Interesting People mailing list archives
Re Atlantic: What Facebook Did to American Democracy, and why it was so hard to see it coming
From: "Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com>
Date: Sun, 15 Oct 2017 15:27:11 -0400
Begin forwarded message:
From: Dan Gillmor <dan () gillmor com> Date: October 15, 2017 at 2:22:01 PM EDT To: dave () farber net Subject: Re: [IP] Re Atlantic: What Facebook Did to American Democracy, and why it was so hard to see it coming Jean Camp is correct about this, of course. But as bad at the Times was during the campaign -- and it was just awful overall, though it's recovered some of its honor since the election -- there's was a much more pervasive and malign contributor to the Trump campaign: television, and especially televsion "news" shows. Trump's "reality-TV" stardom had a lot to do with a large segment of the public believing in an entirely phony personality. Then he was amplified by CNN, in particular, which led the TV news pack in giving Trump several billion dollars worth of free, unedited airtime in 2015-16. You may even remember the videos an empty podium with announcers breathlessly saying Trump was about to speak, plus lavish and absolutely uncritical (until quite late) live-airing of his speeches he filled with lies and contempt. It wasn't just CNN. It was all of the TV "news" programming for the longest time. They did it for money. Trump was a draw, and they could make big money from advertisers by promoting his campaign. In early 2016, the head of CBS said something that absolutely characterized what was going on in the boardrooms and executive suites of the cable and broadcast "news" companies: "The money's rolling in and this is fun...It may not be good for America, but it's damn good for CBS." That may be the epitaph for journalism in the Trump era.On 10/15/2017 10:51 AM, Dave Farber wrote: Begin forwarded message:*From:* L Jean Camp <ljeanc () gmail com <mailto:ljeanc () gmail com>> *Date:* October 15, 2017 at 1:11:56 PM EDT *To:* Dave Farber <dave () farber net <mailto:dave () farber net>> *Cc:* ip <ip () listbox com <mailto:ip () listbox com>> *Subject:* *Re: [IP] Atlantic: What Facebook Did to American Democracy, and why it was so hard to see it coming* *Reply-To:* ljeanc () gmail com <mailto:ljeanc () gmail com> Thank you for that article. However, in our focus on Facebook we are failing to address the role of the traditional press. It was not only these new social technologies but the reliable core press that amplified Russian efforts and destroyed factual discourse in this election. Facebook is important but let us recognize that America's three-letter police force tipped this election, working with the tradition press. Every American who read the NYTimes went to the polls believing that Hillary Clinton was corrupt and the focus of an an active FBI investigation, and also believing that the FBI has reviewed all Russian contacts with Trump, that his integrity on that issue was complete. None of this would have worked or mattered without the NYTimes excessive focus on Clinton Has Scandal or their approach to Comey. It is clear the FBI payed as much of a role in this election as Facebook. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-comey-letter-probably-cost-clinton-the-election/ We need to talk about both of these things. We cannot hold the FBI or the NYTimes accountable if we choose to ignore this. Russia/Brexit worked because of the Guardian and the Intercept. Trump/Russia worked because of the NYTimes and the FBI. I do not have a solution but we MUST address the problem. Ignoring the critical role of the NYTimes as the reliable voice of truth means that we are unilaterally disarming. Of course, the NYTimes was also critical in leading our country to a disastrous invasion... I released data bout Trump/Russia email server in October. In less than half an hour the NYTimes rolled out what was clearly a previously prepared story, "Investigating Donald Trump, F.B.I. Sees No Clear Link to Russia", killing the story. Normally I would not expose your list members to Wonkette, but I think only they have addressed the NYTimes with the proper respect: https://wonkette.com/610577/new-york-times-may-have-cleared-trump-of-russian-collusion-a-tad-prematurely Prof. L. Jean Camp http://www.ljean.com <http://www.ljean.com/> Make a Difference http://www.ieeeusa.org/policy/govfel/congfel.asp On Sat, Oct 14, 2017 at 1:39 PM, Dave Farber <farber () gmail com <mailto:farber () gmail com>> wrote: Begin forwarded message:*From:* Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com <mailto:lauren () vortex com>> *Date:* October 14, 2017 at 12:40:43 PM EDT *To:* nnsquad () nnsquad org <mailto:nnsquad () nnsquad org> *Subject:* *[ NNSquad ] Atlantic: What Facebook Did to American Democracy, and why it was so hard to see it coming* Atlantic: What Facebook Did to American Democracy, and why it was so hard to see it coming https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/10/what-facebook-did/542502/ <https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/10/what-facebook-did/542502/> Facebook's draw is its ability to give you what you want. Like a page, get more of that page's posts; like a story, get more stories like that; interact with a person, get more of their updates. The way Facebook determines the ranking of the News Feed is the probability that you'll like, comment on, or share a story. Shares are worth more than comments, which are both worth more than likes, but in all cases, the more likely you are to interact with a post, the higher up it will show in your News Feed. Two thousand kinds of data (or "features" in the industry parlance) get smelted in Facebook's machine-learning system to make those predictions.Archives <https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now> <https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/1961540-ecb5e68f> | Modify <https://www.listbox.com/member/?&> Your Subscription | Unsubscribe Now <https://www.listbox.com/unsubscribe/?&&post_id=20171015135131:785D2E26-B1D1-11E7-8E16-D075763ACABA> [Powered by Listbox] <http://www.listbox.com>-- Dan Gillmor dangillmor.com/about +1.650.868.7528 +1.650.353.2928 (Signal messaging works on both.)
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- Re Atlantic: What Facebook Did to American Democracy, and why it was so hard to see it coming Dave Farber (Oct 15)
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- Re Atlantic: What Facebook Did to American Democracy, and why it was so hard to see it coming Dave Farber (Oct 15)