this post was submitted on 29 Jul 2024
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For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 1 year ago
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Hello World, As many of you have probably noticed, there is a growing problem on the internet when it comes to undisclosed bias in both amateur and professional reporting. While not every outlet can be like the C-SPAN, or Reuters, we also believe that it's impossible to remove the human element from the news, especially when it concerns, well, humans.

To this end, we've created a media bias bot, which we hope will keep everyone informed about WHO, not just the WHAT of posted articles. This bot uses Media Bias/Fact Check to add a simple reply to show bias. We feel this is especially important with the US Election coming up. The bot will also provide links to Ground.News, as well, which we feel is a great source to determine the WHOLE coverage of a given article and/or topic.

As always feedback is welcome, as this is a active project which we really hope will benefit the community.

Thanks!

FHF / LemmyWorld Admin team 💖

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[–] TrippyFocus@lemmy.ml 7 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (12 children)

I think having this post isn't a great idea because you are just assuming the websites bias are legit. At the very least there needs to be a lot of warnings in the bots post about the websites biases and the methodology they use so the reader can come to their own conclusion.

Just looking over the methodlogy it's clear that it has it's own biases:

American Bias

The website itself says it’s distinctions of left and right are US based which is very skewed from the rest of the world. There should be a disclaimer or it shouldn't be used in any world news communities.

Centrist Bias

The website follows the idea of “enlightened centrism” since if it determines a website has a left/right lean (again arbitrary) it affects the factual ratings of the sources.

Examples of this are: FAIR only getting the 2nd highest rating despite never having failed a fact check.

The Intercept getting only a “mostly factual” rating (3rd highest) despite their admittance it has never failed a fact check.

Despite my personal opinions on the pointlessness of using a US based left/right bias criteria I'd feel better if it was at least kept it it's own section but when you allow it to affect the factual rating of the source it's just outright wrong. The factual accuracy of the website should be the sole thing that affects this rating.

Questionable Fact Checking

Even just checking some of their ratings raises doubts on the websites credibility.

The ADL is rated as high (2nd highest) and wasn’t found to fail any fact checks.

The ADL was found to be so unreliable on it's reporting of the Israel-Palestine conflict it is considered an unreliable source by Wikipedia.

“Wikipedia’s editors declared that the Anti-Defamation League cannot be trusted to give reliable information on the Israel-Palestine conflict, and they overwhelmingly said the ADL is an unreliable source on antisemitism.”

Maybe Wikipedia editors are a good arbiter of truth and maybe they aren’t but as people can see there isn’t a consensus and so by choosing Media Bias/Fact Check you’re explicitly choosing to align your “truth” with this websites biases.

[–] zephyreks@lemmy.ml 3 points 3 months ago

This is a really well-reasoned response... Which probably means the mods will ignore it

[–] aleph@lemm.ee 3 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

I'll add UN Watch to the list.

MBFC rates it as "highly credible" despite it publishing laughably bad hit-pieces on UN officials who openly criticize Israel.

I did a debunk on one of their articles that was removed from this very community due to disinformation, but I've posted a screenshot of my critique here for anyone who is interested.

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[–] Deceptichum@quokk.au 5 points 4 months ago (11 children)

What a terrible idea.

MBFC is already incredibly biased.

It should be rejected not promoted.

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[–] ArmokGoB@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 4 months ago (6 children)

Choosing one organization to be the arbiter of truth and bias gives them way too much power. I think fact checking should be the responsibility of whoever reads the article.

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[–] awesome_lowlander@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 4 months ago (2 children)

I'm just gonna drop this here as an example:

The Jerusalem Report (Owned by Jerusalem Post) and the Jerusalem Post

This biased as shit publication is declared by MBFC as VEEEERY slightly center-right. They make almost no mention of the fact that they cherry pick aspects of the Israel war to highlight, provide only the most favorable context imaginable, yadda yadda. By no stretch of the imagination would these publications be considered unbiased as sources, yet according to MBFC they're near perfect.

[–] Deceptichum@quokk.au 3 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Interesting how @Rooki is still a day later active in this post responding to all the comments supporting their bot, but manages to avoid replying to all the legitimate criticisms on display.

Really shows the mods don't value feedback, which begs the question why even bother making a thread to get feedback if you've already made up your mind.

[–] breakfastmtn@lemmy.ca 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

yet according to MBFC they’re near perfect

Here are some quotes from the link you posted:

They often publish factual information that utilizes loaded words (wording that attempts to influence an audience by appealing to emotion or stereotypes) to favor conservative causes. These sources are generally trustworthy for information but may require further investigation.

After Conrad Black acquired the paper, its political position changed to right-leaning, when Black began hiring conservative journalists and editors. Eli Azur is the current owner of Jerusalem Post. According to Ynetnews, and a Haaretz article, “Benjamin Netanyahu, the Editor in Chief,” in 2017, Azur gave testimony regarding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pressure. Current Editor Yaakov Katz was the former senior policy advisor to Naftali Bennett, the former Prime Minister and head of the far-right political party, “New Right.”

