Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Africa Trending (27): BBC Verifies “Fake News” on Cameroon

Fake News is the two faced sword introduced by the digital age. Like the digital exploitation by some intellectuals to reap profits for research not done many will continue to use fake news to avoid taking responsibility.

It behoves ALL to assume a parallel condition to the postmodern condition which I would call the digitized condition in the evaluation of any material presented.

Yes, the digitized condition of mind is akin to the suspension of disbelief which makes literary critics differentiate reality from verisimilitude no matter how similar.

A very piece of news from government or pressure group will now need to pass through the digitized condition of mind for its evaluation for the working through ( as done by the BBC) to arrive at authenticity.  Nothing can ever be taken at face value again until it has been subjected to this phase of ' working through" of information.  

The news consumer as subject can never be the same as the previous subject who expects everything to have been neatly and accurately processed for his right to know.  For along the chain of gathering and dissemination purposefully or inadvertently information could have been corrupted.  This for the news consumner is the age of active participation.

That age publicly started in the UK around 1988/89 when a newspaper advert for a Ford showroom digitally removed the heads of Asian members of the team to graft white heads in order not to offend the taste and sensibilities of the more well heeled white patrons to the former's loud protests. 

Only a company manifesting a death wish would try the same antics now with the large slice  of the UK economy the Asian comnunity has cornered for itself that it could influence Brexit, become the first ethnic minority Mayor of London and the first ethnic minority Home Secretary.

OAA

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

-------- Original message --------

From: Toyin Falola <toyinfalola@austin.utexas.edu>

Date: 30/09/2018 02:46 (GMT+00:00)

To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Africa Trending (27): BBC Verifies "Fake News" on Cameroon

Is "fake news" not a methodology?
Why do we study fiction, which is fake?
TF



Toyin Falola
Department of History
The University of Texas at Austin
104 Inner Campus Drive
Austin, TX 78712-0220
USA
512 475 7224
512 475 7222 (fax)
http://sites.utexas.edu/yoruba-studies-review/
http://www.toyinfalola.com
http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa 
http://groups.google.com/group/yorubaaffairs
http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue  

On 9/29/18, 8:28 PM, "usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com on behalf of Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso" <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com on behalf of jumoyin@gmail.com> wrote:

    I couldn't agree more, sir. I have been equally alarmed at the recent tendency of partisan individuals in Nigeria, aping Donald Trump, to dismiss verifiable but uncomfortable realities put forward by (admittedly sometimes lazy) Nigerian media houses. When the news does not fit their own conclusions, it is fake! And by insisting on this perspective, we are made to doubt the very validity of our own existence and experiences, and to censor one another when responsible free expression should be expanding. Very dangerous trajectory.
   
    Let me share this, from Conversations:
   
    https://theconversation.com/the-term-fake-news-is-doing-great-harm-100406
   
    "An accusation that something is "fake news" seeks to be associated with striving to maintain truth, objectivity and critical thinking – but the effect of its repeated use is to undermine those very values. This undermining has several mechanisms: allegations of fakery sap public trust in legitimate news institutions and intellectual insults crowd out reasonable discourse."
   
    --
    Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
    To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
    To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com 
    Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
    Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
    ---
    You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
    To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
    For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
   

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com 
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.