We’ve had some trouble recently with posts from aggregator links like Google Amp, MSN, and Yahoo.

We’re now requiring links go to the OG source, and not a conduit.

In an example like this, it can give the wrong attribution to the MBFC bot, and can give a more or less reliable rating than the original source, but it also makes it harder to run down duplicates.

So anything not linked to the original source, but is stuck on Google Amp, MSN, Yahoo, etc. will be removed.

  • jordanlund@lemmy.worldOPM
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    2 months ago

    MBFC does NOT equate the Guardian with Breitbart:

    https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/the-guardian/

    Overall, we rate The Guardian as Left-Center biased based on story selection that moderately favors the left and Mixed for factual reporting due to numerous failed fact checks over the last five years.

    https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/breitbart/

    Overall, we rate Breitbart Questionable based on extreme right-wing bias, the publication of conspiracy theories and propaganda, as well as numerous false claims.

    If you check their list of questionable sources, Breitbart is listed, the Guardian is not:

    https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/fake-news/

    • Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      2 months ago

      Example of a “failed” fact check for The Guardian:

      “Private renting is making millions of people ill with almost half of England’s 8.5 million renters experiencing stress or anxiety and a quarter made physically sick as a result of their housing, campaigners have said.”

      OUR VERDICT

      A survey found almost a quarter of private renters agree that housing worries have made them ill in the past year. This doesn’t mean the sickness was specifically caused by renting privately as opposed to any other type of housing situation.

      This was an article entirely about stress and anxiety. Ignoring that stress and anxiety have physical effects on the body, the only way someone could conclude that the article was about like, toxic apartments and not stress and anxiety was if they failed to read the article at all and instead just read the headline and made up an article in their head.

      Such obviously agenda driven nitpicky bullshit is why people don’t respect the bot.

      • jordanlund@lemmy.worldOPM
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        2 months ago

        Correlation is not causation. I had my first heart attack when I was renting. It wasn’t BECAUSE I was a renter. You literally cannot say someone is experiencing stress because they’re a renter, that’s a stretch.

        They could be experiencing stress by their overall socio-economic status which is also a reason they are renting, not the other way around.

        I had my 2nd heart attack as a home owner. Again, my status as a renter or owner has nothing to do with it.

        • Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          2 months ago

          “Renters experience stress and anxiety over renting to the point of illness” is not code for “and homeowners don’t feel any and are all perfectly healthy.” The only way to read it that way is if you’re trying to manufacture “fact checks” (or defend them, I guess). Same energy:

          They could be experiencing stress by their overall socio-economic status which is also a reason they are renting, not the other way around.

          Oh, do you think that if the article about stress from renting mentioned that financial problems contribute to that then it would make that fact check unfair?

          Because it does.

          Renters on average spend 41% of their income on housing costs, more than any other tenure, official figures show.

          Polly Neate, Shelter’s chief executive, said: “A whole generation of children risk growing up surrounded by this constant stress and anxiety. This cannot go on.

          • jordanlund@lemmy.worldOPM
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            2 months ago

            Again, correlation is not causation.

            They aren’t stressed because they’re spending 41% of their income on housing, they’re stressed because of their low socio economic status which causes them to spend 41% of their income on housing.

            It’s a symptom, not a cause.

            Again, they’re putting the cart before the horse and MBFC correctly points out what they’re trying to say is factually false.

            • Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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              2 months ago

              This is actually a great example for how the bot actively discourages critical thinking, as it seems you have started from your conclusion (MBFC is correct), worked backwards, and apparently have not even read the article or anything I’ve said in response to you.

              They aren’t stressed because they’re spending 41% of their income on housing, they’re stressed because of their low socio economic status which causes them to spend 41% of their income on housing.

              Wow, I wonder if the article mentioned any other factors, like no-fault evictions and poorly maintained apartments, in the second paragraph?

              You keep talking about there being other factors like that wasn’t entirely what the article was about. Furthermore, almost every single one of those statements was about what advocacy organizations are claiming. Reporting what they are saying is factually inaccurate? Come off it.

              • jordanlund@lemmy.worldOPM
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                2 months ago

                Again, those are stressors caused by their lower socioeconomic status, not because they are renters. They are renters BECAUSE of their status, and are stressed by their status. They are NOT stressed because they are renters.

                Trying to spin it the other way is why the story is, correctly, marked as false.

                https://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/science-questions/10-correlations-that-are-not-causations.htm

                • Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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                  2 months ago

                  For clarity, your defense of MBFC’s rating is that anxiety over rising rent costs outpacing wages (leading to more people spending more of their income on rent), worries about no fault eviction (which only happens if you rent), and stress from poor quality housing (which again is mostly a problem for renters, because homeowners can deal with it how and when they please), is somehow completely unconnected to the fact these people are renting?

                  Yeah, I guess it’s technically true that they could have rented a castle or a luxury apartment instead. But it’s completely irrelevant when talking about the effects of housing insecurity on large swathes of the populace, and trying to spin it as “The Guardian says renting is bad for your health, negative points!!” is outright dishonest.

