It makes me wonder how much "political theatre" slips right under our noses. The only reason this one was ever called out as fake is that it was too good/bad to be true. What if it were just mediocre?
I run a mildly-popular breaking news Twitter account, and as soon as something big starts to happen there are a lot of people trying to influence the story on their behalf. Spammers want to drive traffic, political parties and partisan hacks start to swing the story their way, governmental PR agencies start going to work, etc.
It's always interesting to use a Google reverse image search or TinEye on any stock photography used to stir up emotions in journalism and see if they actually came from the event the are purported to. Even some of the most well-established and reputable news sites will pull out old stock footage that looks good to spice up an event.
For example, there are currently thousands of people protesting a failed trade agreement with the UN on the main square in Kyiv, Ukraine. Instantly on Twitter there are "pictures of protestors" that a quick search proves are actually of Russian gangsters from 2008. Or "pictures of the protestors from today" that are really protestors from the Orange Revolution on the same square in 2005. Russia Today was saying a "couple thousand" focused the debate on the Lenin statue (not the couple hundred thousand protesting what was essentially a pro-Russian government), etc.
We are deceived (probably myself included) much more frequently than we let on or are aware. The number of reporters out there aren't enough to uncover and dispel the lies and rumors that are spreading rapidly with nearly every news event. There's just too much happening too fast.
"It makes me wonder how much 'political theatre' slips right under our noses. ... Spammers want to drive traffic, political parties and partisan hacks start to swing the story their way, governmental PR agencies start going to work, etc."
In fact, there was an example of political theater in the news just yesterday which came from the highest levels of our government:
Seymour Hersh Alleges Obama Administration Lied on Syria Gas Attack
NYC has certainly had a lot of issues with gentrification and skyrocketing rents, but I don't think the issues in NYC are comparable to SF. Huge parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn have very high rents, but the lower-middle class haven't been priced out of the general area. I know many people who live in New Jersey, Long Island, upper Manhattan, and the other boroughs who have very reasonable housing expenses and commutes.
A random data point: a friend of mine lives in Jersey City and has a huge (for manhattan standards) one bedroom apartment in a safe area for 1200/month and a 30 minute commute to wall street.
> I don't think the issues in NYC are comparable to SF. Huge parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn have very high rents, but the lower-middle class haven't been priced out of the general area. I know many people who live in New Jersey, Long Island, upper Manhattan, and the other boroughs who have very reasonable housing expenses and commutes
The equivalent "boroughs" of SF are Berkeley, Oakland, and South San Francisco. They are still reasonably priced...
I run a mildly-popular breaking news Twitter account, and as soon as something big starts to happen there are a lot of people trying to influence the story on their behalf. Spammers want to drive traffic, political parties and partisan hacks start to swing the story their way, governmental PR agencies start going to work, etc.
It's always interesting to use a Google reverse image search or TinEye on any stock photography used to stir up emotions in journalism and see if they actually came from the event the are purported to. Even some of the most well-established and reputable news sites will pull out old stock footage that looks good to spice up an event.
For example, there are currently thousands of people protesting a failed trade agreement with the UN on the main square in Kyiv, Ukraine. Instantly on Twitter there are "pictures of protestors" that a quick search proves are actually of Russian gangsters from 2008. Or "pictures of the protestors from today" that are really protestors from the Orange Revolution on the same square in 2005. Russia Today was saying a "couple thousand" focused the debate on the Lenin statue (not the couple hundred thousand protesting what was essentially a pro-Russian government), etc.
We are deceived (probably myself included) much more frequently than we let on or are aware. The number of reporters out there aren't enough to uncover and dispel the lies and rumors that are spreading rapidly with nearly every news event. There's just too much happening too fast.