NM2303 FAKE NEWS, LIES, & SPIN

Week 02: Introduction

Ms. Francesca Nathan

17 August 2020
Introduction
OVERVIEW: TODAY’S SESSION

• Introduction & Check-in

• Module: quick tour
• Topic: Media Manipulation
• Closing
• One more thing …

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ZOOM CHECK IN

Before we start, we’re going to “check in” on Zoom:

• We will test a few things

• I will explain the Zoom code of conduct for the module
• I will talk about what you can and cannot expect from me in
terms of Zoom and lectures or tutorials.

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ZOOM CHECK IN

There are a few things you should all know how to do easily and
quickly:

• Mute/unmute audio and video

• Reactions: yes, no, thumbs up/down (click on the “Participants”
button if you don’t see these buttons).
• Status: away (if you need to take a quick WC break during
lecture/tutorial)
• Raise hand: if you need to get my attention while I am talking

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ZOOM: CODE OF CONDUCT

• As with any module, you should all engage and be respectful of

others.
• Concretely, in Zoom this includes:
• Muting your microphone while others are speaking
• Showing your face
• Focusing on the main pedagogical activity

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ZOOM: CODE OF CONDUCT

Please show your faces.

Zoom lectures and tutorials are already a challenge.
It will help our overall communication people can see each other
while we are talking.

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ZOOM: CODE OF CONDUCT

• Please focus on the main pedagogical activity.

• Don’t try to multi-task by doing other activities on your phone
or in your physical space while other people are talking.
• If you need to take a brief WC break during a lecture or tutorial,
please click on the “Away” button to let know you are away from
your computer.

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ZOOM: WHAT TO EXPECT

• No chat support during zoom sessions

• If you want to get my attention during a lecture or tutorial,
please use the “Raise hand” button.

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MODULE GOALS

Our main goal for this module is for students

• to become more responsible consumers and producers

(“sharers”) of news items
• in order to help reduce the spread and impact of dangerously
misleading and false news items

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MODULE LEARNING OUTCOMES

The main learning outcomes of this module include training you to:

• Be more literate consumers (and sharers) of news information

• Identify (“flag”) questionable information – and quickly confirm
whether it is reliable or not
• Use this knowledge to help you make decisions, and take action
as a citizen, and perhaps even help others.

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MODULE APPROACH

This is a practical module, designed to help you in your actual,

everyday lives.
Specifically, you will learn about:

1. Disinformation as a force in your lives

2. Yourselves & how disinformation exploits and impacts the way
you think and behave
3. What you can do, practically, to protect yourself and others

By the end of this module, you should have a deeper appreciation of

how disinformation impacts us all – and what you can do to reduce
that impact.

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LECTURER

Ms. Francesca Nathan (aka, Ms Fran)

25 years in Journalism, PR and media education

• Journalism: 13 years at The Straits Times

• Editorial & PR consultant
• Media education: Joined CNM in 2007.
• Courses taught: NM2220, NM2219, NM2303, NM3211, NM3219,
NM4219, NM4221

Research Interest: Health and Science Journalism

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GETTING IN TOUCH

Important: for most module matters, the best way to get answers is
to post to the Perusall “Admin Questions” chat

If it is something that only affects you (e.g., your marks), you can chat
with me privately on Perusall – or send me an email at
fran@nus.edu.sg
If you send email, please MAKE SURE to include “NM2303” in email
subject. I get a lot of email and have my mail automatically filed into
different folders that I check. If “NM2303” is not in the subject line, I
am likely to miss email about this module.

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So, what is this module about?
CONSIDER THESE HEADLINES

Do these seem believable?

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CONSIDER THESE HEADLINES

Of course, it is possible that all the people sharing those items did
so because they realised the stories were fake or ridiculous.
Let’s take a quick poll.

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DOES IT MATTER?

Some stories become very familiar.

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SO, WHAT TO DO?

In a world of social media, you (yes, you!) are not just consumers of
news, you are also publishers.
And social media “sharers” are having an enormous impact on the
world.
So, it is important for you to learn how you contribute to the spread
of disinformation, why it is a problem, and how to help reduce the
spread.

