1 00:00:03,200 --> 00:00:06,080 Speaker 1: Good morning, Welcome to the Daily OS. It's Wednesday, the 2 00:00:06,080 --> 00:00:09,240 Speaker 1: twenty first of April. My name is Zara Sidler, and 3 00:00:09,320 --> 00:00:12,119 Speaker 1: helping me make sense of today's news is Sam Koslowski. 4 00:00:12,960 --> 00:00:15,440 Speaker 1: Making news today awaiting a verdict in. 5 00:00:15,400 --> 00:00:19,720 Speaker 2: Minneapolis, Alexei Navalni in hospital, some good news about NASA, 6 00:00:19,960 --> 00:00:24,200 Speaker 2: and a breakdown of fairy bread. Here's today's daily digest. 7 00:00:25,320 --> 00:00:27,760 Speaker 1: Lawyers and the Derek Shauvin case have made their closing 8 00:00:27,800 --> 00:00:31,480 Speaker 1: statements and the jury has now begun deliberations. Shawvin is 9 00:00:31,560 --> 00:00:34,880 Speaker 1: charged with second degree murder, third degree murder, and second 10 00:00:34,880 --> 00:00:38,440 Speaker 1: degree manslaughter over the death of George Floyd. Each charge 11 00:00:38,440 --> 00:00:41,600 Speaker 1: will be considered separately as the jury will review different 12 00:00:41,600 --> 00:00:45,000 Speaker 1: types of evidence. The jury is expected to deliver its 13 00:00:45,080 --> 00:00:46,080 Speaker 1: verdict this week. 14 00:00:47,680 --> 00:00:50,800 Speaker 2: Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalni has been moved to a 15 00:00:50,800 --> 00:00:54,160 Speaker 2: prison hospital after increased international pressure from the US and 16 00:00:54,200 --> 00:00:58,200 Speaker 2: European Union. Navalny's private doctor's warned he could die quote 17 00:00:58,240 --> 00:01:01,720 Speaker 2: at any minute over the weekend after Navali entered his 18 00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:04,640 Speaker 2: third week of a hunger strike. Navalni, who is one 19 00:01:04,640 --> 00:01:08,039 Speaker 2: of President Vlaimir Putin's most prominent critics, has since been 20 00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:11,200 Speaker 2: barred from seeing his medical team. 21 00:01:11,319 --> 00:01:15,280 Speaker 1: Facebook has revealed plans to launch multiple audio products, including 22 00:01:15,360 --> 00:01:19,320 Speaker 1: audio rooms and podcasts in the upcoming months. Facebook CEO 23 00:01:19,520 --> 00:01:23,240 Speaker 1: Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook is to quote treat audio as 24 00:01:23,240 --> 00:01:25,200 Speaker 1: a first class medium in the way that we would 25 00:01:25,280 --> 00:01:29,320 Speaker 1: photos or video. The announcement comes after the surgeon popularity 26 00:01:29,319 --> 00:01:32,039 Speaker 1: of audio based app club House that hit a high 27 00:01:32,040 --> 00:01:35,280 Speaker 1: of an estimated nine point six million installs in February 28 00:01:35,360 --> 00:01:35,840 Speaker 1: this year. 29 00:01:37,480 --> 00:01:41,399 Speaker 2: And today's good news, NASA's Ingenuity helicopter has completed the 30 00:01:41,440 --> 00:01:45,039 Speaker 2: first ever controlled flight on Mars. Video footage shows the 31 00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:48,280 Speaker 2: helicopter rose to an altitude of around three meters, hovered 32 00:01:48,320 --> 00:01:51,320 Speaker 2: and then landed safely. Manish Patel, who is the head 33 00:01:51,320 --> 00:01:54,680 Speaker 2: of Space Instrumentation at the Open University, said this is 34 00:01:54,720 --> 00:01:57,840 Speaker 2: an astounding feat of engineering excellence that paves the way 35 00:01:58,120 --> 00:02:03,240 Speaker 2: to a brave new world of science and exploit possibilities. Now, 36 00:02:03,280 --> 00:02:06,200 Speaker 2: you might be a little confused about why fairybread is 37 00:02:06,200 --> 00:02:08,280 Speaker 2: the topic about Deep Dive today, And we're going to 38 00:02:08,280 --> 00:02:10,240 Speaker 2: go a little bit better. We're going to go the 39 00:02:10,280 --> 00:02:13,679 Speaker 2: news talking about the news. So why are we talking 40 00:02:13,680 --> 00:02:14,760 Speaker 2: about fairy bread today? 