I. A TEDx video titled “Fake news and the future of journalism” by Prof. Robert Hernandez, Professor of Digital Journalism
I would recommend the TEDx video “Fake news and the future of journalism” by Prof. Robert Hernandez, Professor of Digital Journalism to the students because of the universal nature of the topic, its prophetic tone and its solution-providing approach. The video offers critical insights into the future of journalism by explaining the pervasiveness of fake news.
Given the spread of fake news across the globe, the topic has a universal appeal. Therefore, it would appeal to those who would like to understand the dynamics of journalism especially fake news. Through the rubber arm test, Prof. Hernandez demonstrates the ability to be persuaded even by something we know is fake. He also cites an example of a video speech of Barack Obama that surfaced in the wake of Orlando shootings, which turned out to be fake. He cites Trystan Harris:
“Technology is not neutral, and it becomes this race to the bottom of the brain stem of who can go lower to get it.” (10:42)
In a prophetic video, Prof. Hernandez understands the potential of technology and the possible threat it poses to the field of journalism. He understands how the spread of fake news is merely a nascent problem and can acquire uncontrollable dimensions in the age of “jouvrnalism” — when Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed Reality (MR) come into the picture. Mentioning a research conducted by Google News lab, he explains how the shift from “storytelling to story living” is imminent. In view of this larger picture, — he alerts the audience to the potential misuse of the software by projecting a video of “photoshop of the audio” — VoCo Adobe MAX 2016.
Prof. Hernandez also holds media accountable and mentions that there is an underpinning of a crisis of credibility faced by journalists in today’s “strange time” (00:22). Such is the extent that reporting is seen as a threat to the Republic. Therefore, he emphasises the sanctity attached to the profession. He does so by tracing the history of journalism and explaining how it had been placed at the same pedestal as priesthood.
The video also offers solutions to the problem too. Prof. Hernandez understands that responsibility is intricately linked to freedom. The solution, he suggests, will come from fidelity to the profession by being “accurate, credible and ethical”. Therefore, he implores them to become leaders by informing diverse communities. Prof. Hernandez exhorts everyone to rather become “critical media consumers” and the “voice of the voiceless”.
II. A TedEx video titled “How Fake News Grows in a Post-Fact World” by Ali Velshi, a media professional
We are living in an age of ‘informations’ – information, misinformation and disinformation. Therefore, I would recommend this video because it helps us understand the dynamics of fake news, its effect on the receiver, its technological dissemination and ways to encounter it. Velshi manages to convey all these complex concepts of journalism using humour.
Velshi helps us understand the layers of difference between misinformation and disinformation by citing examples. By providing an insider view, he recounts an instance when he forgot to add a “no” to a tweet. This act, according to Velshi, was not ‘misinformation’ but ‘disinformation’ as it didn’t have the intention to mislead the audience. On the other hand, the mere accusation of spreading fake news might cost credibility and consequently job to an established journalist.
Velshi succinctly explains how fake news crowds the real news. It blurs the boundaries between ‘real’ and ‘fake’ as the ‘fake’ often appears in the guise of ‘real’. Suggesting instances of ‘confirmation bias’, he explains how Trump supporters dismissed real news as ‘fake’ and accepted that Hillary Clinton ran a sex racket in the basement of a restaurant, which didn’t have a basement either.
The video also delves into the technological aspect, which facilitates the dissemination of fake news. Velshi explains how the system stores cookies and suggests similar stories to the advertiser through clickbait articles. The speaker mentions how these can lead to serious consequences if they spread hate.
Velshi also offers solutions by suggesting ways to not be deceived by fake news. The consumers of the internet, he feels, must check the source of a news by not being lazy. They must receive news from credible news sources as the traditional forms of journalism strive hard to verify facts.
III. The Language of New Media by Lev Manovich. Published by MIT Press. March 7, 2002
I would recommend this because the New Media has emerged as a prominent field in the recent times. The concept has baffled users and critics alike. Therefore, a need rises to make it comprehensible through theorisation. Lev Manovich makes a successful attempt in this direction through this book. He studies the New Media in terms of its components that add ‘newness’ to the term ‘New Media’. These include numerical representation, modularity, automation, variability and transcoding.
Manovich places the history of the New Media as a continuum in the tradition of visual and media cultures. However, he also highlights the distinctive factors such as interface and database and features such as menus, filters and plug-ins. He borrows terms from the concepts used in film theory, art history, literary theory and computer science. It is then that he appropriates those as per the ‘newsness’ of media — realism becomes ‘synthetic realism’, ‘image’ becomes ‘ synthetic image’, ‘action’ becomes ‘teleaction’.
In the last section of the book, Manovich situates the New Media in the history of movie image through the field of Digital Cinema. He discusses ingenious concepts that aim at blending these two. In this direction, he also coins terms such “cinegratography”, which is portmanteau of cinematic and graphic. At the end of the book, he tries to comprehend cinema as an “information space” and as a code.
In this way, the book looks at the overlaps of the New Media with the already existing forms of it rather than treating it in isolation. It is highly recommended given the fresh insights it offers into the field of New Media.
IV. Bakhtinian Perspectives on Language and Culture: Meaning in Language, Art and New Media. Edited by Finn Bostad, Craig Brandist, Lars Sigfred Evensen and Hege Charlotte Faber
I would recommend this book as the multi-disciplinary volume moves towards exploring the liminal spaces in Bakhtinian scholarship. It argues how the Bakhtin circle is still relevant in the contemporary times. The book contains scholarly articles from varied disciplines such as jurisprudence, linguistics, technology, and visual arts. In this way, the work of the Bakhtin Circle is contested in relation to intellectual history, language theory, and an understanding of new media.
The book begins with the concept of ‘dialogism’ and presents it as an alternative theory of culture through the creation of meaning. It also attempts to comprehend the overlaps between theory of language and philosophy. Ethical and poetic perspectives are weaved into one to provide a newer understanding using Bakhtinian concepts of dialogue, polyphony, carnival and laughter. In a refreshing approach, one of the contributors Per Linell attempts a Bakhtinian analysis of non-Bakhtinian theories of language. He analyses “the monological theories in dialogical terms” (Linell, 114). The book concludes by trying to understand new technology and visual art through dialogue in the “electronic public space” (Bostad, 167) through the “semiotics of time, space and the internet” (Bostad, 167). The book is highly recommended as it lends a fresh breath of air in the Bakhtinian scholarship through its multi-disciplinary approach and its interpretation of the technology.
Bibliography
Bostad, Finn et al., ed. by. Bakhtinian Perspectives On Language And Culture_
Meaning in Language, Art and New Media. 1st ed., Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.
Manovich, L. The Language of New Media. MIT Press, 2010.
Talks, TEDx. “Fake News and the Future of Journalism | Robert Hernandez | TEDxKC.” YouTube, YouTube, 13 Sept. 2017, www.youtube.com/4XGTTKJJsEw. Accessed on 10 Feb 2020.
Talks, TEDx. “How Fake News Grows in a Post-Fact World | Ali Velshi | TEDxQueensU.” YouTube, YouTube, 09 May. 2017, www.youtube.com/ nkAUqQZCyrM. Accessed on 10 Feb 2020.
