My Blog
This is where I write about various topics I'm interested in. It's part of a project I'm doing for my Mobile and Social Media Journalism class. These posts usually focus on my beat for this spring: The Fight Against Violence in the City of Syracuse.
Defining fake news and how to fight it
APRIL 8, 2023: Disinformation is quickly becoming one of the major problems across the U.S. Experts have attributed it to impacting elections, COVID safety, and public perception of strategies. People often consume this information via sources that seem like real news outlets and reporters, but in reality are not.
This could be related to the fact that more and more Americans are drifting away from the mainstream media. A study from the Reuters Institute reveals 40% of people worldwide are avoiding mainstream news, which is up 11% from five years ago. Also, the study reports that 74% of Americans don’t trust the news in general.
This trend brings up several questions. How should people navigate news sources? What can be done to stop this? What has caused this?
Credit: Creative Commons
What is fake news?
In order to navigate what news to trust, it’s important for people to realize what fake news is. This term has been thrown around the American politics like a rag doll, largely by the 45th president. Now, several scholarly sources have taken a crack at defining it.
University of Oregon
“Newspaper articles, television news shows, or other information disseminated through broadcast or social media that are intentionally based on falsehoods or that intentionally use misleading framing to offer a distorted narrative.”
This definition is very accurate, but possibly too specific. Fake news can be described more broadly and it’s not necessary to mention if it’s coming from a newspaper or a television show. It’s also unnecessary to say “narrative,” because this implies that fake news has to be used to promote a certain ideology or belief system.
Dictionary.com
“False news stories, often of a sensational nature, created to be widely shared or distributed for the purpose of generating revenue, or promoting or discrediting a public figure, political movement, company, etc.”
This is probably the worst definition of the three. First off, it needs to explain that fake news isn’t just stories with inaccurate information. The intention is key, but not necessarily the intentions listed in this definition. This definition tries to get too specific.
Cambridge Dictionary
“False stories that appear to be news, spread on the internet or using other media, usually created to influence political views or as a joke.”
This is the best of the three definitions. It’s great how it describes that fake news is mimicking real news. It makes sense that it’s kept broad with the distribution of it but highlights the internet. Once again, the intention is too specific.
Credit: Creative Commons
My definition
“False information or misleading stories that mimic real news sources, widely distributed to a large audience, often on social media, with the creator knowing the information is false or misleading.”
How should tech companies handle this?
Some experts believe fake news on social media had an impact on the outcome of the 2016 election as well as COVID misinformation. This has prompted the U.S. government to urge tech companies to regulate disinformation on their platforms.
Tech companies should assume this responsibility because the platforms are breeding grounds for fake news. Although, it’s easier said than done. It’s difficult to trust someone to draw the line between fake news and real news. People have their own biases and can dismiss something as fake news just because it disrupts their belief system.
Credit: Creative Commons
However, there are agreed-upon truths and defamation does exist with fake news. There is information that can be verified as real. It’s impossible for social media platforms to monitor every last post and comment, but they should be able to target accounts that consistently spread misinformation.
If an account tallies a certain number of posts with clear misinformation, it should be suspended and their posts must be taken down. This depends on the platform, but their posts may have to become private to their followers or friends. Tech companies should hire a robust team of fact checkers, with varying political and world views, to make this possible.
How to combat this issue
Fake news has the power to take over society and spur an information war. The best way to stop this is education. Children need to know at an early age what information they can trust. This will form good media literacy habits and avoid situations where people are being misled.
Journalists should be encouraged to go to classrooms and lecture about their industry. They can explain how they get information and sources, while also describing how to find real, credible information.
High school students often have to take an economics class to graduate. Media literacy is arguably just as important and should have its own class in high school as well. This can dive deep into the field of journalism and force students to discuss current events, public debates, and coverage of news stories. This type of class may even have a place as a requirement at universities as well.
When push comes to shove, there’s always going to be people trying to spread falsehoods for whatever reason. No matter how hard tech companies try to regulate it, there’s always going to be disinformation that slips through the cracks and misleads people. That’s why it’s imperative that Americans learn how to discern information and read news at an early age. The best way to fight an infodemic is media literacy education.