41 00:02:14,960 --> 00:02:17,640 Speaker 1: So we're talking about fairy bread today because of a 42 00:02:17,720 --> 00:02:20,000 Speaker 1: stunt that the Chaser pulled over the weekend. 43 00:02:20,240 --> 00:02:22,640 Speaker 2: And the Chasers are a satirical group. They had a 44 00:02:22,639 --> 00:02:25,120 Speaker 2: really successful show on the ABC in the early two 45 00:02:25,160 --> 00:02:28,520 Speaker 2: thousands and they've now moved on to online publishing similar 46 00:02:28,520 --> 00:02:29,520 Speaker 2: to Batuda Advocate. 47 00:02:29,800 --> 00:02:33,040 Speaker 1: So over the weekend, the Chaser created an experiment of 48 00:02:33,080 --> 00:02:35,640 Speaker 1: their own, and this was a news experiment. So what 49 00:02:35,680 --> 00:02:38,000 Speaker 1: they did was come up with a hypothesis, which was 50 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:40,360 Speaker 1: that they thought it was possible to plant a fake 51 00:02:40,480 --> 00:02:44,160 Speaker 1: story in news court papers and to do so, they 52 00:02:44,240 --> 00:02:47,560 Speaker 1: tasked some interns were seeing if they could get news 53 00:02:47,639 --> 00:02:52,440 Speaker 1: cork to run a fake story, completely completely fake. To 54 00:02:52,520 --> 00:02:55,000 Speaker 1: do this, they created a fake profile, they used a 55 00:02:55,040 --> 00:02:58,600 Speaker 1: face generator to make Twitter and Facebook accounts. They then 56 00:02:58,639 --> 00:03:02,200 Speaker 1: went and made a change or petition, and that petition 57 00:03:02,520 --> 00:03:05,840 Speaker 1: was to change the name of Fairybread. And over the 58 00:03:05,960 --> 00:03:08,360 Speaker 1: last couple of years, we've heard our fair share of 59 00:03:08,520 --> 00:03:12,440 Speaker 1: cancel culture type stories like this, you know, to change 60 00:03:12,480 --> 00:03:14,960 Speaker 1: Doctor Sue's stories, or to change the name of mister 61 00:03:15,040 --> 00:03:18,680 Speaker 1: potato Head. So they thought that this story would land 62 00:03:18,800 --> 00:03:22,160 Speaker 1: in the papers. The petition claimed that the term fairy 63 00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:25,440 Speaker 1: was both outdated and offensive, and that it had been 64 00:03:25,560 --> 00:03:28,800 Speaker 1: used to oppress and belittle others. Of course this isn't 65 00:03:28,800 --> 00:03:31,320 Speaker 1: actually fact or truth, but that was a whole point. 66 00:03:31,360 --> 00:03:34,200 Speaker 1: They wanted to see if something completely made up could 67 00:03:34,280 --> 00:03:37,320 Speaker 1: still make it to mainstream papers. So they said in 68 00:03:37,360 --> 00:03:39,680 Speaker 1: this petition that the fact that Ozzie's in twenty twenty 69 00:03:39,680 --> 00:03:43,800 Speaker 1: one was still using the word fairy was reprehensible. From there, 70 00:03:44,440 --> 00:03:47,040 Speaker 1: they emailed their subscriber list and they asked them to 71 00:03:47,080 --> 00:03:50,640 Speaker 1: sign the petition, and soon they had one thousand signatures. 72 00:03:51,720 --> 00:03:54,360 Speaker 1: From there, the Chaser interns wrote up a press release 73 00:03:54,440 --> 00:03:57,560 Speaker 1: claiming to want to cancel Fairybread and saying that they 74 00:03:57,640 --> 00:04:01,240 Speaker 1: had run a stunningly successful campaign that had amassed a 75 00:04:01,320 --> 00:04:04,400 Speaker 1: thousand signatures. This was all done under the guise of 76 00:04:04,440 --> 00:04:07,760 Speaker 1: the fake profile they had created earlier in the picture. 77 00:04:08,240 --> 00:04:12,640 Speaker 1: One mainstream radio station two GB picked up this story 78 00:04:12,800 --> 00:04:16,719 Speaker 1: and Ben Fordham asked to speak to the user that 79 00:04:16,760 --> 00:04:19,800 Speaker 1: the Chaser had made up to ask questions about this petition. 