Is there a campaign of deliberate misinformation

[Zamo 10]

I was reading this article in the Independent today which suggests that on key issues the public are woefully misinformed. Key issues like benefit fraud (where people grossly overestimated the extent of).

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/british-public-wrong-about-nearly-everything-survey-shows-8697821.html

 

Some on here talk of the mediabeing inthrall to the 'politically correct liberal elite', but surely when media outlets are deliberately skewing information so that the public are calling for clampdowns on benefits this suggests that the media are biased to the right. And is this deliberate & co-ordinated, or just a coincidence?

Whay do people think?

 

When you look at the questions asked by the Independent then you have to question how independent they are and whether they are just as guilty as anyone for skewing information to advance their political beliefs.

 

Notice the theme of the questions - immigration, benefits, teen pregnancies and crime. Why is it that the only myths they set out to dispel are ones relating to issues that the public general regard as the parties on the right being tougher on? Note the lack of challenge re myths that benefit parties on the left. Strange isn't it that they didn't also seek to dispel the myth that Labour are the champion of the poor when the gulf between the rich and poor increased whilst they were in power? Or the myth that it is always Tories privatising national assets when Labour were prolific with their sell-offs, PFIs and PPPs to fund their lavish spending habits? Or the myth that the rich are taxed less by the Tories when they are currently paying more than they did under Labour? Or that evil right wing politicians are only in it for themselves when the vast majority of expenses fiddling was carried out by Labour MPs?

 

Perhaps to statical lessons we should also add lessons on balanced reporting and practising what we preach?

[Cyclone 10]

Plenty of people on here seem to be able to identify when it's media spin or deliberate omission. So it can't be that effective a campaign.

[tzijlstra 11]

You will have to help me out here, I've just looked up information literacy but I didn't really understand how it would help me decide which story out of several is the truth.

 

I'd sooner support critical appraisal (rationalism, I suppose) by way of skill that needs (extra-)teaching.

 

My main criticism of mass media in the UK is not so much its bias (for one side of a story vs the other), as the increasingly vacuous and insular character of the events/information being reported.

 

Witness the ever increasing popularity of tabloid weeklies à la Closer, and what 'news' they are based on increasingly polluting mainstream news. Which modern social media trends and habits are not doing anything to mitigate.

 

I sometimes get this feeling when watching the news (BBC, C4, France24, France 2), that an idiocracy is just around the corner

 

Information literacy teaches you where to find information AND how to appraise it for its merit. It is effectively the skill that good desk-researchers use to establish fact, or at least fact as far it is possible to do so under empirical circumstances. (evaluation)

 

Someone with good information literacy is implied to be able to critically appraise whatever information is put in front of them.

 

There is some more information in this SCONUL PDF.

 

The problem with information literacy is that it is perceived to be a part of information management only, which is an outdated view - it is already finding its way into curricula across the world, a consequence of living in the Information Age.

 

---------- Post added 12-05-2014 at 15:14 ----------

 

Notice the theme of the questions - immigration, benefits, teen pregnancies and crime. Why is it that the only myths they set out to dispel are ones relating to issues that the public general regard as the parties on the right being tougher on?

 

Because these are highly politicised issues that are indeed the subject of plenty of misinformation?

[Anna B 1,417]

I'd sooner support critical appraisal (rationalism, I suppose) by way of skill that needs (extra-)teaching.

 

My main criticism of mass media in the UK is not so much its bias (for one side of a story vs the other), as the increasingly vacuous and insular character of the events/information being reported.

Witness the ever increasing popularity of tabloid weeklies à la Closer, and what 'news' they are based on increasingly polluting mainstream news. Which modern social media trends and habits are not doing anything to mitigate.

 

I sometimes get this feeling when watching the news (BBC, C4, France24, France 2), that an idiocracy is just around the corner

 

I have to agree with this.

 

For many people, if it isn't on the news, it isn't happening.

 

There is a great deal of political 'lying' by ommision, and 'good days to bury bad news' going on.

[ivanava 10]

Or that the answer is one of opinion and not of fact.

 

Yes in many cases it could be, but I was thinking more about statistics, were by each political party will claim a particular set of figures are the correct figures.

[Mister M 1,627]

When you look at the questions asked by the Independent then you have to question how independent they are and whether they are just as guilty as anyone for skewing information to advance their political beliefs.

