed that the highlighted article in 1917 was published by the mainstream media, rather than on social media or personal websites. Having the backing of a mainstream publication made it easier for people to believe the article from 1917, especially as media literacy and fact checking skills were still inaccessible to most people.

I found that looking through a historical lens was helpful, as it was able to show how often history repeats itself, and to see if people in the past had strategies to help people disregard disinformation. It also showed how much impact technology has on who is able to get accurate information, and how they can access it. With that being said, articles similar to the 1917 example still get published today; the most common recent example would probably be the Weapons of Mass Destruction narrative from the early 2000s, which eventually led to the war in Iraq.

To complement the article, we also listened to a Radiolab episode examining the radio play of HG Wells’ The War of the Worlds, and how its broadcast duped many listeners into believing that Earth was being invaded by Martians. While I have heard of the hysteria surrounding the broadcast, I had not researched it properly.

From my understanding, the issues surrounding the broadcast seemed to be more due to the station rather than the producer. By only announcing that it was a play at the beginning of the broadcast, it was easy for casual listeners to stumble upon it, and assume that it was a special report.

References:

Abumrad, J & Krulwich, R 2018, ‘War of the Worlds’, Radiolab, podcast, WNYC, New York, 31 October, viewed 7 May 2021, <https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/war-worlds>

Van Heekeren, M 2020, ‘The Curative Effect of Social Media on Fake News: A Historical Re-evaluation’, Journalism Studies, vol. 21, no. 3, viewed 22 May 2021, <https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2019.1642136>

I read the article, ‘Corona? 5G? or both?’: the dynamics of COVID-19/5G conspiracy theories on Facebook, which as per the name, discusses one of the more prevalent conspiracy theories surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic – the alleged role that 5G mobile networks played in creating the virus – and how it spread via social media.

The article looks at the context around the spread of COVID-19 conspiracy theories, explicitly pointing out how governments and the media had not been providing adequate accurate information about the virus, which meant that there was space for disinformation to grow. This vacuum, combined with existing rumours around 5G technology meant that it was easier for stories linking the two to spread.

The article divided the conspiracy into five separate phases, each representing a different step in its spread. This made it easier to understand the events that contributed to the creation and popularity of the theory. It looks into the creation of the correlation between COVID-19 and 5G, the international spread of the disinformation, the adoption of it by celebrities and religious institutions, and eventually real life actions in response to the rumours.

The reading also briefly examined the actions of fact checkers and pro-5G media, as well as the response by social media platforms. One thing that stood out for me was that it took the World Health Organisation two months to finally release an official statement debunking the COVID-19/5G connection, considering anti-5G activists were already vandalising phone towers by that time.

I found the introduction incredibly useful to help me understand how these conspiracy theories were able to permeate discussions around health and technology. From my observation, this conspiracy is just another step down a rabbit-hole stemming from people becoming skeptical of the mainstream health system. While better attempts at science communication, and trying to reach out to these people in a non-judgemental way can help some theorists trust mainstream science; it may be difficult to convince many of these people, due to failings of mainstream science in the past.

The mainstream media is also partially responsible for the adoption of these conspiracy theories. So many ‘Current Affairs’ shows and news websites present stories about medical horror stories, miracle cures, and oversimplified science reporting, often masquerading as legitimate news. As it comes from a ‘trusted’ source, their stories are easier to believe by those who may not have a strong scientific understanding.

References:

Bruns, A, Harrington, S & Hurcombe, E  2020, ‘‘Corona? 5G? or both?’: the dynamics of COVID-19/5G conspiracy theories on Facebook’, Media International Australia, vol. 177, no. 1, viewed 26 May 2021, <https://doi.org/10.1177/1329878X20946113>