From:
Steven Clift
Date:
May 19 19:56 UTC
Short link
Does anyone know of a FactCheck.Org for Internet rumors about candidates?
As I've monitored reader comments on both national news sites and local
newspapers, there seems to be an industry of people dedicated to posting
this kind of stuff under various identities even if their posts only
remain up a few hours before being removed by the media sites.
I've also started receiving "is this true" e-mails from less political
friends with these types of rumors with an introduction along the lines
of "you are not going to believe this, but it is true ... tell everyone
you can before it is too late by forwarding this e-mail" notes.
This may be the real e-election both the good and terrible.
Steven Clift
DoWire.Org
From:
http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/611/story/448278.html
Posted on Tue, May. 13, 2008
Web fuels and facilitates the new politics of rumor-mongering
By MATT STEARNS - McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON --
Some things about Barack Obama rub some voters the wrong way.
"We don't need a Muslim," said Jannay Smith, a retiree from Kokomo, Ind.
"Who's to say if he gets in there what he'll do?"
Added Steve Shallenberger, a Kokomo electrician: "He's just calling
himself a Christian because he knows that's what we in Indiana want to
hear."
Then there's Sherry Richey, also from Kokomo: "He wouldn't put his hand
on the Bible; he wanted the Quran. He won't put his hand over his heart
during the anthem or say the Pledge of Allegiance. He's too un-American."
All of these slurs on Obama are categorically untrue.
Obama, the front-running Democratic presidential candidate, is a
Christian, has never been a Muslim, swore his Senate oath on the Bible,
says the pledge and generally puts his hand over his heart when he sings
the national anthem.
So why were people aware enough of current events to attend political
rallies in the days leading up to the Indiana primary saying such things?
They'd been misled by the Internet.
In the ugly new world of online political rumor-mongering, aggressive
Googling and e-mailing allow anyone to join the cacophonous
misinformation campaign against a politician - in this case, Obama.
Dirty tricks have been a part of politics for as long as there's been
politics. But the Internet has taken "the old-fashioned slanderous
whispering campaign to a completely new level," said Brooks Jackson, the
director of the Annenberg Political Fact Check, a nonpartisan
organization that monitors the truthfulness of political discussion.
"They are more dangerous and more insidious."
E-mails falsely claiming that Obama is a Muslim, that he took the oath
of office on a Quran and that he refuses to take the Pledge of
Allegiance have stormed inboxes. A newer e-mail has a picture, allegedly
of Obama posing with his African family, with the title "Say Hi to the
next potential first family."
In addition, virulently racist e-mails are making the rounds, too.
"These things have a heft to them that gives them a seeming credibility
that a verbal rumor wouldn't have," Jackson said. "You can replicate
them infinitely. We've all got crazy relatives or friends that are sure
they're right and the world's wrong. They just blast them out."
The anonymous nature of the Internet also makes the origins of the
allegations impossible to trace, Jackson said.
.... end clip ....