Tintin in the land of fake news
"Fake news" has been announced as the Collins Word of the Year 2017.
Fake news is nothing new, but with the technological dimension (Internet, social networks,..), as a sounding board spread like the plague. The practice of "fake news" is as old as the world and already in antiquity or under the Republic in Rome, eloquence was sometimes at the service of slanderous, defamatory propaganda or bitter verbal attack.
What has changed today is the scale of the phenomenon: the "virus" of the hoax has actually changed through social media.
In Tintin and the Picaros, Hergé himself recounts in pictures this type of misleading campaign. This episode presents to us misinformation from the Government in power. And in this fiction as in reality, the result is simple: a misperception of reality.
Haddock exclaims about Bianca Castafiore’s arrest (Bianca is accused of conspiracy against President Tapioca): “I think it’s a load of old rubbish!... Accusing Castafiore of conspiracy!...Ridiculous!” We could have made the same comments about the allegation or the controversy launched by Vincent Cespedes, that shook the world of Tintinophiles for several days: Tintin could be a girl!
Read the ouest-francearticle. (French)
The "fake" news spread like wildfire following the blog of the above named, published on September 20th 2017, to finally implode a few days later. This test in real conditions, according to the author of this silly hoax, was only to launch a philosophical conversation: an open door, to rethink Tintin from another point of view.
Source : http://www.pieuvre.ca .
It was not a brainstorming exercise about the media processing information or a joke, gossip or a hoax, but a simple chat about Tintin: Tintin would not be a man, but a woman.The problem is that the media had pounced on the“prey”, and rushed to relay this unprocessed statement, this post then went around the world!
And according to Cespedes, the moral of this shady story: “What I learned is that the real media need false news to spread”
Source : http://www.pieuvre.ca.
This is not the first time that Tintin is the target of a campaign to discredit..
Who benefits from the campaign? While the seemingly obvious purpose of fake news is to draw attention to its creator, critical commentators on this phenomenon place greater emphasis on data collection and behavioural targeting than simply spreading fake news..
"Almost all fake news sites are more about collecting data and behavioural targeting than just spreading the fake news. “- Jonathan Albright
(source : http://quebec.huffingtonpost.ca)
So, one tip: read Tintin's Adventures first and foremost and trust the Thomspons' flair before releasing information! An absolute rule: check and double check the sources.
Pour en savoir plus : https://www.ouest-france.fr
Final word:
Castafiore, conspirator !!!... If only, it was the conspiracy of silence! ..