What is "swatting" and how is it becoming a bigger problem?
APRIL 8, 2023: Dozens of school districts across the U.S. have faced false shooting threats in the last 10 days. This comes as fears are heightened due to The Covenant School shooting in Nashville, TN, which left three children and three adults dead. Since that tragedy, schools in at least 11 different states have reported “swatting” incidents. Swatting is when someone calls emergency services to try to bring about the dispatch of lots of armed police officers at a particular address when there’s no real threat.
These swatting incidents have been coming in waves. Masscahussetts saw 30 false school shooting threats unfold in one day on March 28th. On March 31st, New York State recorded 36 of these calls. On April 4th, Governor Kathy Hochul said 50 school districts received swatting calls. She explained in a statement how this is being handled.
"What I want parents to know that we are taking every single incident seriously," the Hochul said. "We treat it as if it's real. But the reality is this is meant to disrupt and cause chaos in our school system, and indeed, society."
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Authorities are reportedly investigating these incidents individually and continue to take the calls seriously. Meanwhile, New York Senator Chuck Schumer proposed a plan to combat this on April 5th, saying there needs to be more agents to chase down criminals who hide on the internet. His plan would create a new FBI team to hunt down swatting callers.
Incidents around New York State
On April 4th, The Mohonasen Central School District in Schenectady said a phone threat alleged an active shooter fired seven shots in a school. A number of other local schools in Albany, Troy, Schuylerville and Schodack reported the same threat that morning. This caused lockdowns throughout the region and a large response by law enforcement.
A very similar threat occurred in the Syracuse area. In the Town of Onondaga, police rushed to West Hill High School- also thinking that seven people had been shot. The Superintendent confirmed this was a false call, but the school went into lockdown in response. This threat prompted West Genesee High School in Syracuse to put a temporary lockout in place. This comes as Central New York was already on alert after a ninth grader allegedly brought a gun to school and threatened violence last month.
Credit: Creative Commons
In the Hudson Valley, Kingston High School received a threatening call in a very suspicious manner. The school received computer generated call that mentioned violence, but police determined it to be fake.
Other areas have seen these calls come online. In Buffalo, school districts received a fake threat via Facebook. But, the city’s police commissioner, Joseph Gramaglia, said in an interview with Spectrum News that they act like it’s a real threat even when they receive information that disprove that
“We just saw what happened just the other day in Nashville,” Gramaglia said. “These are no joking matters, so we are going to aggressively respond to these calls, and we will follow all of our protocols.”.
Why this is so dangerous
Swatting is dangerous in a plethora of ways. Most simply, it causes panic and can distract law enforcement focus from real crimes and threats. Syracuse Police Public Information Officer Matt Malinowski described this in an interview with CNY Central.
“We’re deploying all of our resources to the scene because until we know there’s not an active shooter we’re gonna treat it that way,” Malinowski said. “It depletes a ton of resources and puts people at risk and just causes chaos.”
Credit: Creative Commons
But, swatting can have way more serious consequences. In 2017, two men were playing videos games online and argued over a small wager they placed on the game. One of them decided to swat the other, but used the wrong address. When police arrived at the man’s home, he had no idea what was gong on. Through this panic, an officer accidentally shot and killed him as he was looking for the fake shooter.
In 2020, someone made a swatting call to a man’s house because he wouldn’t sell his Twitter handle: @Tennessee. When armed police barged in to respond to the fake emergency call, the man had a heart attack and died.
Swatting causes hysteria that eats away at law enforcement’s resources. In some cases, it can even lead to death. With the Nashville shooting fresh in Americans’ brains, this issue is back in the spotlight as law enforcement agencies continue to figure out how to stop it from happening.
Are New York's bail reform laws causing more violent crime?
MARCH 12, 2023: New York State lawmakers brought forth bail reform legislation four years ago that eliminated cash bail for nearly all misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies. These laws have since been rolled back and were a hot topic of discussion leading up the 2022 elections for New York senate, assembly, and most prominently: governor.
