Monday 1 May 2017

A constructive proposal against fake news

We would need a proper NGO that would support a reliable and secure website with a small, properly paid team. Anyone could here submit sites, news, youtube channels, etc. that are fake (alternative facts, conspiracy theories, simple falsehoods, misunderstandings, and so on) and harmful (anti-vaccination, healing cancer with flowers, etc.).

The team would check the sources and list them as unreliable if the claim had been substantiated. These would be added to a proper searchable list of sites. Anyone could do a quick search and know that bullshit is in the air.

On topics which require expert judgment professional institutions would be consulted, and expert opinions sought.

This could help a good deal in beating back the bullshit factory that had been unleashed in the recent decade.

Setting up and maintaing such a site wouldn't cost much, wouldn't be very hard to run, and could do a very valuable public service.

If there would be extra energy the site could give some digestable info on how pubication works these days in science, and some of the main methods of substantiating results and interpretations. The same could be done for solid, high quality journalism, providing some examples.

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