{"id":889,"date":"2017-01-30T18:02:30","date_gmt":"2017-01-30T18:02:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bsujournalismworkshops.com\/?p=889"},"modified":"2017-01-30T18:02:30","modified_gmt":"2017-01-30T18:02:30","slug":"alternative-facts-explained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bsu.edu\/journalismworkshops\/2017\/01\/30\/alternative-facts-explained\/","title":{"rendered":"Alternative Facts Explained"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">If you\u2019ve been paying any attention to the news over the past few days, I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve seen the statement \u201calternative facts\u201d over and over again. During a segment on &#8220;Meet The Press,&#8221; Trump Adviser Kellyanne Conway stated that the facts mentioned by the new Press Secretary, Sean Spicer, during the White House\u2019s statement on Inauguration crowd sizes were just alternative facts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> But what do alternative facts mean for journalists? <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Spicer\u2019s statement was riddled was <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">falsehoods \u2014<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> not alternative facts \u2014 such as, \u201cThis was the first time in our nation&#8217;s history that floor coverings have been used to protect the grass on the Mall<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">,\u201d which is not true, as it happened at the 2013 inauguration, as well. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>WHAT IS AN ALTERNATIVE FACT?:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">An alternative fact is something that isn\u2019t <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">totally<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> true, like twisting data to fit an agenda. You\u2019ll see that a lot of columnists and reporters are saying that alternative facts are just blatant lies, which isn\u2019t always the case. Some of the claims made by Spicer were just outright falsehoods. Usually, alternative facts are statements or graphics that spin the truth to look different than reality, like scale-shrinking in data to make a .5 inch different in rainfall look like a drastic drop or increase. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-890\" src=\"http:\/\/bsujournalismworkshops.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Scale-Shrinking-01.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1190\" height=\"611\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bsu-wpe-blogs.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2017\/01\/10100816\/Scale-Shrinking-01.png 1190w, https:\/\/bsu-wpe-blogs.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2017\/01\/10100816\/Scale-Shrinking-01-300x154.png 300w, https:\/\/bsu-wpe-blogs.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2017\/01\/10100816\/Scale-Shrinking-01-768x394.png 768w, https:\/\/bsu-wpe-blogs.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2017\/01\/10100816\/Scale-Shrinking-01-1024x526.png 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1190px) 100vw, 1190px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>WHAT TO DO WITH ALTERNATIVE FACTS?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">It seems like it would be really easy to just ridicule or chastise those who use alternative facts, but instead, journalists should use their medium to check facts and report on inconsistencies. Use your knowledge of media literacy and news writing to tell the difference between the truth and a lie. And lastly, sniff out alternative facts, and report the big picture that the source is trying to conceal. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you\u2019ve been paying any attention to the news over the past few days, I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve seen the statement \u201calternative facts\u201d over and over again. During a segment on &#8220;Meet The Press,&#8221; Trump Adviser Kellyanne Conway stated that the facts mentioned by the new Press Secretary, Sean Spicer, during the White House\u2019s statement on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":885,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[34,43,51,76],"class_list":["post-889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-donald-trump","tag-inaugaration","tag-journalism","tag-sean-spicer"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Alternative Facts Explained - Ball State Journalism Workshops!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bsu.edu\/journalismworkshops\/2017\/01\/30\/alternative-facts-explained\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Alternative Facts Explained - Ball State Journalism Workshops!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If you\u2019ve been paying any attention to the news over the past few days, I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve seen the statement \u201calternative facts\u201d over and over again. 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