This morning’s Observer column:
If Facebook thinks it can outsource the detection of fake news to its users (and thereby avoid accepting editorial responsibility) then Stanford University has some bad news for it. Over the past 18 months the university’s history education group has been testing the ability of 7,800 “digital natives” (ie at middle school, high school and college students) in 12 states to judge the credibility of online information…
One of Trump’s tropes during the election was about “cleaning up” Washington. He was, he claimed, the only one who could “drain the swamp” of the corrupt lobbyists, Wall Street bankers and Clinton cronies who ruled inside the Beltway. Now, pondering the fact that alumni of Goldman Sachs seem to be playing a dominant role in his nascent administration (Bannon, Mnunchin and Cohn for starters), one I reminded of a piece of old folk wisdom about these matters: “when people talk about draining the swamp, the alligators lick their lips”.
Surprise, surprise!