Many Republicans have drawn a connection to these laws to a rise in violent crime around the state, which struck a cord with their base. In fact, a Quinnipiac poll from May 2022 listed crime as the number one issue facing voters in New York City. Campbell Public Affairs Institute Director Grant Reeher described in an interview with WAER how this debate intensified.
"You have several high-profile incidents of violent crime that could be tracked back to accused suspects committing crimes while they were out awaiting their trial, and some of those were particularly violent or particularly disturbing," Reeher said. "So, those were elevated by candidates and political as well, so that became a part of the narrative."
In the wake of these bail reform laws, a thief was apprehended in Schenectady County two days in a row. A manslaughter charge was changed to second-degree murder just weeks after a man’s release in the state capitol. Also, a suspect killed an elderly Gloversville man only a day after he was arrested for assaulting a different man.
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2022 New York Gubernatorial Race Map
Nonetheless, Governor Kathy Hochul did defeat GOP challenger Lee Zeldin in the gubernatorial election. Although, the race was a lot closer than many would have thought and some believe the bail reform issue played a role in that.
In the months following the election, there’s been a bipartisan push, supported by Hochul, to make changes to the original bail reform laws. The governor said these adjustments to the legislation would make the state’s criminal justice system “more fair.” The Democrat is now pushing anti-crime proposals in her $227 billion budget plan this spring.
Even fellow Democrats like New York City Mayor Eric Adams agree with her. He’s blamed repeat offenders for a lot his city’s brutality and violence.
“We know who they are, and we need to get them off our streets.” Adams said during his January State of the City speech.
But, this begs the question of how much do these 2019 bail reform laws contribute to violent crime in New York State?
Law enforcement and business owners say so
For the most part, law enforcement has been pretty vocal about their opposition to this legislation. They’ve been quoted in articles, called for live television interviews, and cited by politicians as evidence for bail reform causing violent crime. In an interview with the Daily Gazette in October 2022, Schenectady Police Chief Eric Clifford blamed bail reform laws for violence in his city.
“We don’t have the ability to put anybody in lockup anymore so these are the things that we deal with on a daily basis that are a part of bail reform, the big package that I feel needs to be changed,” Clifford said. “We have to have the ability to hold somebody if they’re in a state of mind where they’re harmful to the community.”
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Cheektowaga Police Chief Brian Gould voiced a similar sentiment, calling for the governor to walk back the law in an interview with the New York Post from November 2022.
“My message to the governor would be: Please, show us some support in law enforcement,” Gould said. “Help us by allowing judges to consider someone’s dangerousness when they make a determination whether someone should be released or should be held in custody.”
Many business owners agree with law enforcement. They are supposedly the ones dealing with repeat offenders robbing storefronts and stealing goods. United Bodegas of America spokesperson Fernando Mateo said the legislation was “designed with the right intention,” but still thinks there’s problems with it.
“The people taking advantage of the bail laws are the repeat offenders, are the people who commit crime after crime — and they are released time after time,” Mateo said. “That doesn’t make sense. None of us want that. What we want is a safe city, a safe environment.”
The numbers tell a different story
Even though state republicans, the governor, and even other Democrats have called for changes to the bail reform laws, many supporters point to the data for a reason to leave it as is. Adams has said he wants the laws to be curtailed, but New York City data from the first six months of 2021 doesn’t back up that claim.
New York City crime numbers show that fewer than 1% of the roughly 50,000 people who are free while they await trial in a given month are arrested for felonies, violent or non violent. This demonstrates that this isn’t happening as much as it seems, even if it might it some cases.
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American Civil Liberties Union Senior Staff Attorney for Criminal Law Reform Project Trisha Trigilio says jailing people doesn’t lower homicide rates.
“Increasing incarceration in the United States for more than two decades did not reduce violent crime,” Trigilio said. “We remain, by far, the world’s leading incarcerator, but that status did not prevent an uptick in homicides. If anything, incarceration is so destabilizing that it increases the risk that people will commit a violent offense when they come home.”