80 00:04:20,600 --> 00:04:21,000 Speaker 2: On air. 81 00:04:21,160 --> 00:04:23,120 Speaker 1: Ben Fordham said that he knew that this was a 82 00:04:23,240 --> 00:04:26,120 Speaker 1: Chaser gag, and then there was an article written to 83 00:04:26,160 --> 00:04:28,640 Speaker 1: say as much. So it was on the record that 84 00:04:28,680 --> 00:04:31,279 Speaker 1: the Chaser was very much behind this fake petition. 85 00:04:32,040 --> 00:04:34,560 Speaker 2: So surely that's where the chaser's luck ran out and 86 00:04:34,680 --> 00:04:35,479 Speaker 2: the gag ended. 87 00:04:35,920 --> 00:04:38,159 Speaker 1: Now that's what you'd think if you had full faith 88 00:04:38,400 --> 00:04:41,120 Speaker 1: in the newspapers in this country. But it was not 89 00:04:41,240 --> 00:04:44,280 Speaker 1: the end. So they thought they'd try their luck and 90 00:04:44,320 --> 00:04:47,840 Speaker 1: they sent out another press release. I'll add here that 91 00:04:47,960 --> 00:04:51,400 Speaker 1: the ben Fordham interview and the article about it being 92 00:04:51,480 --> 00:04:55,600 Speaker 1: a chaser gag was very much online and googleable. I've 93 00:04:55,640 --> 00:04:57,560 Speaker 1: made that word up, but it was on Google and 94 00:04:57,600 --> 00:05:02,159 Speaker 1: you could very much see that it was a Despite this, 95 00:05:02,720 --> 00:05:06,880 Speaker 1: the story ran on most major news sites in this country. 96 00:05:07,760 --> 00:05:10,000 Speaker 1: So news dot com dat Au which claims to have 97 00:05:10,120 --> 00:05:13,279 Speaker 1: ten point four million readers, had it as the leads story. 98 00:05:13,320 --> 00:05:15,800 Speaker 1: The fact that Fairybread was being renamed and that it 99 00:05:15,839 --> 00:05:18,680 Speaker 1: was being canceled. The Herald's Son, the Daily Mail, the 100 00:05:18,720 --> 00:05:22,400 Speaker 1: Daily Telegraph, even lad Bible. They all ran this story 101 00:05:22,480 --> 00:05:28,280 Speaker 1: that had been completely manufactured, superficially for an experiment, and 102 00:05:28,360 --> 00:05:33,080 Speaker 1: that was deeply, deeply unsettling. After this happened, the Chaser 103 00:05:33,120 --> 00:05:36,800 Speaker 1: put out an entire video explaining what had happened and 104 00:05:36,839 --> 00:05:40,760 Speaker 1: made the very very important point, which is this, you 105 00:05:40,880 --> 00:05:44,760 Speaker 1: always need to check your sources. Had our friends read 106 00:05:44,920 --> 00:05:48,840 Speaker 1: about Fairybread on a very reputable news site. It would 107 00:05:48,839 --> 00:05:51,279 Speaker 1: have been completely normal for them to assume that this 108 00:05:51,480 --> 00:05:54,200 Speaker 1: was an accurate news story and that the people that 109 00:05:54,240 --> 00:05:56,760 Speaker 1: bring them news were doing their own fact checking before 110 00:05:56,800 --> 00:06:01,240 Speaker 1: delivering information to the masses. This story show that that's 111 00:06:01,320 --> 00:06:04,560 Speaker 1: not always happening, and how important it is to use 112 00:06:04,600 --> 00:06:06,760 Speaker 1: critical thinking when reading the news. 113 00:06:07,680 --> 00:06:09,840 Speaker 2: So if I was a listener to the podcast right now, 114 00:06:09,920 --> 00:06:12,120 Speaker 2: I'd be wondering, well, how do I know that what 115 00:06:12,160 --> 00:06:15,039 Speaker 2: I'm listening to from the Daily Os every day is fact. 116 00:06:15,560 --> 00:06:17,360 Speaker 2: There's a few different themes to think about here that 117 00:06:17,400 --> 00:06:20,000 Speaker 2: reflects on the state of the media in Australia at 118 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:22,599 Speaker 2: the moment. One of them is, of course, the pressure 119 00:06:22,680 --> 00:06:25,040 Speaker 2: on journals to pump out as many stories as they 120 00:06:25,080 --> 00:06:27,360 Speaker 2: can in a day for you to click on online. 121 00:06:27,680 --> 00:06:30,280 Speaker 2: It's no longer about how many pages in the newspapers 122 00:06:30,279 --> 00:06:32,440 Speaker 2: going out the next morning, but how many different page 123 00:06:32,520 --> 00:06:35,360 Speaker 2: views you can get clicking on your website. And that 124 00:06:35,440 --> 00:06:39,039 Speaker 2: means that stories go through the truth sieve quicker and 125 00:06:39,240 --> 00:06:41,720 Speaker 2: there might be a lower bar to get them up online. 