                  • jordanlund@lemmy.worldOPM
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                    2 months ago

                    No, I’m saying them being renters is at the same level as all the other problems. They face a lot of shit because of their poor economic status, and that causes them stress, but one of the things they face is their economic status forces them to rent.

                    Renting doesn’t cause the stress, it’s caused by the same thing that causes them stress. The root cause is lower socio economic status. Everything flows from that.

    • TheTechnician27@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Jordan, please look at the ‘Factual Reporting’ metric. They consider both of them to be ‘MIXED’, and as @Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone correctly points out, the sorts of few-and-far-between “fact checks” performed on The Guardian are complete nitpicks, while Breitbart is outright a disinformation outlet, peddling climate denialism, anti-vaxx, and other things that make it – based on what you said earlier – a source that isn’t credible enough to be posted to this very community.

      The Guardian is much more factually accurate than “MIXED”, and Breitbart is much less factually accurate than “MIXED”, yet somehow they elevate Breitbart while dragging The Guardian’s credibility through the mud.

      (To be clear, though, I still think what you guys are doing with this change is a huge improvement.)

      • jordanlund@lemmy.worldOPM
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        2 months ago

        That’s not the overall rating though, which is why Breitbart is Questionable and the Guardian is not.

        • TheTechnician27@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          Jordan, please elaborate: in what world does The Guardian have “MIXED” factual reporting and have “MEDIUM CREDIBILITY”? I really want to know why you think either of those ratings even remotely comport with reality.

          (Also, “Questionable” is way, way too lenient for Breitbart.)

          • jordanlund@lemmy.worldOPM
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            2 months ago

            I mean, it’s all right there on the page:

            “Mixed for factual reporting due to numerous failed fact checks over the last five years.”

            With cited examples:

            "Failed Fact Checks

            The proportion of lung cancer cases only diagnosed after a visit to an A&E ranges from 15% in Guildford and Waverley in Surrey to 56% in Tower Hamlets and Manchester. – Inaccurate

            Private renting is making millions of people ill. – False

            “The number of children needing foster care has risen by 44% during the coronavirus pandemic, creating a “state of emergency,” a children’s charity said.” – False

            915 children admitted with malnutrition in Cambridge hospitals between 2015 and 2020. There were 656 similar admissions at Newcastle hospitals and 656 at the Royal Free London hospitals. – False

            Nine percent of parents surveyed say their children have started self-harming in response to the cost of living crisis. – False"

            Medium Credibility stems from this:

            “In review, story selection favors the left but is generally factual. They utilize emotionally loaded headlines such as “The cashless society is a con – and big finance is behind it” and “Trump back-pedals on Russian meddling remarks after an outcry.” The Guardian typically utilizes credible sources such as thoughtco.comgov.uk., and factually mixed sources such as HuffPost and independent.co.uk.”

            So, yeah, biased headlines, “factually mixed sources”.

            • TheTechnician27@lemmy.world
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              2 months ago

              Numerous?? It cites five over the past five years, and they’re small errors that don’t change the overall point of the article and that to my understanding The Guardian later corrected. You have to know that the amount of articles The Guardian has put out in five days – let alone five years – turns that figure into a rounding error.

              Please explain how they could possibly have the same accuracy rating as Breitbart.

              • jordanlund@lemmy.worldOPM
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                2 months ago

                It cites 5, numerous means there are many more, but these are the cited examples.

                They don’t have the same accuracy as Breitbart, again, Breitbart is Questionable and is on their list of fake news sources, the Guardian is not.

                • TheTechnician27@lemmy.world
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                  2 months ago

                  Then why does it list them on the same tier for “Factual Accuracy”? It calls the ranking “Factual Accuracy”, as in literally the extent to which they get facts right. And those are “MIXED” for both sources.

                  • jordanlund@lemmy.worldOPM
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                    2 months ago

                    Because there’s more to a rating than factual accuracy.

                    For example:

                    https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2024/10/10/chris-wallace-harris-has-plateaued-trump-is-now-a-slight-favorite/

                    “Chris Wallace: Harris Has ‘Plateaued’ — Trump Is Now a Slight Favorite”

                    Yeah, that’s factually accurate. Chris Wallace did, in fact, say that.

                    “I’m hearing this from top Republicans and top Democrats, that Harris seems to have stalled out a bit in the last couple of weeks. You know, she had a great rollout, great convention, very successful debate, but she seemed to have plateaued. One top Republican said two weeks ago, I would’ve said that she was a slight favorite. He said today I’d say Trump is a slight favorite.

                    He was quoting some un-named source, he didn’t make that assertation himself, which makes the headline dishonest, but those words did come out of Wallaces mouth.

    • hamid@sh.itjust.works
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      2 months ago

      https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/new-york-times/

      Really weird it is rated “Reliable” when the New York Times wrote and reported on literal fake news weapons of mass destruction in Iraq which manufactured consent for an illegal invasion and overthrow of Iraq and killing literally MILLIONS OF PEOPLE.

      On what planet is the newspaper of the establishment of the New York elite, literally wall street, “Left” I don’t think they support putting all the corporate board members in prison and establishing workers co-ops and replacing the neoliberal status quo with socialism.