What's being done to prevent recidivism
MARCH 12, 2023: Recidivism has become a buzz word in the discussion around the criminal justice system. Some people believe it’s a symptom of when something is wrong with the system itself. By definition, recidivism is when a convicted criminal that’s been released from jail reoffends. It’s a relapse into criminal behavior.
Daniel Haggar is the attorney general for Minnehaha County in South Dakota. He described what recidivism is a result of in an interview with Keoland.com
“It is a problem, right, anytime we have repeat offenders,” Haggar said. “It means that we as a system haven’t done a good job of either punishing, deterring, or rehabilitating that person.”
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The word “rehabilitation” has been especially key for advocates trying to prevent recidivism. Willette Benford serves as the Director of Re-Entry for the City of Chicago, where she helps formerly incarcerated people come back into society. She describes why it’s hard for people to exit jail and immediately acclimate into a normal citizen in an interview with WTTW News.
“When you exit IDOC or Cook County Jail, you may have this list of all the things that you can’t do, but you don’t have a list of how to succeed or where you should go in order to get the services and the resources that you need,” Benford said. “It is a traumatic experience coming home, first of all, and then realizing that all of the things that you thought — maybe the job that you could get or the housing that you could get or even the health care — is not readily available, and that could cause an individual to be in a desperate situation when you don’t have money to provide for your family and your children.”
So, what is being done to help transition formerly jailed individuals into society to best prevent them from recidivating?
Helping them find jobs
It’s typically difficult for people coming out of prison to find jobs. Without them, this can lead to economic instability, which is often a motivator for crime. Former American Society of Criminology President Joan Petersilia explains this issue in an interview with the Courier Journal.
“A recent survey in five major U.S. cities revealed that 65% of all employers said they would not knowingly hire an ex-offender,” Petersilia wrote.
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In November 2022, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear fought for a “prison to work” program that could take away the stress ex-prisoners feel as they enter society. This initiative would match people coming out of jail with low-employment jobs, letting them have jobs soon after they’re sentence is completed. His administration has been working with the state chamber of commerce to try to make this happen.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul introduced a similar proposal just two months later during her State of the State address. The “Jail to Jobs” law would help re-entry into the workforce and focus on connecting previously incarcerated people with jobs. Hochul detailed the reasoning behind it.
"There is no justice in a system that continues to unduly punish formerly incarcerated individuals who have served their time and paid their debts to society," Hochul said in her State of the State address.
Making education a part of incarceration
A big part of these prison to work initiatives is education. Formerly incarcerated individuals need the opportunity to learn and acquire skills so they improve themselves as candidates when they enter the workforce upon their release. This can be as simple as letting inmates finish their high school diplomas, acquire technical skills, or even just improving literacy.
A meta-analysis of educational programs for adult inmates from 2013 reported that education can greatly help lower recidivism. Inmates who participated in educational programs while in prison had a 43% lower chance of recidivism than those who did not. The analysis also found that each dollar spent on education for prisoners saved 4.5 dollars on the costs of imprisoning a person later on.
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There’s a push within the Colorado assembly to incentivize this as one bill would allow prisoners to take away six months to two years of their sentence depending on the level of educational degree they earn in jail. Colorado State Assembly Member Matthew Martinez explains the advantage of this in an interview with coloradopolitics.com
"Getting them connected to education lowers recidivism and helps them get their lives back on track," said Martinez. "They become productive members of society and that's better for all of Colorado."
Are graduation rates an indicator for violent crime?
FEBRUARY 25, 2023: A previous blog explored any sort of correlation between poverty rates, police spending, and gun laws and the United States' most violent cities. But, if that's being analyzed it's imperative to look at what many experts believe is one of the greatest indicators of violent and property crime: graduation rates. Several scholars have looked at this correlation with Esfandi Law Group finding education and violent crime to have a "profound correlation."
As an associate professor of sociology at the University of Maryland at College Park, Dr. Rashawn Ray studies the correlation between education and crime. In an interview with Fox5 News in Baltimore, he concurs that this link does exist.
“Academic research overwhelmingly shows there is a strong correlation between education, work opportunities and crime,” Ray says. “In fact, some studies have documented that increasing college graduation by 5%, simply by 5%, in certain communities - say, like west Baltimore - can reduce the homicide rate by nearly 20%."
