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>

After presenting our ideas for our assignment, and listening to feedback from Ruth, our classmates, and other studio leaders, we were able to start producing the media for our assignment.

While we looked at changing the format to reflect the narrower reach of our assignment, we realised that we could use the original format – a ‘host’ interviewing ‘Jobseeker’ – a human form of the social security program. We also looked at the host’s character, as we had a number of options of how they could be written. The idea that we liked the most was to have the host pushing various popular misconceptions that have been used to undermine support for social security in the media and from politicians, using direct quotes from politicians. We would also use graphics to show who said those lines. We would combine this with some posters debunking misconceptions about Jobseeker, and a social media presence for the same purpose.

I quite liked the Change My Mind concept that we used, especially the way that it tied the different artefacts together. I also believe that it could easily be expanded to look at other issues. If we were making something for a larger audience, we might have to change the name, just in case Steven Crowder spits the dummy.

While working on the piece to camera, I took the role as director. While it was quite a large task, I found it fairly straightforward; even if I need to practice using communication devices and limiting the amount of headroom in shots. It also gave me the opportunity to attempt to assert myself, which I struggle with both at uni, and in life in general. I still find it hard to delegate, which is probably why I constantly feel like I’m not making enough of an effort in groups.

As a group, I feel like we worked well, though I believe that if we were able to work together in person more often, our assignment would’ve been stronger – particularly our social media presence. To be honest, I feel like I was the weak link when it came to that, as I often missed classes, meaning that I ended up wasting the collaborative time we had available. This also showed up while filming. While directing, I misinterpreted what the rest of the group wanted to do. In my head, I assumed that the piece-to-camera was going to run like a traditional interview, with the talent sharing a space, but the rest of the group had been set on a split-screen interview – as if the two presenters were in completely different locations. If I had asked to make sure we were on the right page, then we could’ve set the piece up as intended.

With all being said, being constantly critical of myself gets tedious, demoralising and annoying, especially if I just appear to whinge without making an effort to change.

Before starting on the main group assignment, we presented our ideas to the class, as well as to lecturers from other studios. We showed the research that we had done, and the potential ways that we could present it.

The topic that we worked on was Jobkeeper and Jobseeker, two government programs that provided some income to people who lost jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. While looking at ideas for our presentation, we examined a few different approaches, including whether to take a satirical stance; and what medium to use for our final work. We were originally looking at making a piece to camera, some posters, and possibly a podcast episode; though we might choose something other than a podcast episode if we decide to narrow our focus to Jobseeker.

Heather recommended against examining Jobkeeper, stating that it was now irrelevant, since it been discontinued. While I still wonder if it would’ve been useful to discuss, as the government has made it difficult to discern between the different job programs during the pandemic; just focusing on Jobseeker would make our assignment more effective to ease confusion, and could potentially be more relevant to viewers for longer.

Though if we just stick to Jobseeker, it might be harder for us to create a third ‘deliverable,’ as if were to go ahead with the podcast episode, we would risk producing something that might be a bit too similar to the piece to camera. We might be able to perhaps extend our infographics deliverable to work both on paper and on social media, especially Instagram. If we have the time, we could possibly also publish shorter cuts of our piece to camera, either to Instagram or TikTok.

As a group, we decided to push back against the decades of disinformation that the media and parts of the government create around social security payments, especially unemployment benefits. Constant talk of dole bludgers and job snobs make it easy for governments to cut funding from our social safety net without public push-back, and hard for people to access the help that they are entitled to as a citizen. While we didn’t find any specific Fact Check articles that looked at the stigma, we were able to find some that reinforced the reality that social security payments barely help their recipients make ends meet, let alone finance the supposedly luxury lives that the media and governments fabricate for these people.

It was difficult to organise as a group without being able to meet up in person, as we all had work and classes, and lived on opposite sides of the city, though I personally found it slightly easier than the previous piece to camera. Similar to my experience working on the other piece to camera, I found it hard to start writing things without others in the group writing their own parts. I’m sure there is some form of writing block there, but it could even just be that I need to be more assertive while doing groupwork. I found it a bit easier to assert myself this time around though, and felt like I could provide constructive ideas for the group. While at this stage, we have plenty of room for improvement, I believe that at the rate that we’re going, we should be able to produce great work for Assignment 4.

The other groups also had interesting topics, though I found the presentation on the COVID-19 vaccine rollout interesting. I think the assignment has the potential to assist those who may not have a clear understanding of the vaccine or the rollout. However, similar to us, they could run the risk of trying to put too much information into a single piece to camera. If they had the time, producing different ones for different questions – such as addressing vaccine hesitancy, and addressing the government’s role and actions – could be more effective than one video attempting to summarise everything. I am looking forward to seeing their final assignment.

I examined the article, Disinformation and the Media: the Case of Russia and Ukraine, which discusses the war between Russia and Ukraine, specifically the ways that social media manipulated the citizens of both countries.

The article starts by discussing the role that social media has in creating political change, particularly after the failures of the ‘Arab Spring’ and ‘Occupy’ movements; stating that these failures caused many researchers to dismiss social media’s significance. It pushes back against this skepticism, showing evidence of the ways that social media was used, by the government, media companies, and even citizens, to exacerbate conflict. It also looks at the changes in the media landscape since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, particularly in its various biases.

