The Federal Week in Review: A Fake News Test

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Air date: 
Tue, 01/10/2017 - 8:00am to 9:00am
Abe uses a popular social media post to test for fake news.

A popular left-leaning post, "The Federal Week in Review," has been making the rounds on social media. It's red meat for liberals -- it plays right into lefty beliefs and fears about the Trump White House and the post-Enlightenment GOP Congress. But it is entirely unattributed. Is it real, or is it fake news? Why does it matter? Abe shares the results of his fact-checking.

 

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Comments

Abe emphasizes the need for thorough fact-checking and that he fact-checked all of the points
raised in the article. I learned a lot from this discussion though it would have been helpful to have Joe Uris present to challenge some of Abe's conclusions.

Abe's analysis should itself be analyzed for fact vrs. hearsay. Point #1 was partially disputed by a caller which Abe graciously acknowledged. However, I was most alarmed by how he covered the point regarding the alleged Russian hacking. Basically, Abe said that it was true because everyone knows its true and that Putin is a dictator in perpetuity. In fact there are very reputable pundits on the left that dispute these claims. I was hoping for a through analysis of the issue and maybe getting some broader insight. In fact the CIA , FBI, and NSA summaries presented to the public (who knows what they said to Trump and Obama!) follow a similar line of argument as Abe: "it's true because we say it is true and if we say the same thing enough times even the Progressives will think it is true.

The anti-Russia rhetoric and propaganda is the most dangerous turn of events in the last few years by both the neo-liberals, conservatives and fascist oriented politicians.

The fallacy that because seven of the eight points are true, the eighth point must also be true is in itself a propaganda technique.

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