1/ Today the #2024Election kicks off in earnest with #JoeBiden’s re-election bid announcement

There is 560 days to the #PresidentialElection. Much will happen, conditions will change but it as #Biden suggests a continuation of the battle for the soul of America

I’ll use this thread to comment periodically on the election over the next 80 weeks. It’s a long road to #ElectionDay2024, but the stakes couldn’t be higher

#Politics #USPolitics

youtu.be/ChjibtX0UzU

4) Meanwhile #DonaldTrump is on the campaign trail reinforcing his uber fan base by embracing a convicted #Jan6 agitator. In Donald world these people were patriots and acted in his best interests although he lifted nary a figure to help them as the indictments and convictions started flowing

#Election2024

talkingpointsmemo.com/news/tru

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5) The #Desantis campaign for the presidency now seems dead before its birth.

What is more surprsing, the empty vision of DeSantis or the continued acceptance of #Trump as a presidentail candidate?

#USPolitics #Politics #Election2024

politico.com/news/2023/05/03/t

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6) Meanwhile the candidate accused of rape in a current civil suit trial plays golf in #Ireland.

While Mr #Trump claims he will return to #NYC to defend himself, he has opted NOT to attend the #JeanCarroll trial. While the geography was different, the usual MO was on full display, made for #NewsMedia assertions without reference to fact or logic

#Election2024 #UsPolitics #Politics

irishtimes.com/ireland/2023/05

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7) #DonaldTrump is not hirable for most jobs. Like many, conservative pundit, Charlie Sykes, is mystified that many Americans consider #Trump to be a plausible candidate for control of the nuclear codes or top secret clearance

#Politics #USPolitics #Election2024

theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/

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8) The #2023Election will be the first election where #AI generated imagery, audio and video will be deployed.

Donie O'Sullivan recently flagged a #GOP campaign add which used AI generated imagery to stoke fears about fictional dystopian future resulting from a #Biden re-election

This ad was created by the #RNC not some outsourced hacked media shop. A shameful moment for the #Republican Party

#USPolitics #Politics #DeepFake

cnn.com/2023/05/02/politics/ai

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@mnutty

For years I’ve been beating a drum that we should normalize the cryptographic signing of mainstream content, for example politicians signing with their own identities to certify that a quote or video clip is real and accurate.

Not only would that help assure that a quote wasn’t taken misleadingly out of context, but in this new age it would help protect against outright deepfakes.

Unfortunately, I’ve often heard journalists respond that such a norm would interfere with journalistic independence, and lead to people being skeptical of journalists.

I think such responses get it exactly backwards.

In any case, yep, I’m still beating the drum, but sadly I think the ship has sailed and we’re now entering the more dangerous waters without that protection in place.

@volkris @mnutty Signing and verifying human-generated content should have been top-priority last year already.

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@gimulnautti

I think so, and just to clarify in case I’m unclear here, it’s not just that it’s not prioritized, but in my experience I’ve heard from professionals actively arguing against the idea.

@mnutty

@volkris @gimulnautti

I’m not sure what the concern is over digitally stamping one’s on journalistic work. Maybe it’s seen as slowing the publication process or just tediously onerous?

Given the nature of #SocialMedia and the potential for fakery, it seems judicious to want some kind of authentication process

#Journalism #NewsMedia #News

@mnutty

The concern I’ve heard expressed is that if a reporter is asking, say, a politician to sign a report, to certify it as authentic, then the reporter will feel pressure to play nice with the politician to “earn” that signature.

I understand the concern, but I think the pros outweigh the navigation of that task.

It can even stand as a form of review that’s both annoying and fruitful at the end of the day, if it leads to the hassles of revisions that end in a better report.
@gimulnautti

@volkris @gimulnautti

I suppose the question in this case is whether a #journalist should be obliged to have a subject sign off on their report. In my view, that is unecessary,

I think its important for the journalist to put his or her own stamp of validation on their work to avoid fakers that might be impersonating the reporter

@mnutty

So I’d say the signature should be context dependent.

For example, if a reporter is quoting an expert or public figure verbatim, I’d like to see their signature attached to see that they agree that they were properly quoted.

Or if the piece is a technical explainer, the reporter might get a few subject matter experts to attach signatures, publicly attesting that they reviewed the material and it’s solid.

Just a run-of-the-mill report or newsbrief though? Sure, the reporter’s own signature might be fine; track down others might be overkill. Well, we might want editors’ signatures too, just for fun.

But the main thing that comes to my mind with this is the quotation signature. It doesn’t happen every day, but far too often over the years I’ve seen reporters literally leave out a word like “not” and end up reversing the meaning of the quote.

The signing process would have had the speaker catch the misquotation, hopefully.

@gimulnautti

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