During the 2023 Israel-Hamas conflict, the majority of stories favored the Israeli government, such as this Netanyahu to Hezbollah: If you attack, we’ll turn Beirut into Gaza. In general, the Jerusalem Post holds right-leaning editorial biases and is usually factual in reporting.

Overall, we rate The Jerusalem Post Right-Center biased based on editorial positions that favor the right-leaning government. We also rate them Mostly Factual for reporting, rather than High due to two failed fact checks.

Based on MBFC's methodology, they can't have more than 6 points (out of 10) toward credibility, which is the floor for high credibility. They're one lost point from being listed as a medium credibility source, not "near perfect." They've also failed two fact checks in news reporting (not op-ed), which is seriously non-perfect. No one reading that page could walk away thinking that jpost isn't biased toward both the current Israeli government and conservative causes. MBFC calling them "right-center" is also consistent with how they're rated just about everywhere else. AllSides rates them as "center" (with a note that community feedback in disagreement believes they "lean right") and even Wikipedia describes them as "center-right/conservative".

What exactly are you angry about here?

[–] awesome_lowlander@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

MBFC Credibility Rating: HIGH CREDIBILITY

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[–] geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml 3 points 4 months ago (2 children)

It has been pointed out multiple times that mbfc is ran by a Zionist.

There is no way the mod team is not aware of this by now so it must be on purpose.

[–] Adanisi@lemmy.zip 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

The mod team is absolutely aware of the criticisms - they're censoring them.

I just got a comment deleted just for telling OP to engage with the criticism instead of hiding away with people who agree with them.

I wonder if they were former Reddit power mods?

[–] catloaf@lemm.ee 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Your comment was deleted for the insult, I'm guessing. I can still see it in the mod log.

[–] Adanisi@lemmy.zip 1 points 3 months ago

What, "coward"?

🙄

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[–] sandbox@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago (8 children)

Given the overwhelmingly negative response from the community, what is the justification for leaving the bot in place? Is it because the moderators think they know better than everyone else?

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[–] sic_semper_tyrannis@lemmy.today 1 points 3 months ago

Please get rid of it. I'll figure my own truth from facts I descern are true. I don't need someone else telling me what to believe. Especially with the election coming up...

[–] Enoril@jlai.lu 1 points 3 months ago

Remove that. It’s too US centric. I don’t want that here.

[–] goferking0@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Why does the bot spend so much space asking for donations to mediabiasfactcheck.com and thanking them for an api? Especially when it's one of the few areas not in a spoiler block so it's always shown?

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[–] Jumuta@sh.itjust.works 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

could you have the bot automatically unvote its posts (make it 0) so it goes under new comments when sorted by votes?

the spoiler thing doesn't work on eternity and it kinda hides everything under it being so long

[–] catloaf@lemm.ee 1 points 4 months ago

I wish bot comments didn't count toward the comment count, too. It's annoying to see "1 comment" and then you look and it's just this or the summary bot.

[–] circuscritic@lemmy.ca 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

Oh, lovely. Ministry of Truth Bots...

This is predicated on the assumption that those organizations are neutral arbitrators of facts, but they aren't.

They might have a better gauge on reality than OAN, or PatriotEagleNews.ru, but that doesn't mean platform moderators should present them as if they are a source of universal truth.

People can be critical of posts, comments, and their sources, without the heavy hand of moderators using a privatized Ministry of Truth.

We don't even have to look very far back to see how platform level "fact checking" systems are used and abused to silence and suppress information that goes against mainstream narratives or is viewed as politically damaging.

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[–] wurzelgummidge@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Media Bias Fact Check is totally meaningless in world news since the overwhelming majority of international news coverage seen in the west is filtered through just three global agencies, AP, AFP and Reuters and they always toe a pro US/Nato line.

[–] Jaderick@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

I love this, but I would like to state that Media Bias Fact Check seems to have a pro-Israel bias.

https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/mondoweiss/

  • Overall, we rate Mondoweiss as Left Biased and Questionable due to the blending of opinion with news, the promotion of pro-Palestinian and anti-zionist propaganda, occasional reliance on poor sources, and hate group designation by third-party pro-Israel advocates.

I feel like “blending of opinion with news” and “occasional reliance on poor sources” is all that really need be said.

[–] Aatube@kbin.melroy.org 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

While I'm not as concerned with MBFC as many others are, why not use Wikipedia's RSP as the datasource? Made by the most reliable user-generated platform in the world, it's a great list of controversial sources and is completely open. Changes are also infrequent enough so that adding to the database by hand would be quite easy.

I also echo the concerns raised below on the uselessness at a glance due to the accordion hiding the only information and purpose the bot was created to serve.

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[–] Sami@lemmy.zip 0 points 4 months ago (17 children)

That's just introducing 2 more sources of bias

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[–] aniki@lemmy.zip 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

So is it time for a new news community then if the admins don't want to listen?

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