Many of the things that keep our democracy healthy don’t appear in the Constitution or any federal law. President Obama made this point Monday when talking about an orderly transition from one presidency to the next:
“It’s not something that the Constitution explicitly requires but it is one of those norms that are vital to a functioning democracy, similar to norms of civility and tolerance and a commitment to reason and facts and analysis.”
The last few words of that sentence were the ones that caught my attention, and I started thinking about them again after reading an Op-Ed by Zeynep Tufekci.
Tufekci, a University of North Carolina professor, makes the case that Facebook is in denial about its role in spreading misinformation. During the presidential campaign, Facebook helped spread falsehoods — the Pope endorsed Trump! — to millions of people. Those falsehoods appeared in fake news articles, and Facebook did nothing to inform their users that the material in them was simply made up.
Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, has said it’s “pretty crazy” to believe that fake news influences people in any significant way, but Tufekci persuasively lays out evidence to the contrary. Multiple studies have shown — and common sense backs up — that Facebook influences opinions and behavior.
“These are not easy problems to solve, but there is a lot Facebook could do,” Tufekci wrote. “When the company decided it wanted to reduce spam, it established a policy that limited its spread.” The step that Facebook announced Monday— refusing to display advertisements in fake stories — isn’t sufficient.
The media is in the midst of a historical transition right now. Some old news sources are shrinking or disappearing, and others — many of which rely on Facebook — are rising. There is nothing wrong with this change. Our country has survived the fading of news powerhouses, like the Saturday Evening Post, Life magazine and live radio broadcasts, before.
But whatever forms the new information sources take, they do need to provide “reason and facts,” neither of which is partisan. A healthy democracy depends on it. As Thomas Jefferson said, the people need “full information of their affairs.” Zuckerberg, by believing that Facebook is staying neutral, has in fact made a damaging choice.
The full Opinion report from The Times follows, including Geoff Dembicki on generational war and climate change.
How How did the pollsters get it so wrong? They underestimated white turnout in rural areas and overestimated black and millennial voters
Until the eleventh hour predictions were that Hillary had an 85 percent chance of winning the election
Even Tuesday’s exit poll had Clinton winning almost everywhere at 5 p.m.
Trump supporters claim the speculators got it wrong because of partisan bias after the Republican won a stunning victory
‘People have been told that they have to be embarrassed to support Donald Trump, even in a telephone poll,’ says consultant Frank McCarthy
Of all major national surveys, the LA Times and IBD/TIPP tracking polls were the only two to call a Trump victory
Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight – which correctly called the last two elections – forecast a 66 per cent likelihood that Clinton will take the White House
CBS, ABC/Washington Post, Bloomberg, Rasmussen, Monmouth University and NBC News/Survey Monkey all got it wrong
The world’s first personal jet just received FAA certification. And with deliveries starting this year, it’s coming to an airport near you. How’s that for an early Christmas present?
Want to learn more about the Vision Jet? Check it out here.
The world’s first personal jet just received FAA certification.
Under glorious blue skies, 19,500 runners took advantage of Ireland’s Indian summer yesterday to compete in the Dublin City Marathon.
Now the fourth largest marathon in Europe, a record number of runners wound their way through the capital, with approximately 17,000 crossing the finishing line at Merrion Square.
Exhausted runners were given a hero’s welcome by family, friends and supporters at the finish line and were presented with a special medal commemorating the centenary of the 1916 Rising and the 37th annual run.
Among the competitors, aged between 18 and 86, it was a triumvirate of Ethiopians who crossed the finish line in record time.
Rat, locally called Diks, is said to be a very good local medicine for High Blood Pressure, even though most medical Doctors said they cannot confirm that claim.
We have heard many testimonies from friends and relatives that rat meat is effective for the treatment of high blood pressure; with some claiming that they have found it to be an effective palliative for arthritis. Some people from local communities have confirmed to us that the animal is a very powerful medicine for High Blood Pressure. They also told us that it has for long been used as good medicine by their forefathers, and is still benefiting them as well in various aspects.
Some people have even said that Medical Research Council MRC (Gambia Office) buys and uses ‘diks’ as a major element to cure High blood Pressure and probably other diseases. Observer Light went to the offices of the MRC in Fajara in an attempt to shed light on this matter; but the advanced health facility made it crystal clear that it has never gone into buying and using rats as a medicine to cure any disease.
We think it is important that people choose where to donate based on how they wish to help others the most. So, if you wish to help out, why not consider visiting The Gambia and take a flight to a …
Hold a Commercial Pilot's License with Land, Sea & Instrument ratings. I also hold a Flight Instructor's Rating and enjoy the privilege of taking to the skies. I love taking on part-time work ferrying light aircraft around Europe and North Africa and am always willing to help and assist developing student pilots when ever called upon. A great hobby and a part-time job I love !
Peter "Just Loves Flying" 
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