When we think about "Cyberwar," we often think about power stations blowing up and satellites deorbiting. So far, we have not seen much of this regarding the war in Ukraine. But as Russian troops close in on Kyiv, a "Cyberwar" plays out on social media and has a substantial impact. It can be argued that public opinion and aid for the government in Kyiv are shaped by social media posts of brave Ukrainians resisting insurmountable odds.
Let's look at the opening paragraph of this post to see what indicators of bias it includes:
Every post you see and every article or report has a bias. The above indicators are simplistic, and you will have to read between the lines to understand an author's bias. Consider omitted details. It is often more telling if you look at what is not said. A few techniques I have observed in social media posts this week:
Here are a few tricks to deal with this:
Even without any malicious intent, the news is often misrepresented—for example, translation errors. You may have heard the recent news about a "40 miles column of tanks". Some sources indicated that the "40 miles" didn't refer to the convoy's size but the distance from Kyiv. Another issue, even for native English speakers, is the word "casualties." Many understand it as the number of people killed. But it more commonly includes injured individuals as well. Misinterpretation can often lead to vastly different conclusions. It is always best to start by establishing some ground truth. For example, becoming familiar with the geographic location, things like weather, and local customs and culture. Best to consult pre-event sources to learn about this. This will also better enable you to judge commentary. [The image above shows a crashed Star Wars "Tie Fighter." This image is often used to make fun of reports of destroyed tanks. The best I can tell, it comes from this clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0U9KwHa0jQ. But I think it may have been part of a commercial aired in Germany at some time. As far as the saying goes, "the more often something is repeated, the more true it becomes": There are several different sources that the phrase is attributed to. Not going to attempt to resolve this. But I did not come up with it.] --- |
Johannes 4515 Posts ISC Handler Mar 2nd 2022 |
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Mar 2nd 2022 4 months ago |
That Tie Fighter video was was shown several times during Israel's Channel 13 News’ broadcasts on the Russian invasion:
https://www.allisrael.com/israeli-news-channel-mistakenly-airs-star-wars-scene-as-part-of-ukraine-war-coverage |
Anonymous |
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Mar 2nd 2022 4 months ago |
Great post, thank you. Reminds me of the MediaSmarts Bias in News Sources training. The curriculum is aimed at Grade 9-12, but is applicable at the adult level and has never been more relevant.
Their website is a bit web 2.0, but their content is great, just like ISC =) https://mediasmarts.ca/sites/default/files/pdfs/lesson-plan/Lesson_Bias_News_Sources.pdf For those concerned with bias in their bias training, I encourage you to check out MediaSmarts lineage and partners. |
Anonymous |
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Mar 3rd 2022 4 months ago |
'When we think about "Cyberwar," we often think about power stations blowing up and satellites deorbiting. So far, we have not seen much of this regarding the war in Ukraine'
Well, speaking about satellites and energy sector tiems, let's not forget the KA-SAT satellite network disruption starting Thursday, February 24th early morning, which affected affecting a couple of thousands wind turbines... |
S3cN3tSys 4 Posts |
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Mar 4th 2022 4 months ago |
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