Spotting Fake News Is Harder Than You Think

Here’s the thing — spotting fake news is harder than we like to admit. At Canadaland, we spend all day in the media. We’re supposed to know what’s real and what’s not.

But when you want something to be true? You let it slide. You give it the benefit of the doubt.

So we put it to our staff and you, the audience: tell us your fake news stories. The harmless ones, the ones that fooled you for a second, and the ones that didn’t stay harmless. The ones that actually caused panic — which, apparently, happens more than you’d think.

Host: Sam Konnert

Credits: Tristan Capacchione (Producer), Tony Wang (Executive Producer), max collins (Director of Audio), Jesse Brown (Publisher)

Photo: Tony Wang (Note: The photo was generated by A.I. in the past, and Tony Wang edited it to include the text “FAKE NEWS”.)

Additional music by Audio Network

Further Reading:

• Child-snatching eagle video created as student project — CBC
• University Cancels Swim Program, StatsCan Apology, the Fifenstocks, and the "Winter Wasteland" (Documentary) — CBC
• Calgary Aquarium Closure, Advertising to Infants, Winnipeg Real Estate Heating Up, Actor Malcolm Kind interview, and Dave's Homemade Drugs — CBC
• Caring hands: man becomes Canada's first male doula — CBC (This isn’t fake news, I just thought it was funny that there was a real story about the first male doula, that came out after This is That)
• AI Generated Avengers Doomsday trailer
• Flemish Secession Hoax — Wikipedia

Sponsors: 

Hot Docs: Hot Docs runs April 23 to May 3 in Toronto. Tickets and packages are now on sale! Learn more, find films and buy tickets online at https://hotdocs.ca

It’s crowd-finding time at Canadaland! Share this episode with three people or simply send them over to canadaland.com/share and we’ll help them get started with a starter pack of some of our favourite episodes.

Can’t get enough Canadaland? Follow @Canadaland_Podcasts on Instagram for clips, announcements, explainers and more.

This show is (normally) available exclusively to Canadaland supporters. To become one, go to https://canadaland.com/join/. You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch at our store, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.