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Module: quick tour
MODULE OUTLINE

The module is divided into four parts – two parts in the first half of
the semester and two parts in the second half:

1. Foundational concepts.
2. Your brain and disinformation.

3. News stories and disinformation.

4. News and wellbeing.

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MODULE STRUCTURE

Here are the four parts in terms of the weekly schedule:

WK TOPIC
FOUNDATIONS
01 Introduction
02 Media Manipulation
03 News purposes & methods
NEWS CONSUMERS
04 Thinking
05 Automatic responses
06 Analytical responses
NEWS STORIES
07 Practices & products
08 Completeness
09 Sources
10 Evidence
11 Visualisations
12 Explanations
NEWS & WELLBEING
13 Conclusion
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MODULE SCHEDULE

Here is the weekly semester schedule:

WK TOPIC Notes
01 Introduction Cancelled
02 Media Manipulation
03 News purposes & methods Tutorials begin
04 Thinking
05 Automatic responses
06 Analytical responses
Mid-term break
07 Practices & products
08 Completeness
09 Sources
10 Evidence
11 Visualisations
12 Explanations
13 Conclusion
Reading Week
Final Exam

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END OF THE TOUR

• And that’s the module!

• In addition:
• Weekly Perusall readings and discussions
• Most lectures will involve you more – more activities and exercises
• Tutorials: learn & apply concepts and techniques in more detail
• A Final Exam

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Media manipulation
PERUSALL DISCUSSIONS

• First, I want to say how fantastic are the comments and

discussions!
• It’s really wonderful to see the issues being raised.
• And many of the questions raised are big, open-ended ones like
“are there laws that can stop this kind of disinformation?”
• Note: some of you made comments which seem more like notes
to yourself. If you want to do this, use the notes or bookmarks
tools (they are below the comment button).

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READING TO LEARN

Get an overview of the material – and remember it as you explore!

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RECALL ACTIVITY

Now, let’s warm up by recalling the overall structure of this week’s

reading.
Try to do this without referring to your notes or the reading!
Aside from the Case Studies at the end, what are the three main
topics (the three main sections) of the reading:

1. Topic:
2. Topic:
3. Topic:

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RECALL ACTIVITY

Now, let’s warm up by recalling the overall structure of this week’s

reading.
Try to do this without referring to your notes or the reading!
Aside from the Case Studies at the end, what are the three main
topics (the three main sections) of the reading:

1. Topic: Media manipulator motivations

2. Topic: Media manipulator techniques
3. Topic: News media vulnerabilities

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MEDIA MANIPULATION & DISINFORMATION

Initial introduction to world of media manipulation.

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REDUCING THE SPREAD

How can we stop it?

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DISINFORMATION MOTIVATIONS

Knowing the main motives of disinformation agents is broadly useful

to help orient yourself in a world of disinformation – but for the
most part, we are not going to focus on motives in this module.

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DISINFORMATION TECHNIQUES

One thing that some of you seemed to find eye-opening: the degree
to which social media platforms are being used as tools of mass
disinformation.

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NEWS MEDIA VULNERABILITIES

Why is the news media vulnerable?

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DEFINITIONS

Sometimes readings don’t provide definitions of the terms they use

– or they provide them long after they introduce them (e.g., “lulz”).
However, be careful about our drunken friend Google. Many authors
do define the terms they use – and they base their discussions and
arguments on the terms as they define them. This is a perfectly
normal and acceptable part of scholarly writing.

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STARTING & SUSTAINING CONVERSATIONS

This week: not much conversation. That’s fine. We are just getting
started, many of you haven’t used Perusall before, and so on.
So there is no need to panic about this. But you should all think
about whether your posts encourage discussion – and if not, how
you can do that.
Tip: one of the most effective techniques is to ask questions. For
example, tell others that you are having a hard time agreeing with
something – and you are wondering if anyone agrees with it and can
explain their point of view.

