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When people talk about fake news, they often say the problem is social media. This characteristically lets mainstream media off the hook. But fake news - such as security guard sex in quarantine hotel - reported by âlegitimateâ news sites spreads across media. A thread
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Iâm not sure who the first journalist was who reported rumour that security guard caught covid in Victorian quarantine hotel by having sex with guest. People are saying it was Herald Sun. Whoever it was, they did it without verifying if information was credible - true - or not.
One of the most important steps in journalism is verification of source information. Whether journo who spread the rumour heard it from a mate or just made it up, they didnât have evidence that it was true (because itâs not true). Yet they still published it, and then it spread.
As Iâve found with my research, journos have their own narratives, sometimes politically motivated, and they include and emphasise information that fits that narrative. The âsecurity guard sexâ fit the âletâs bash Andrewsâ narrative so it was thrown into the mix with no checking.
Technically, no other journalist or commentator should be publishing rumours printed by other outlets without doing their own verification. But thatâs where the in-group culture of mainstream media becomes a major problem. They trust each other, are friends with each other.
They all think journalists are broadly âcredibleâ. Even when those journalists work for outlets like Murdoch who are known to have a political agenda and a slippery relationship with quality journalism. They still think their journalistic integrity is in tact - so they trust them
This means once false information is published or broadcast by one outlet, it is picked up as âcredibleâ and not verified by other outlets. The story is now âout thereâ. Audience assumes itâs true because we believe the media wouldnât publish it if it wasnât. We get tricked.
The other influence on the spread of false news is there is no serious consequence for publishing unchecked information. We can complain on social media. They get a mention on Media Watch. But the damage is already done. Public have accepted false news as fact.
Itâs incredibly hard to change the public narrative once demonstrably false information has been repeated by various news outlets. Even when you try to correct the record, the public shrug and say âtheyâre just lying to make up for their liesâ. Truth becomes an abstract concept.
Donât forget that the âDan Andrews has bungled hotel quarantineâ attack which has been unrelenting across all outlets was spread despite Andrews saying over and over again âletâs wait to see what the inquiry findsâ. Well the inquiry found first infected person was night manager.
There is no evidence of wrong doing with this night manager. We know how infectious this disease is. This person could have walked through some droplets in the air, in lobby, picked it up off a surface. There is some evidence security guards werenât being careful enough with PPE.
The night manager passed on the virus to security guards and thatâs how it got into the community. This is not how the public will remember the âVictorian waveâ. Theyâll remember Dan Andrews being attacked over private security guards hired to guard guests in hotel quarantine.
All this stuff matters. It also matters that when social media complains about terrible journalism, we are the ones framed as the villains. We can see how the media uses rumours to attack political leaders unfairly. We can see the political motives here. We are not stupid. End.
