Does Anyone Else See The Humor Here?

[rogue06]

I think the humour is more obvious if you have been trained to accept the word ‘fake’ as proof that news so labelled is false. It doesn’t mean that to me - I am suspicious of people who fend off criticism that way. It never used to be that simple.

It is not difficult to find reliable news sources, but I agree that there is a lot of garbage out there.

The concept of "fake news" would not be so widely accepted if it wasn't so prevalent.

If you don't like the term maybe you should stick with what it used to be called since it was just as accurate -- lies and propaganda.

[rogue06]

Any one of them would have the same effect. I think FF above was offended because it was the BBC who shut down (with the horrible explanation), but it could have been Fox or Newsmax or OAN just as well.

Pretty much. In the case of CNN it appears that someone was releasing fake CNN news videos which included the CNN banner. I can't help but think that if they wanted to give their bogus news clips an air of legitimacy they should have used someone else besides CNN.

[Hypatia_Alexandria]

So, you can't address what I said. No surprise.

I did address your final sentence.

[Hypatia_Alexandria]

The concept of "fake news" would not be so widely accepted if it wasn't so prevalent.

If you don't like the term maybe you should stick with what it used to be called since it was just as accurate -- lies and propaganda.

Look to your own country's recent history for the promulgation of fake news and alternative facts. AKA lies and propaganda.

[rogue06]

Perhaps Russia fighting "fake" news will temper liberals here who want to censor "fake" news once they realize that such censorship means placing trust in potentially corrupt people to determine what is and is not "fake".

The folks fabricating the fake news establish their own "fact checkers" which declare it to be real, and the politicians that benefit from it seek to protect it with laws punishing those who question it.

[rogue06]

It makes my point.

And getting bopped atop the noggin can also create a point -- on the top of your head.

[CivilDiscourse]

I did address your final sentence.

No, you really didn't.

[rogue06]

Look to your own country's recent history for the promulgation of fake news and alternative facts. AKA lies and propaganda.

We spent over five years watching it first hand. From one dud "bombshell" revelation after another to "mostly peaceful" and "fiery but peaceful" protests. From "false but true" (which brings up earlier things like Ra^thergate) to the Cuomo brothers love fest on CNN, to the paying out of multi-million dollar lawsuits to people defamed in order to push a narrative. We've seen more than our share. And as the censoring of the Hunter Biden lap top story showed, it isn't just what they often say that is categorically false, but also what the keep out of the news (even censoring others who do report on a story) in order to protect those they favor.

[Juvenal]

The humor is what is implied.

BBC Suspends Reporting in Russia After New Law

https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/bbc...aw-2022-03-04/

I’m a big fan of unintentional irony, but this fits firmly in the “too soon” bucket. This law hasn’t merely inconvenienced foreign news outlets, it’s forced the last non-state media outlets in Russia to close down.

And second, not that it matters much considering the first, this isn’t the Beeb putting their foot in it, it’s a Reuters summary that could have benefited from a tad less brevity.

[Ronson]

I think the humour is more obvious if you have been trained to accept the word ‘fake’ as proof that news so labelled is false. It doesn’t mean that to me - I am suspicious of people who fend off criticism that way. It never used to be that simple.

It is not difficult to find reliable news sources, but I agree that there is a lot of garbage out there.

OK, we'll leave it there.

[Ronson]

No it doesn't. That is your own bias [known to me from previous exchanges elsewhere] against the BBC.

I mention elsewhere here that it could have been any news source.

However, do remember that for all the present faults across the BBC in general, the BBC Word Service is still regarded around the world as one of the most honest and balanced radio broadcasters.

It is now using shortwave to broadcast to Russia so that those who possess a shortwave radio can listen.

[Ronson]

Despite the long standing attempts by various governments [predominantly Conservative] and their main media supporter [Rupert Murdoch] to destroy, undermine, demonise, and privatise the BBC it remains a non-state outlet of news. Unlike the present situation in Russia.

Do you honestly believe there is no anti Israel slant at the BBC?

[Ronson]

I’m a big fan of unintentional irony, but this fits firmly in the “too soon” bucket. This law hasn’t merely inconvenienced foreign news outlets, it’s forced the last non-state media outlets in Russia to close down.

And second, not that it matters much considering the first, this isn’t the Beeb putting their foot in it, it’s a Reuters summary that could have benefited from a tad less brevity.

Granted, assuming Reuters did not edit Davie's comments.

ETA: OK, it was far lenghtier than the BBC tweet

https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/20...rn-to-bbc-news

[Juvenal]

It’s now illegal for anyone to call the invasion a “war” in Russia. This is now deemed “fake news” and has been made illegal, with penalties of up to 15 years in prison. These penalties apply to foreign journalists as well. That resonates with me. I’ve accidentally found myself in war zones while traveling in West Africa carrying press credentials. I wasn’t even a war correspondent, but getting past those checkpoints was scary.

No question, they were extremely interested in whose side I was on.

I can’t even imagine what it would be like if this was happening inside my own country, making journalism and truth-telling a crime.

But if you don’t report it, and especially if you’re not allowed to report it, this is what happens:

Ukrainians Find That Relatives in Russia Don’t Believe It’s a War
Many Ukrainians are encountering a confounding and frustrating backlash from family members in Russia who have bought into the official Kremlin messaging.
.

LVIV, Ukraine — Four days after Russia began dropping artillery shells on Kyiv, Misha Katsurin, a Ukrainian restaurateur, was wondering why his father, a church custodian living in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod, hadn’t called to check on him.

“There is a war, I’m his son, and he just doesn’t call,” Mr. Katsurin, who is 33, said in an interview. So, Mr. Katsurin picked up the phone and let his father know that Ukraine was under attack by Russia.

“I’m trying to evacuate my children and my wife — everything is extremely scary,” Mr. Katsurin told him.

He did not get the response he expected. His father, Andrei, didn’t believe him.

“No, no, no, no stop,” Mr. Katsurin said of his father’s initial response.

“He started to tell me how the things in my country are going,” said Mr. Katsurin, who converted his restaurants into volunteer centers and is temporarily staying near the western Ukrainian city of Ternopil. “He started to yell at me and told me, ‘Look, everything is going like this. They are Nazis.’”

As Ukrainians deal with the devastation of the Russian attacks in their homeland, many are also encountering a confounding and almost surreal backlash from family members in Russia, who refuse to believe that Russian soldiers could bomb innocent people, or even that a war is taking place at all.

These relatives have essentially bought into the official Kremlin position: that President Vladimir V. Putin’s army is conducting a limited “special military operation” with the honorable mission of “de-Nazifying” Ukraine. Mr. Putin has referred to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, a native Russian speaker with a Jewish background, as a “drug-addled Nazi” in his attempts to justify the invasion.

Those narratives are emerging amid a wave of disinformation emanating from the Russian state as the Kremlin moves to clamp down on independent news reporting while shaping the messages most Russians are receiving.

[Ronson]

It’s now illegal for anyone to call the invasion a “war” in Russia. This is now deemed “fake news” and has been made illegal, with penalties of up to 15 years in prison. These penalties apply to foreign journalists as well.

You may want to review the conversation starting here.