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Administrivia
PEDAGOGICAL APPROACH

• There is a lot of research showing that having people explain

things is one of the best way to help them understand and
master them
• Yes, better than highlighting the readings, rereading the
readings, etc.
• Also, you are much more likely to understand an explanation
from a peer who recently mastered a concept than an
explanation from a teacher who has forgetten what was difficult
about mastering the topic.
• So, during lectures and tutorials, we are going to ask you to work
on challenges with your neighbour – and explain your thinking

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WEEKLY WORKLOAD

As a 4MC module, students are expected to spend roughly 10hrs/wk

on the module activities:

• Lecture: 2 hrs
• Tutorial session: 2 hrs
• Tutorial Assignments & Reading discussions: 6 hrs

The module is designed so that the workload is roughly the same

each week. Students should not expect to master the material or
succeed in the module if they don’t put in the necessary time and
effort on assignments and reading discussions.

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WEEKLY SCHEDULE

The schedule is basically the same every week:

• Monday: Attend lecture

• Before 11.59pm Tuesday night: complete and submit previous
week’s tutorial assignment
• Wed/Thur: attend tutorial sessions
• During week (before 11.59 Saturday night): complete Perusall
discussions of next week’s reading

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WEEKLY SCHEDULE

• Readings and tutorial assignments will be available each week

by the end of Tuesday.
• These documents will be posted in Perusall.
• Information about how to submit the Tutorial assignments will
be included in the assignment documents themselves.

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PERUSALL

Most of you have already logged in and used Perusall, so I don’t

need to introduce it.
However, I did get a couple of questions that I want to clarify for
everyone:

• Once a document is released on Perusall, students will have

access to it until the end of the semester.
• There is no button to indicate you are “done” with an
assignment. Just read the document and make your comments.

I have also created a Perusall FAQ chat group where we can all post
questions and tips about doing things in Perusall.

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MODULE INFORMATION

The module administrative info is detailed in the NM2303 Syllabus

document, available in Perusall and the LumiNUS workbin

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ANNOUNCEMENTS AND UPDATES

• During the first week of the module, we post announcements via

LumiNUS
• These will go to your NUS email – and will appear as
notifications within LumiNUS
• After the first week, announcements will be made via Perusall –
so they will go to the email address you use when you log in to
Perusall.

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TUTORIALS & REGISTRATION

• Module coordinators do not manage tutorial registration. Only

the admin staff are able to do so as they have access to the
CORS system.
• So, I cannot help students with issues related to tutorial
registration, selection, preferences, appeals, and the like.
• Please read the module info in LumiNUS or the Syllabus
document about who to contact about tutorial registration
issues.

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LECTURES & SLIDES

Lectures will be like tutorials:

• Very interactive.
• A number of student challenges and activities.
• As a result, the lecture slides will only be posted after the
lectures.

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CLASS POLICIES

In general, we expect respect & mutual courtesy towards your

lecturer/tutor – and towards your classmates.
For details about specific class policies, see the module Syllabus
document.

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ASSESSMENT

The assessment breakdown for the module is as follows:

Assessment Weight Comment

Tutorial assignments 20% Weekly
Tutorial participation 10% Weekly
Reading discussions (Perusall) 30% Weekly
Final Exam 30% TBA
Participation 10% Ongoing

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GRADEBOOK

Tip: students should review their marks in LumiNUS gradebook every

week – and read the REMARKS (if any).
Some students make simple mistakes, do not read the remarks in
the gradebook, and therefore continue to make the same mistake
every week, losing easy marks.

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Closing
UP NEXT

This week:

• Reading: complete Week 3 reading/discussion in Perusall

(deadline: 11.59pm Saturday)
• Assignment: complete Week 3 tutorial assignment. (Note: the
deadline is a week from tomorrow, Tuesday 11.59pm, but I
strongly encourage all of you to review and start work on the
assignment this week).

Next week:

• Lecture: Week 3 lecture

• Assignment: Week 3 tutorial assignment is due by Tuesday
11.59pm, at the latest.
• Tutorials: Week 3 tutorial sessions (Wed/Thu)

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One more thing
ONE MORE THING

Disturbing disinformation is not just something that happens in

other places or to other people. We have it right here in Singapore!
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.

Thank you! And see you next week!

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