 

Notice the theme of the questions - immigration, benefits, teen pregnancies and crime. Why is it that the only myths they set out to dispel are ones relating to issues that the public general regard as the parties on the right being tougher on? Note the lack of challenge re myths that benefit parties on the left. Strange isn't it that they didn't also seek to dispel the myth that Labour are the champion of the poor when the gulf between the rich and poor increased whilst they were in power? Or the myth that it is always Tories privatising national assets when Labour were prolific with their sell-offs, PFIs and PPPs to fund their lavish spending habits? Or the myth that the rich are taxed less by the Tories when they are currently paying more than they did under Labour? Or that evil right wing politicians are only in it for themselves when the vast majority of expenses fiddling was carried out by Labour MPs?

 

Perhaps to statical lessons we should also add lessons on balanced reporting and practising what we preach?

 

As the article in the Independent says the research was carried out by Ipsos Mori for the Royal Statistical Society and Kings College.

Are the RSS & Kings College trotskyites? Is there a secret agenda? I don't know. I merely put this on here as the 'metropolitan elite' who apparently run everything are obviously failing in their attempts to indoctrinate the public with Marxist propoganda if significant numbers of people believe that there are more people scrounging than there actually are.

Unless it is a double bluff....

[ivanava 10]

Information literacy teaches you where to find information AND how to appraise it for its merit. It is effectively the skill that good desk-researchers use to establish fact, or at least fact as far it is possible to do so under empirical circumstances. (evaluation)

 

Someone with good information literacy is implied to be able to critically appraise whatever information is put in front of them.

 

There is some more information in this SCONUL PDF.

 

The problem with information literacy is that it is perceived to be a part of information management only, which is an outdated view - it is already finding its way into curricula across the world, a consequence of living in the Information Age.

 

It must be something I am good at then even though I didn't know what it was.

[tzijlstra 11]

It must be something I am good at then even though I didn't know what it was.

 

Some of the information you use is rather dubious It is indeed a skill people can be quite natural at, it takes a high degree of critical awareness.

 

---------- Post added 12-05-2014 at 15:24 ----------

 

I have to agree with this.

 

For many people, if it isn't on the news, it isn't happening.

 

There is a great deal of political 'lying' by ommision, and 'good days to bury bad news' going on.

 

God I loved Yes Minister... what a show! And of course In the Loop - we need more of that sort of quality political commentary.

[Mister M 1,627]

When you look at the questions asked by the Independent then you have to question how independent they are and whether they are just as guilty as anyone for skewing information to advance their political beliefs.

 

Notice the theme of the questions - immigration, benefits, teen pregnancies and crime. Why is it that the only myths they set out to dispel are ones relating to issues that the public general regard as the parties on the right being tougher on? Note the lack of challenge re myths that benefit parties on the left. Strange isn't it that they didn't also seek to dispel the myth that Labour are the champion of the poor when the gulf between the rich and poor increased whilst they were in power? Or the myth that it is always Tories privatising national assets when Labour were prolific with their sell-offs, PFIs and PPPs to fund their lavish spending habits? Or the myth that the rich are taxed less by the Tories when they are currently paying more than they did under Labour? Or that evil right wing politicians are only in it for themselves when the vast majority of expenses fiddling was carried out by Labour MPs?

 

Perhaps to statical lessons we should also add lessons on balanced reporting and practising what we preach?

 

The questions weren't asked by the Independent - they were asked by the polling organisation Ipsos Mori, who were commissioned by the Royal Statistical Society and Kings College.

[rickiethecat 10]

I was reading this article in the Independent today which suggests that on key issues the public are woefully misinformed. Key issues like benefit fraud (where people grossly overestimated the extent of).

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/british-public-wrong-about-nearly-everything-survey-shows-8697821.html

 

Some on here talk of the mediabeing inthrall to the 'politically correct liberal elite', but surely when media outlets are deliberately skewing information so that the public are calling for clampdowns on benefits this suggests that the media are biased to the right. And is this deliberate & co-ordinated, or just a coincidence?

Whay do people think?

 

I know you're not the quickest on the uptake but this is old news. Your mate halibut started a thread on it nearly a year ago and you were one of the first people to reply to it!

 

http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1195741

 

Looks like senility's setting in, Mister M!

[Mister M 1,627]

I know you're not the quickest on the uptake but this is old news. Your mate halibut started a thread on it nearly a year ago and you were one of the first people to reply to it!

 

http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1195741

 

Looks like senility's setting in, Mister M!

 

Thanks for reminding me of this Rikki but it was nearly 12 months ago....

[ivanava 10]

Some of the information you use is rather dubious It is indeed a skill people can be quite natural at, it takes a high degree of critical awareness.

 

But all backed up by multiple reputable websites.