Rumours (Melisa Yee Pik Lian 1092701549)

Pretty much everyone today has access to the internet, so to learn the latest news is very easy. But this also has a disadvantage, for there will also be false news and rumors spreading around, which might mislead many people. 

For me, even though I depend on the internet for news and information, I do not trust it 100%. If I feel that that information and news is a little suspicious, I will look for other sources to confirm it. This is because anyone in this world, even a 5 year old child can write a fake news and information and spread it in the internet. 

I have experienced where I googled for the latest news on my favorite book, in hopes it will have a continuation, I found that someone said they read somewhere that the news have been confirmed that there will be a 2nd book, but in fact there isn't. Rumors spread so easily in the internet that you might not know which one to trust. This is why I use my logical sense when I search for news and information online. 

Truth on internet?

Nowadays, as the technologies are much more advanced and more people are more educated, computers are very common and people are more skillful in coding stuff. I believe this is the reason they can create fake news, and spread it around in one of the more power things in the world which is internet.

Here I got one example which had spread around half a year before. It's about Facebook will be shut down next year, due to Facebook creator, Mark Zuckerberg's stress while managing the website.

Here's the link for the news.

When I saw this, I really got shocked, since I believe Facebook is very powerful and I think it won't be gone in at least 10 years. Then after I search the news in google, I just realise it is a fake news.

Some people already claim that it's just a hoax in here, here, here, and here.

After that incident, every news I saw in Facebook, no matter the source is believable or not, I'll go google and see whether there is the same news reported in other popular websites or not. If all trustable websites report the same news, then only I believe it.

Week 8 -Do you trust news on the internet? by chuah sze nee

I don't really trust news on the internet. There are so many rumours that can be spread on the internet to make people scare or make a fool on someone. The tool that often used is the email. People used email to spread fake news to users of gmail, hotmail and etc. This is because emails can be sent many times without the need to identify yourself. A lot of cheaters use this method, they will ask you for help, telling you to donate and etc. I always get emails, so called junk mails like the above situation.

Example of aking for help email, with the title -a cry for help.

Above is from my experience. Now, the other news that got from the internet few months back is the rumour of fake eggs in Malaysia. It has also been publish on the local newspapers as well.
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/4/8/nation/8436852&sec=nation [News of fake eggs taken from The Star Online]

And now, the test shows that the fake eggs are real ones. Below is the news taken from New Straits Times.
http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/teloqqs1/Article/

So, we have to judge on our own first before trusting them.

Rumors, lies and innuendo spread far, wide and fast on the Internet. 1092700990

Do you often take what is on the internet as TRUTH without thinking much about it? If yes, why? If no, why?


Well, for me I will think twice before I finally believe that the news or any rumors that can be find in the internet. As we know, nowadays anyone can post anything in the internet. Anyway, for the local news that is air on tv,radio or even news that is reported in newspaper is questionable too. 


This is 1 of the video regarding fake food. The first time I saw this, i don't believe it but after news coming from newspaper and tv then I believe it.





This video below is about the recently happen,  Bersih 2.0 at Malaysia. Well, it cause quite a scenario. Besides that, the video show in the internet and tv about what happen that day in quite different. Only after that they talk in the news that what happen. This shows how sometimes even news that is reported in tv is not necessary the truth.


In conclusion, we have to be smart enough to find out more information about certain things before we made the decision to believe it.

Week 8 - Do you often take what is on the Internet as TRUTH?

It's true that many people take everything from the internet as truth without much thinking. Sometimes we did it too. As an most familiar example, the content from Wikipedia. As a student, when we are doing our assignment, the most popular site that we try to search for information is Wikipedia. It appears to be very convenient for us by just entering some key words, we got what we want. But, how many of us will do a more in-depth research of the content before we use it? Honestly, sometimes, or most of the times, I didn't. In fact, we should search for second reference to confirm it before we trust the source. The truth is, the content in Wiki cannot be trusted 100%.