Washington DC area high school senior Jayla Nickens conducted a study comparing standardized test and crime data across wards in the nation's capital. She found that education and violence feed into themselves, sometimes having the reverse effect as well.
“When violent crimes increase, SATs scores decrease, and vice versa for schools located in low poverty areas; low crime results in high SAT scores," Nickens said. "By doing this comparative analysis between wards and schools, I was able to find out that violent crimes do have a degree of impact on students’ academic performance, which is analyzed through SATs scores.”
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How This Correlation Takes Hold in New York
New York State doesn’t have particularly high violent crime rates compared to most of the country. However, an interesting trend in violent crime has developed in New York. Some of the most dangerous places in the state are close to each other and are relatively small. New York City is a big city with big numbers, but the violent crime numbers per capital pale in comparison to some smaller cities around the Empire State.
Based on FBI crime data on violent crimes per capita and property crimes per capita, Onlyinyourstate.com ranked the most violent cities in New York in 2022. Here’s what they found.
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Buffalo
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Niagara Falls
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Binghamton
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Schenectady
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Rochester
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Watertown
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Albany
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Johnson City
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Utica
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Syracuse
Map of Most Violent Counties in New York State (2016)
Credit: New York State Department of Health
It’s imperative to compare these ten cities to the 2022 graduation rate released by the state in early February. For simplicity’s sake, the analysis will focus on the main city school district in these cities.
The 2022 graduation rate report noted that the numbers were trending up. In 2021, the statewide average graduation rate sat at 86%, but it’s now up to 87%. All ten of these cities are below the average for 2022. Only about 1% of school districts in New York have a graduation rate below 80% and six of these cities are below that mark.
Many of these cities have the lowest graduation rates in the whole state. In order to isolate this trend, let’s take New York City’s geographic districts and school districts with a minimum graduating class of 200 out of the analysis. After eliminating those districts, four of the ten most violent cities in the state appear on the bottom eight graduation rates in New York.
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With that elimination, Watertown is the second lowest (69%), Rochester is third (71%), Syracuse is fourth (72%), and Binghamton is eighth (74%). Based on these numbers along
Based on this analysis, it’s fair to say this correlation exists in New York. Like mentioned in previous blog posts, it’s impossible to find direct causation for violent crime, but graduation rates might be the closest known indicator.
How Syracuse comforts the families of violence victims through memorials
FEBRUARY 25, 2023: Syracuse remains one of the more violent cities in the state of New York based on violent crime rates and property crime rates. On February 24, shots were fired at Destiny USA mall. Luckily no one was hurt, but it underscored the idea that the Salt City still has issues with guns and violence and that some areas aren’t as safe as they appear.
This problem has sparked several locals to become anti-violence activists and try to directly stop it from happening. But, another development is found in how victims of violence in the city are remembered. Some activists believe memorials of any form can not only honor the victims, but let the families know people are thinking about them.
A few weeks ago, RebirthSYR unveiled a memorial for victims of violent crime in Syracuse. The organization put up a mural called “Playground in Heaven” in a building on the westside of the city. The mural depicted several young victims such as baby Dior Harris, Kihary Blue, Rashaad Walker Jr. and Brexialee Torres Ortiz. Kameka Alexander, mother of toddler Rashaad Walker Jr, described what the mural means to her in an interview with CNY Central.
“This right here has brought up more memories and know the impact from my kid. For the most part, I'm at peace,” said Alexander. “It makes me know that my kid actually put a certain type of feel not just in me but in other people as well. I feel like my kid has a story that's meant to be told and he is still living.”
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RebirthSYR co-founder Mered Billue said the purpose of this mural was to make sure these victims, whose lives were unjustly taken away, aren’t forgotten.
“No matter what we have to uphold those children,” Billue said. “They're not gone, the energy never dies, and we want them to know that they're still here even though you can't see them in the physical you can see the pictures, and you can pay homage. “
Memorials for violence victims aren’t new to Syracuse, though. Starting about five years ago, the Onondaga Earth Corps along with the I Apologize Foundation started planting trees for murder victims in Syracuse. These trees are usually accompanied by shrines for the victim. The idea being that when one life is taken away, another is given: and a tree stays forever.
