Author: Fake News Fighter

A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week. None of these are legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. The Associated Press checked them out. Here are the facts:

False claims target Bible used for Biden’s presidential inauguration

CLAIM: President Joe Biden swore on a “Masonic/Illuminati” Bible during his inauguration last week.

THE FACTS: Following Biden’s inauguration, false social media posts spread about the Bible he used to take his oath of office. Some social media users falsely suggested that the several-inches thick Bible, a Biden family heirloom, was “Masonic” or associated with an Illuminati conspiracy. Conspiracy theorists suggest the Illuminati, a purported secret society, wants world domination. Freemasons, a fraternal organization, have been the subject of conspiracy theories since the group was founded over 300 years ago. Some founding fathers were even part of the group. “Sooo has anyone else realized this yet or???? Masonic/Illuminati Bible that Biden swore on yesterday…” wrote one Facebook user along with a photo of Biden’s hand on the Bible. The false post had 19,000 shares.

But in fact, Biden was sworn in on a
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During the last four years, we have heard the term “fake news” many times from President Donald Trump and his supporters. It was often applied to any opposition or criticism of Trump’s policies and behavior.

This was an easy way to avoid answering criticism since it did not require dealing directly with the issues. The effect of this approach on his followers was to breed distrust of anyone or anything that opposed Trump’s statements or policies.

This idea of “fake news” said in effect that all opposition was corrupt, was lying and deliberately deceiving the public. It said that you couldn’t trust news reports, politicians with contrary opinions or anyone that was opposed to Trump’s views. I believe that this has contributed significantly to the disbelief by many Trump supporters that he lost the election.

The distrust of experts and scientists promulgated by Trump contributed to the seriousness of the pandemic. It also
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No Fake News here!

Yeah, right.

Maybe it’s ALL Fake News here …

Anyway, we all know what Fake News is. It’s the information you get that isn’t true, but it sounds so absurd, you think it’s true.

Some of you do.

The problem is, Fake News is everywhere.

For example, go stand in the line at the supermarket. No, the Fake News is not coming from the customers or the store workers. It’s coming from the scandalous newspapers you can read because they’re on a stand next to the checkout line.

For example, the National Enquirer is well known to be the King (or Queen or President) of Fake News. So, for the first time in my old life, I bought one. Secretly. I paid cash, so they can’t trace the National Enquirer to me.

Anyway, I read today that you can SWEAR YOURSELF INTO SHAPE!

That’s what it said in this week’s Enquirer. That if you swear out loud while playing basketball, you can perform better, run faster, score more points. (Maybe that’s because the person who’s guarding you is surprised to hear you cussing so much.)

Anyway, the National Enquirer is not the only Fake News source.

There are some TV networks that seem to specialize in Fake News.

And, there’s always Facebook.

Some people don’t take a newspaper, so they just believe everything they read on Facebook. It’s their only source of news, so it has to be true. (I didn’t say these are smart people.)

We can’t blame Facebook, exactly. It’s the writers who send in Fake
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By DAVID CHAUVIN //

Like millions of Americans, I paused my normal routine Jan. 20 to watch the swearing-in of President Joe Biden. And like so many Americans, I was struck by the unusual circumstances surrounding the event.

The absence of crowds. The preponderance of facemasks. The manual disinfecting of the lectern between speakers. And of course, the throngs of National Guard soldiers – a stark reminder that only two weeks prior, those same U.S. Capitol steps were the site of a domestic terrorist attack, sure to live on as one of the saddest days in our nation’s history.

The inaugurations of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were rooted in over two centuries of tradition – but completely unique to this moment in history.

One part of the event seemed at least comfortably familiar (and no, I’m not talking about the Bernie memes). Joe Biden’s inaugural speech was befitting a politician that built his successful presidential campaign on a promise to return to “normalcy.”

President Biden’s speech struck a familiar balance of optimism and pragmatism, celebration and portents to the challenges ahead. A few lines, however, stood out – and I’ve been thinking a lot about what they mean for our industry and our responsibility as communication professionals.

David Chauvin: Fake punt.

The president
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PANDEMONIUM – Amid the sprawling fields of rocky terrain, with few distinguishing landmarks or features, there sits a massive stone complex, equivalent to the great fortresses of old. The exact features are tough to make out due to the haze, smoke and the interplay of fiery light and excessive darkness. It is here that we at Totally Not Fake News came to speak to the apparent power behind all the pratfalls that keep bedeviling the Texans as of late.

“Funny that you used that word,” noted our host, Lucifer. “I don’t know if I would quite say that, but ok, I get the literary turn of phrase.” Despite our protests that we hadn’t even thought of our writing, Lucifer chuckled “Don’t worry, it will be ok. I won’t sue for libel just because you went with the unintentional pun.”

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MANHATTAN, Kan. (KSNT) – Your phone rings with a notification. You immediately grab it, consuming more information.

This repeatedly occurs throughout our day, constantly causing us to ask ourselves, “Is this true?”

“That becomes taxing itself because you are playing the security, the filter, for yourself, and then you get tired and eventually you start to pull back or become exhausted with informational overload,” said Tony Kubina, licensed clinical psychotherapist for Ascension Via Christi in Manhattan.

Discovering if this post, article, email or other source is truly fact or fiction can be difficult. According to a 2019 study from Ipsos, 86% of online users admitted to falling for fake news.

Cubina recommended being critical of all the information you see, thinking ‘Am I or the source of the information biased in any way?’ or ‘Is this moreso opinion compared to fact?’

“If you look at that information less skeptically it means you’re really, really prone to having that misinformation kind of sink in and end up simply affirming something that may not be true,” said Dr. Michael Young, head of Kansas State University’s Department of Psychological Sciences.

If you continue to do this, Young said false information can lead to real consequences, such as on your career, physical or mental health, or loved ones and our country as a whole.

“It’s not just our personal wellbeing but it affects our relationships with others when I start believing things that are different from you,” Young said. “Then I start thinking that
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A recent study by the Pew Research Center found 43% of American adults got their political news from internet-based sources, 18% from social media.