{"id":151997,"date":"2017-01-23T09:00:53","date_gmt":"2017-01-23T07:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=151997"},"modified":"2017-01-23T09:01:30","modified_gmt":"2017-01-23T07:01:30","slug":"sa-politics-gets-dirty-as-fake-news-sites-target-media-over-guptas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/media\/151997\/sa-politics-gets-dirty-as-fake-news-sites-target-media-over-guptas\/","title":{"rendered":"SA politics gets dirty as fake news sites target media over Guptas"},"content":{"rendered":"

Media experts are warning South Africans to be on the lookout for fake news channels, following a number of political social media posts over the weekend coming from accounts that closely resemble legitimate media groups.<\/p>\n

A series of tweets from accounts parading as Radio 702, the Sunday Times and the Huffington Post SA went out over the weekend, targeting finance minister Pravin Gordhan, accusing him of being a shill for “White Monopoly Capital”.<\/p>\n

So-called ‘fake news’ is not a new occurrence in the country, with many websites having cropped up over the past year pushing sensational and completely inaccurate news stories, often damaging those mentioned.<\/p>\n

Recent examples of fake South African news stories include a R80,000 restaurant bill that was attributed to president Jacob Zuma<\/a><\/strong>, as well as a false report that 80,000 ballot papers were found pre-marked for the ANC ahead of the 2016 elections<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The latest string of tweets, however, are said to be a part of a targeted, politically motivated campaign, attempting to shift the political landscape of the country, and to change the conversation.<\/p>\n

Put more specifically, Huffington Post SA editor-at-large Ferial Haffajee (one of the prominent persons who were spoofed) has said in no uncertain terms that the tweets were part of an “orchestrated propaganda campaign” linked to the controversial Gupta family.<\/p>\n

According to Haffajee, she and other journalists had faced continuous “trolling” and victimisation online ever since reporting on the Guptas and the ongoing investigations into state capture.<\/p>\n

“This weekend’s campaign was actually hash-tagged Oakbay so it wasn’t too difficult to surmise where it is from,” Haffajee told News24.<\/p>\n

Speaking to talk Radio 702,\u00a0Media Monitoring Africa head of policy, Thandi Smith said that the group was tracking around 10 fake news sites in South Africa, including those parading as Times Live, City Press and Eyewitness News.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Don’t be a victim<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fake news can be incredibly damaging, and is said to have played a massive role in the spread of inaccurate information during the 2016 presidential elections in the United States.<\/p>\n

Media Monitoring Africa has appealed to South Africans and South African media alike to take responsibility in ensuring that falsehoods are not spread, and to be critical of any news that is shared online.<\/p>\n

To avoid being a victim of fake news stories, follow these\u00a0tips<\/a><\/strong>:<\/p>\n

\n

1. Check the name of the social media account or website<\/strong><\/p>\n

See if the Twitter or Facebook account is the true account – check for verification, previous posts and history of the page. If you see extra characters added into the titles, or numbers replacing letters, or anything out of order, it may very well be a spoof.<\/p>\n

\n

2. Check for disclaimers<\/strong><\/p>\n

Check for disclaimers on ‘about’ pages – some websites state explicitly that they are ‘satire’ sites. Often, fake news isn’t satire, but the content creators don’t allow that fact get in the way of using the term as a defence for publishing the stories.<\/p>\n

\n

3. Check the story’s sources<\/strong><\/p>\n

Double check the names mentioned or the titles of the reports or journals said to be used in sourcing the information. Valid information should more of than not be able to be followed back to the source. Investigative reports often mention ‘unnamed sources’, but should also feature other verifiable information or responses.<\/p>\n

\n

4. Check other news sources<\/strong><\/p>\n

If a story seems suspect, see if other news sites are carrying similar information. Always follow the same process as point number 1, in the event that a structured campaign (over several accounts) is taking place. Typically, a big piece of news is carried by multiple sources – so if something massive happens and no one is reporting it, chances are it’s fake.<\/p>\n

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5. Be wary of overly sensational content<\/strong><\/p>\n

If the news story is predicting a future disaster, a major discovery, or breaking a scandal that seems too good to be true, there is reason to pause and investigate further before spreading it on to your friends and family.<\/p>\n

\n

Read:\u00a0\u201cFake news\u201d \u2013 why people believe it and what can be done to counter it<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Media experts are warning South Africans to be on the lookout for fake news channels, following a number of political social media posts over the weekend coming from accounts that closely resemble legitimate media groups.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":81907,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5554],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-151997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151997"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151997\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":152017,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151997\/revisions\/152017"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}