WEBVTT

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There's a quote usually attributed
to the writer Mark Twain that goes,

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"A lie can travel 
halfway around the world

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while the truth is putting on its shoes."

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Funny thing about that.

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There's reason to doubt
that Mark Twain ever said this at all,

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thus, ironically, proving the point.

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And today, the quote, whoever said it,
is truer than ever before.

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In previous decades, 
most media with global reach

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consisted of several 
major newspapers and networks

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which had the resources
to gather information directly.

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Outlets like Reuters
and the Associated Press

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that aggregate or rereport stories
were relatively rare compared to today.

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The speed with which 
information spreads now

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has created the ideal conditions for
a phenomenon known as circular reporting.

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This is when publication A
publishes misinformation,

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publication B reprints it,

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and publication A then cites B
as the source for the information.

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It's also considered a form
of circular reporting

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when multiple publications

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report on the same initial piece 
of false information,

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which then appears to another author as
having been verified by multiple sources.

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For instance, the 1998 publication
of a single pseudoscientific paper

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arguing that routine vaccination
of children causes autism

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inspired an entire 
antivaccination movement,

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despite the fact that the original paper
has repeatedly been discredited

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by the scientific community.

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Deliberately unvaccinated children
are now contracting contagious diseases

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that had been virtually 
eradicated in the United States,

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with some infections proving fatal.

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In a slightly less dire example,

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satirical articles that are formatted
to resemble real ones

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can also be picked up by outlets
not in on the joke.

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For example, a joke article in the
reputable British Medical Journal entitled

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"Energy Expenditure in Adolescents
Playing New Generation Computer Games,"

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has been referenced in serious
science publications over 400 times.

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User-generated content, such as wikis,

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are also a common contributer
to circular reporting.

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As more writers come to rely
on such pages for quick information,

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an unverified fact in a wiki page
can make its way into a published article

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that may later be added as a citation
for the very same wiki information,

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making it much harder to debunk.

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Recent advances 
in communication technology

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have had immeasurable benefits

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in breaking down the barriers
between information and people.

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But our desire for quick answers

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may overpower the desire 
to be certain of their validity.

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And when this bias can be multiplied by
billions of people around the world,

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nearly instantaneously,
more caution is in order.

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Avoiding sensationalist media,

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searching for criticisms 
of suspicious information,

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and tracing the original source
of a report can help slow down a lie,

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giving the truth more time 
to put on its shoes.