I found it interesting – albeit slightly scary – as I started seeing the ways that the social media landscape, as well as political discourse, in Australia, has a lot of similarities to both Russia and Ukraine, particularly in the way that ordinary citizens were creating and spreading disinformation just as widely, if not wider, than either traditional media, or ‘troll factories.’ I remember hearing on a podcast (possibly one of Wil Anderson’s) that most successful cult leaders and scammers have at least a small amount of belief in what they’re doing, which seems to tie in with the citizens’ actions.

The situation in Ukraine also resonated with me, with the authors stating that the regime change supporters claimed to be the ‘majority,’ even though much of the Ukrainian population were not online, and were unaware of the situation at hand. I have definitely seen this ‘echo chamber majority’ situation happening, both here in Australia, and worldwide. In many countries in South America, groups claiming to be ‘the majority’ often attempt to undermine populist left governments, and get favourable media coverage for it. Western left-wing movements, such as those supporting Bernie Sanders and Jeremy Corbyn, also seem to get stuck inside echo chambers, and have often not realised that they have not convinced anyone outside their circle to join in.

This article is useful for media students, especially journalism students, because it is able to show the ways that disinformation can be spread through social media, and the parallels between the lead-up to the Russo-Ukrainian War, and other political crises overseas.

References:

Mejias, U & Vokuev, N 2017, ‘Disinformation and the Media: the Case of Russia and Ukraine’, Media, Culture & Society, vol. 39, no. 7, viewed 19 April 2021, <https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0163443716686672>

After the Easter holidays, we recorded short news segments in the studio. It was an interesting experience working with professional equipment, as last year, we had to rely on whatever equipment we had at home. I felt like I was able to translate last year’s lessons to using the equipment in the studio. I also enjoyed working in different roles while other groups were recording their pieces.

We chose our story for a number of reasons. It’s a fairly complex story that has a complex verdict. This gave us an extra challenge for us to make the piece informative and engaging. Also, we wanted to avoid topics about COVID-19. While it’s relevant and would work well as a video, we just wanted something a bit different.

We wanted to examine the different definitions of what would be considered a subsidy, and how the differentiation can be deliberately used to misinform the public.

I believe that our piece was successful at communicating the difficult topic of subsidies as something concise and entertaining, but still detailed and informative. Sticking to the time guideline of 1.5-2 minutes was difficult when looking at the subject, but I think it’s the best amount of time for a video like this.

As the graphics computer and EVS machine malfunctioned, I edited the footage to add in the graphics and fades that we originally intended on using. If I was to edit this further, I would add some footage showing Matt Canavan’s quote with some B-roll, as well as some detailed graphics to go with the script.

To be honest, I feel like I could have contributed more to writing the script. As Callum originally thought that he was not going to make it to class, he offered to write the script for the task. While it can be difficult to work on a group assignment remotely, written work is probably one of the easiest things to work on collaboratively.

I watched Tom and James’ video based on Clive Palmer’s vocal skepticism of the COVID-19 vaccine. I appreciated that Tom was able to give a brief background of the issues preceding Palmer’s comments, as well as the early issues leading up to what has become a turbulent vaccine rollout in Australia. The segment was split up into different parts, reducing the risk of confusion from attempting to communicate different facts and details at the same time. Tom’s performance was clear and well-paced.

Uncompressed Edited Video

I enjoyed producing this interview. I visited my family in Canberra, and spoke to David – one of my friends from primary school – about my assignment, and he offered to help me with the interview. I ended up conducting it over Discord, as I left my equipment in Melbourne, but he also had a decent microphone, so he recorded his side of the call, so I didn’t have to worry about connection quality.

I chose this article from ABC Fact Check because I believe that stories about immigration, refugees, and ‘stealing jobs’ are popular for disinformation, because it is an emotive subject that is easy to use as bait, even for people who are supportive of the rights of refugees and immigration. The article also had a fairly clear verdict, which made it easier me to present to David, as I believe that it would be difficult to succinctly explain an article with a more ambiguous conclusion.

It is a bit heavy on technical language around visa types; though to be fair, Australia’s visa system is complicated, where seemingly small details can completely change what visa the applicant is eligible for. I have close family who work for the Department of Home Affairs’ visa team, and even they have trouble describing all the differences.

I also found it interesting to learn about how David consumes media, and how he checks facts. I was  a bit surprised that no one in class brought up using a smart speaker to consume the news; though I hope the stuff from Sky News isn’t just coming from their ‘After Dark’ programming. David seems very media-savvy, fact-checking any claims that come up.

Editing the recording was tedious though. While controls were straightforward; the creative side was a bit harder. Both David and I ramble, which meant that my recording was over twenty minutes long. This meant that I had to figure out what was important, slice and delete clips, and make sure I timed and crossfaded some cuts so it wouldn’t sound like an episode of Rock Bottom.

I believe that the audio form has the potential to be an effective method to present fact checks. It can be easily consumed in the background. It can also be adapted for different genres, or to focus on certain categories of facts.

The format can also be easily changed to suit different audiences. A podcast with short-form summaries or a talkback-style show would be as effective and engaging as a detailed, multi-episode epic involving interviews and thorough investigation.

References:

Bakir, V & McStay, A 2018, ‘Fake News and The Economy of Emotions’, Digital Journalism, vol. 6, no. 2, viewed 16 April 2021, <https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2017.1345645>

Gordon, J 2020, ‘Has the Government prioritised Australian workers through the migration program as Alan Tudge says?’, RMIT ABC Fact Check, 3 June, viewed 14 April 2021, <https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-03/fact-check-migrant-workers-457-temporary-visas/12299180>