Dr. Rosalind Warner discusses the changing landscape of media and truth, highlighting the role of technology, particularly social media bots and generative AI, in spreading misinformation. Key reasons for the proliferation of untruths include confirmation bias, conspiracies, and emotional resonance with audiences. The presentation advocates for compelling storytelling and better media literacy as solutions to combat the confusion between real and fake news.

1. Dr. Rosalind Warner
• Email:
rowarner@okanagan.bc.ca
• Rozwarner.com (All slides will
be posted)
• Twitter: @rwarner23

2. NEW WORLD OF UNTRUTH
•What has changed?
• Media, Tech and the Political Universe
•What hasn’t changed?
• Us, it’s US
•Top 6 Reasons Untruth Works
•What is to be done?

4. Sowing Doubt
Nearly two-thirds agree that
the average person cannot
distinguish good journalism
from falsehoods.
~ Edelman, Richard Edelman
Trust Barometer, page 3

5. What Has Changed? Technology
One out of five twitter accounts tweeting
about the election in 2016 were
bots.
~Coles

6. Technology + Human =
A Twitter persona account
can be purchased for less
than $1 in bitcoin
‘Sock puppets’
more
enthusiastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!

7. Deep Fakes
Video game
image ‘startling
visual proof’ of
US military
assisting the
Islamic State
……& news agencies are now using bots to
publish stories
…hackers are now including misinformation, including
digitally manipulated data, in legitimately leaked
dumps…

8. ChatGPT – Artificial Intelligence

9. What is Generative AI?
BuzzBots
write the
news

10. What Hasn’t Changed? It’s Us….

11. Cameron
Harris
invents a
story and
makes $5000
Still Greedy

12. Illusory Truth
Repetition Belief in
Truthfulness
Still Gullible

13. Why Do We Share?
Because…it’s accurate….

14. In other words… It’s
accurate
Because
We
agree
with it
Because

15. False News is Shared Due to Inattention

16. The Media
Landscape

17. Politics
Literal denial vs. interpretive denial

18. None of this would (or perhaps should) really
matter…

19. Top 6 Reasons Untruth Works

20. Why Does it Work?
1. Confirmation Bias

21. 2. Big Lies
"If you do things a
little differently,"
[Trump] writes of the
media, "if you say
outrageous things
and fight back, they
love you."

22. 3. Conspiracies

23. Pizzagate

25. 4. Big Data
Cambridge Analytica ‘psychographic’
techniques used 5 Personality Traits
openness
extroversion
conscientiousness
agreeableness
neuroticism

26. Consequences
of the ‘Trust Crash’
63 percent of the U.S. general
population finds it difficult to distinguish
between what is real news and what is
fake.
~Edelman Trust Barometer
5. Doubt

27. Gary Lachman: "Dark Star Rising: Magick and Power
in the Age of Trump."
‘What feels true’
“A meme is some symbol, image,
phrase or little cultural unit or
concept that spreads.”
6. Emotion

28. What is to be Done?
Tell compelling stories…

29. Can technology make governments more democratic?

30. Be Like Finland…

31. ‘Fake news’?
…deception is more
sophisticated but may be
becoming less effective

32. Thank You!
Questions?