Credit: Matt Hassan
Oftentimes, they’d plant them in the same exact spot the murder occurred. This is why there’s a cluster of tree memorials on the corner of Park St. and John St on the northside of Syracuse near Franklin Elementary School: an area that’s seen a number of these tragedies. I Apologize Foundation founder Rashawn Sullivan explained why his organization feels these memorials matter in an interview with Spectrum News in Syracuse.
“They want to see that their memorial site of their loved one that lost their life actually be honored in a true way," said Rashawn Sullivan, I Apologize Foundation founder.
One mother of a gun violence victim described how her son’s tree memorial helps her deal with his death.
“This right here is the exact spot where my son got shot and murdered,” she said. “Everyday I’m going to come here and remember my son.”
Sullivan also believes these memorials can serve as a reminder of the importance of ending gun violence. These memorials allow families to cope with the tragedy and communities to never forget the people whose lives were cut short due to violence. They play a significant role in the movement to end violence in Syracuse and heal the wound violence can inflict on a city.
How is social media impacting journalism?
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Anyone can be a journalist
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A journalistic process made easier
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More transparency within journalism
FEBRUARY 4, 2023
Anyone Can Be a Journalist
Social media allows everyone to get their voice heard. Before it existed, people had to get their message out on television, radio, or in a newspaper. This power often belonged to a very select group of well-off, educated, and connected people. Now, everyone literally has the world at their fingertips. They can share information on social media that thousands of people view before reporters ever descend on the scene. People can take photos and videos of live events and moments and don’t have to submit them to a television station for it to be seen. The rise of “live posts” primarily on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube allow the average person to conduct interviews, share opinions, and break news live without having access to a television studio and airwaves.
Credit: Creative Commons
This has allowed people to get news faster and more directly, but it certainly comes with its pitfalls. It puts a spotlight on people’s media literacy. When anyone can be a journalist, it muddies what is real news and what isn’t. People see accounts post pieces of information and fully believe it before checking with reporters from verified and trusted news outlets. There’s no media literacy handbook for users to read before they make an account. This gives way to people misinterpreting news or trusting random social media accounts that are sharing incorrect information.
A Journalistic Process Made Easier
A Pew Research study revealed that journalists believe social media makes it easier for them to do their jobs. The study involved surveying journalists to find out more about how they felt about the effect of social platforms on the industry. 87% said social media allowed them to promote their stories better. This makes sense as journalists can post about their work, which lets more people see it. Also, the social media audience is always listening and constantly has an appetite. This also helps upstart journalists who may not be part of a huge news outlet, but can rely on social media to get their stories out to the public.
79% said of journalists in this study said social media helps them find sources for stories. It can be difficult to find someone’s email or phone number on the internet, but people’s social media accounts come up when you search their name and a key word. Social media allows journalists to get in touch with the right people a lot easier. It also lets journalists find people to who are passionate about a topic or have gone through a newsworthy experience. Reporters often post on Twitter asking people to respond if they were effect by a major news event. Social media offers a public space to find the right sources, which was impossible beforehand.
More Transparency Within Journalism
Social media has allowed consumers to see the journalistic process in action. Without social media, it’s can be kind of a mystery to consumers how journalists do their work. Since consumers see reporters looking for sources and information through their social media posts, it lets them see how they get in touch with sources and who the sources are. They realize that anyone can be a source and that the information often comes from everyday people. This dismisses the idea that it’s hard to make news and get your voice heard.
News consumers also get to see journalists as the humans that they are. Social media provides a platform for journalists to be themselves while also getting work done. Consumers can see them as just another person doing their job and not a robot that found their way on television or a newspaper. People can react to stories and express anything they disagree with directly to the journalist, unlike television where they can’t respond in real time. This window into a newsroom and a journalist’s life allows consumers to trust the news more - and what is the value of news without trust in the people delivering it?
Credit: Pew Research Center
Credit: Josh Tolentino via Twitter