126 00:06:42,040 --> 00:06:43,840 Speaker 2: But what I don't want you to feel right now 127 00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:47,920 Speaker 2: is that this story makes you trust nothing, because there 128 00:06:47,920 --> 00:06:50,560 Speaker 2: are lots of really gate journalists in Australia doing all 129 00:06:50,560 --> 00:06:52,560 Speaker 2: of their due diligence on the story to make sure 130 00:06:52,600 --> 00:06:56,120 Speaker 2: that the petition on Fairybread renaming was real, to make 131 00:06:56,160 --> 00:06:58,960 Speaker 2: sure that the person who launched the petition was a 132 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:02,320 Speaker 2: real person, and to verify the stability of the story. 133 00:07:02,320 --> 00:07:05,679 Speaker 2: And a good example is Ben Fordham himself who called 134 00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:07,280 Speaker 2: that out pretty early in the piece. 135 00:07:07,880 --> 00:07:10,480 Speaker 1: Sam, can you give out listeners something other than the 136 00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:13,280 Speaker 1: dumpster fire that I've just delivered to make them feel 137 00:07:13,280 --> 00:07:16,440 Speaker 1: a bit more optimistic about the media and news that 138 00:07:16,480 --> 00:07:17,160 Speaker 1: they consume. 139 00:07:18,040 --> 00:07:20,280 Speaker 2: One of the core pillars of how we put together 140 00:07:20,360 --> 00:07:23,760 Speaker 2: our content is making sure that it's right. Look. Trust 141 00:07:23,800 --> 00:07:27,080 Speaker 2: in journalism is a major issue in Australia and in 142 00:07:27,120 --> 00:07:30,160 Speaker 2: fact in most of the Western world. There's two ways 143 00:07:30,200 --> 00:07:33,080 Speaker 2: to look at this fairy Bread experiment. One is that 144 00:07:33,120 --> 00:07:35,640 Speaker 2: it shows us that readers need to have their wits 145 00:07:35,640 --> 00:07:38,040 Speaker 2: about them when reading a story, and that's fair enough. 146 00:07:38,080 --> 00:07:41,520 Speaker 2: But personally, I think it's more about the journalists taking 147 00:07:41,520 --> 00:07:45,640 Speaker 2: their job as public informers really seriously. For me, when 148 00:07:45,680 --> 00:07:47,680 Speaker 2: I come to work every day to write the stories 149 00:07:47,720 --> 00:07:50,440 Speaker 2: that we read on Instagram and on the pod, it's 150 00:07:50,480 --> 00:07:53,120 Speaker 2: about doing the research to make sure that I can 151 00:07:53,120 --> 00:07:55,360 Speaker 2: bring facts to the audience that I know are right. 152 00:07:56,320 --> 00:07:59,400 Speaker 2: Reputable news sources will take the time when they get 153 00:07:59,480 --> 00:08:01,640 Speaker 2: hit with a store to do the research, and that's 154 00:08:01,640 --> 00:08:04,880 Speaker 2: something we're trying every day to do for our audience. 155 00:08:05,320 --> 00:08:07,400 Speaker 2: Media in Australia has a long way to go from 156 00:08:07,400 --> 00:08:09,600 Speaker 2: fairy Bread, but as the audience, the best thing you 157 00:08:09,640 --> 00:08:12,320 Speaker 2: can do is support journalists who take the time to 158 00:08:12,840 --> 00:08:16,760 Speaker 2: verify the facts. That's all we've got time for today 159 00:08:16,800 --> 00:08:19,560 Speaker 2: on the Daily Ods the fairy Bread Free Zone. If 160 00:08:19,600 --> 00:08:21,640 Speaker 2: you want to follow us on Instagram throughout the day, 161 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:24,360 Speaker 2: check us out at the Daily Ods. It's where over 162 00:08:24,400 --> 00:08:26,960 Speaker 2: one hundred thousand Australians get their news throughout the day 163 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:29,160 Speaker 2: and we would love you to become part of the community.