The content of Wiki is actually created by anyone and can be edited by any person who accesses it with a web browser! We ourselves can create a page describing a new term that don't even exist! Some colleges banned their students from using the site in citation.

There are many cases where the content in Wiki were found fake or faulty. For example, there was entry reported in Wiki at March 2007 that a actor-comedian Sinbad was dead. The entry was found to be fake and the entry was quickly edited later. http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2042333_2042334_2042337,00.html

Another example is, Wiki listed Hilary Clintons as having been the valedictorian of her class in Wellesley College in her biography. The biography was there for about 20 months within 2005 and 2006. But this was found later to be wrong. http://library.thinkquest.org/06aug/00446/Wikipedia_trust.html

It was found that a prolific Wikipedia contributor and editor, Essjay who claimed himself as a professor with degrees in theology and canon law, is in fact a 24-year-old college drop-out. His real name is Ryan Jordan. He used texts such as Catholicism for Dummies to help him in Wikipedia editing . http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1544803/Wikipedia-professor-is-24-year-old-college-dropout.html

As a conclusion, although we can find information quickly from Wikipedia, we should double check its content before fully trust it. Even the co-founder of Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales said "If what you're after is 'who won the World Cup in 1986', it's going to be fine - no problem. If you want to know something a little more esoteric, or something that's going to be controversial, you should probably use a second reference - at least." http://library.thinkquest.org/06aug/00446/Wikipedia_wars.html

Wong Yi Vonn => week 8 - Do you often take what is on the Internet as TRUTH with our thinking much about it? If yes, why? If no, why?

Base on my opinion, news from internet are questionable. But I believe a Chinese proverb: 空穴来风 未必无因, it means that things don't happen for no reason; everything has a cause. Whenever I read something on the Internet, I will not immediately trust it but I'll search for more articles regarding to it to gather more information. And of course, articles found are preferably written by different party so I could get a different perspective and conclude the incident by myself.

This is an example on an article I found and how I conclude it:

http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/169470 , This is a Chinese article about the Bersih Rally incident happen on 9th July, Kuala Lumpur. What caught my interest is that are there water canons and tear gas fired into Tung Shin Hospital? Is there any patients affected on that day?

Below is how I do my research and what I think on the articles.

1) Journal about police shot tear gas into compound area of Tung Shin Hospital

http://live-metzelder.blogspot.com/2011/07/tung-shin-hospital-hit-by-tear-gas.html

This blogspot was talking about tear gas entered Tung Shin Hospital compound.

One of the staff who is in charge of ambulance management, said that the police fired tear gas three times. He added the spray from the water cannons was unable to reach the main hospital, but hit a building in the compound.

There are photos as prove and said that the workers of Tung Shin Hospital was interviewed. It made the whole article believable, but:

1) We can easily fake an interview by writing and without a proof (recording of the entire interview.)

2)Angles of the photo shot could influence the truth, thus photos are also not very believable. But at least this proves that the police did fire some tear gas in that region but tear gas was shot directly into Tung Shin Hospital's compound is questionable.

2) Short video clip about Police denying tear gas was shot at the region of Tung Shin Hospital

Acting police chief Amar Singh denies that tear gas was shot at Tung Shin Hospital Region and by right, what police said was the truth, but:

1) There are videos and photos showing that tear gas was shot in the region. This point increases the doubt of what he will talk about next.

2) He said that he was at the scene that day but when reporters asking about water canons shooting into Tung Shin Hospital, he says " I cant remember now", "I will check and see", "Let's not go into this", And quickly change the subject. The information given by him was very questionable.

3) Short Video clip about did not fire tear gas directly into Tung Shin Hospital but only at the main road infront of Tung Shin Hospital.

In this short clip, Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai said that the police only fired tear gas at the main road of Tung Shin Hospital and not directly into the Hospital. He also mentioned that the management department of Tung Shin Hospital agreed on this point. But:

1) Tung Shin Hospital is a Private Chinese Hospital located in Kuala Lumpur, if Tung Shin Hospital doesn't suffer losses or doesn't causes any impact on the patient in the incident (as written in the blog above: http://live-metzelder.blogspot.com/2011/07/tung-shin-hospital-hit-by-tear-gas.html) Going against the government is a bad move. Thus the denial from management of Tung Shin Hospital was questionable.

2) Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai is working for the government, he does not have the freedom of speaking out his mind. This is a same theory as "journalist vs bloggers" , we can read more detail and different perspective news from a blogger compare to a journalist. Thus, the information given by the Health Minister is questionable.

Therefore, I'll conclude this incident as:

1)Yes, there are tear gas fired around Tung Shin area. But maybe it is windy out there and blew the gas into Tung Shin Hospital, thus both parties are trying to tell the truth. I wouldn't know the truth since I'm not in that scene.

2)Information from police are sometimes questionable and I will not believe them completely starting from now onwards.

3) Watching the denial from the management of Tung Shin Hospital indicates that the patients of the hospital was not being effected and there are no serious damage and loss.

Week8- Internet's information can be trusted? 1092701286

"Do you often take what is on the Internet as TRUTH without thinking much about it? If yes, why? If no, why? Discuss this in your own words with recent personal examples."

For the question above, i personally think that, official media and online media stand an equal percentage of truth undercover by different class of people, the only different behind them is that, 1 is paid by employee, and the other 1 is doing it for free. Through this fast changing world, messages can be spread as fast as after u press the Enter keyboard button. Therefore, i think that i will think twice before believing any party of media.


For example, there is a few articles online
1) http://sglinks.com/pages/805226-m-sia-recalls-taiwan-s-shin-ramen-noodles-tests
2)http://sglinks.com/pages/808554-avoid-korean-noodles-m-sian-authorities

said that the "Shin" instant noodle is not eatable as it contain plasticiser, di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) and di-isononyl phthalate (DINP).

After 1 day, i saw it on local new


saying the same thing, only then i can fully trust the article.

Another point of view is most recent bersih 2.0 incident. Instantly during the demonstration, people had been uploading what had they been through during the demonstration and many angry comment had been given out by the citizen for the support for the resident yet not the government.



Local new then reported that, " there is no physical contact through out the demonstration, made me doubt about the government more and more



After this video, i really do NOT think that, local news can be trust as it is, as a lot of truth had been covered by the government for what they had done.

After a few weeks, the government made a video saying about "what really happen on the day of the demonstration"


Question start arose from my mind thinking that why this video was not released as soon as the news that night, why do they have to wait until such a large gap of time to release such "quality"
video? Therefore, here it leaves us to think twice as well whether the reason behind it is to find loop hole in order to cover up what they had done.

As a conclusion, i personally think that every party that post a message publicly has its own purpose, whether for the good or for the worst. So it is up to our own intelligent and how deep our knowledge is before judging a statement made.

Week 8: Rumors, lies and innuendo spread far, wide and fast on the Internet. - 1081100604

Do you often take what is on the Internet as TRUTH with our thinking much about it? If yes, why? If no, why? Discuss this in your own words with recent personal examples.

For me, I will not trust the things from internet especially from not reliable webpage if the content is not logic. But for the content which I think is logic enough for me, I will double confirm it by visiting other website where it is the official and true website which exist quite sometime where the sources are reliable. And besides, I will confirm it once again by reading news on the newspaper or from the video for the news that have been broadcasted to the TV.

Based on the comic shown above, it is about someone believing the content of a website which newly create by someone random to create rumors. This show that we should have double confirm the content by checking other website which is reliable such as the  newspaper website where all the people know about it.

For my personal examples recently about the Internet rumours, it is about the Bersih 2.0 where I heard and seen the news from the newspaper, the internet, and from the government. The content is not really the same for 3 of them. I have seen videos from the internet by citizen from the day 709, the government video after quite sometime and the newspaper after the day 709. The content interpreted is not the same and therefore, I cant tell the truth which is the correct one.

Conclusion is, we cannot trust anything blindly until there is a confirm answer for it.

The video below is about part of the Bersih 2.0.

This is the picture posted in Facebook that written is being manipulated.