Comment by loudmax

1 year ago

When a news organization hires a journalist to file a report, they put their reputation on the line in the hands of the journalist.

As a consumer of news, you put your trust in the institution to have a reasonable vetting process, and also a process to retract a story if it's later shown to be false.

None of this is completely foolproof. It relies on institutions taking a long term view, and people working out which individuals and institutions are worthy of their trust. This isn't like the the blockchain where you have mathematical proof of veracity that's as strong as your encryption algorithm. I don't see how that level of proof is achievable in the real world.

But that still doesn't factor in social media at all, which is ultimately where the majority of people are getting their information. I just don't see what institution you're relying on in the case of real people sharing videos that may or may not be fake.