Cherry Picking – Page 4

Climate Communications: 60+ news outlets sign on to coordinated, global “Covering Climate Now” messaging campaign

September 22, 2019 Edward MS

Newspapers worldwide have agreed to jointly engage in a global Covering Climate Now project, where newspapers and other news outlets simultaneously use their advocacy journalism to persuade readers to take action on climate. This is indistinguishable from a global, coordinated propaganda operation and may back fire, turning people off from understanding and undertaking meaningful actions on climate issues.

Climate communications: Social media has gone insane over fires in the Amazon area of Brazil, with most posts being wrong

August 23, 2019 Edward MS

Social media has gone utterly insane about fires in the Amazon region of Brazil-virtually all of them contain false information. NASA points out that over their 15 year satellite-based observing history, the fire situation in the Amazon is average. But the falsehoods have blown up to the point that internationally known politicians are calling for action!

Social media is a bonfire of idiocy.

Fear is a powerful motivator in propaganda messaging: How its used to sell third party solar

February 19, 2019 Edward MS

Third party companies offer to install solar PV arrays on your home and promise to save you money on your monthly electric utility costs. Bloomberg found they use a mix of false assertions, lies, cherry picking and fear as sales methods, to persuade homeowners to sign up and lease the solar PV system for decades. Over time, the lease costs increase such that the homeowner spends far more in the future, while the third party company collects large government subsidies. Few homeowners understand what they got in to. When they go to sell their home, the lease is transferred to the buyer – in effect, TPO solar PV arrays become a dead weight on the home’s future sales potential, particularly to informed buyers who understand the game.

The “cherry picking” method of propaganda

January 22, 2019 Edward MS

Simple example of “cherry picking” use in propaganda messaging.

The headline: “Over half of Americans delay or don’t get health care because they can’t afford it”

November 29, 2018 Edward MS

The survey appears to have found that over half of Americans postpone preventative checkups when they are not experiencing any health problems which is different than avoiding seeking care for an active health care problem.

The distinction is that in many health care visits, a patient is experiencing something wrong and visits a provider to hopefully find a solution.

In a preventative check up, a patient goes to a provider and asks the provider to find something wrong with them.

NBC acknowledges news story headline was fiction

October 14, 2018 Edward MS

NBC makes a major error in reporting on a Trump speech and then retracts its claim, on Twitter – but leaves the original incorrect headline and incorrect video online. NBC News had the story completely wrong.

Staged photos used to illustrate a “news” story

September 16, 2018 Edward MS

The way to respond to accusations of fictional news reporting is to double down on accuracy, objectivity and remaining calm. Unfortunately, the news industry continues to harm itself through self destructive behavior typical of middle school drama. Here, an online magazine staged their photos to accompany an interview, down to providing the clothing worn by the subject being interviewed.

Social Panic

Opinion: Factfulness on propaganda, media, social media and privacy

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Category: Cherry Picking