Reality Check Commentary: A Faked Kate is Just The Beginning
This lesson plan is based on the article in NewsGuard’s Reality Check.
A Faked Kate is Just The Beginning By James Warren, NewsGuard Executive Editor.
The doctored photo of the Princess of Wales inspired an ethical crisis for the British royal family. More importantly, it foreshadows skullduggery likely to face millions of average news consumers this election season.
Forget the media hand wringing over the phony Kate Middleton family shot. Prettifying photos has long been a fixture of celebrity-driven magazines. That practice clashes with the values of traditional news organizations, which generally forbid touching up of photos. Kim Kardashian’s enhanced glam shot on a magazine cover is one thing, fiddling in the slightest with a photo of the Israel-Hamas war is another.
Artificial intelligence and other tools dramatically simplify the ability to deceive all of us via bogus images and videos. It is why NewsGuard has started a 2024 Elections Misinformation Tracking Center, to monitor the spread of misinformation this year as voters in the U.S., the European Union, and other countries head to the polls. Newsguard’s Reality Check
Objective: To educate students about the dangers of misinformation, particularly in the context of altered images and deep fakes, and to discuss the implications for media literacy and democratic processes.
Materials:
- Article: “A Faked Kate is Just The Beginning”1
- Examples of altered images and deep fakes (See links below)
- Media literacy guidelines
Lesson Outline:
- Introduction to Misinformation
- Discuss the concept of misinformation and its prevalence in today’s digital landscape.
- Show the altered photo of Kate Middleton as an example and discuss the ethical crisis it caused.
- The Role of AI and Technology
- Explain how artificial intelligence and other tools can create convincing fake images and videos2.
- Highlight the importance of being vigilant against such deceptions.
- Media Literacy and Critical Thinking
- Teach students how to analyze media content and check for authenticity critically.
- Discuss the decline of local news organizations and the rise of “news deserts.”
- Implications for Democracy
- Explore how misinformation can affect elections and the democratic process.
- Discuss the role of media platforms in preventing the spread of dangerous propaganda.
- Group Activity
- Divide students into groups and have them analyze various images and videos to determine their authenticity.
- Each group present their findings and discussed the challenges they faced.
Conclusion: Wrap up the lesson by emphasizing the importance of media literacy and the collective responsibility to combat misinformation.
Assessment: Students will write a short essay on the potential consequences of misinformation in local elections and propose solutions to mitigate its impact.
- President Volodymyr Zelensky (March 2022): Amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, a deepfake video of Ukrainian President Zelensky appeared on social media. In the video, he appeared to call on his armed forces to surrender1.
- Barack Obama calling Donald Trump a “complete dipshit”: The video showing Barack Obama insulting Donald Trump is not real. It was created by comedian and Academy Award winner Jordan Peele using increasingly easy-to-use programs to demonstrate the coming age of nearly seamless “fake news” images. The video serves as a warning about the dangers of misinformation and deepfakes123.
- Mark Zuckerberg bragging about having “total control of billions of people’s stolen data”: A video appeared on Instagram showing Mark Zuckerberg discussing controlling “billions of people’s stolen data” to shape the future. However, this video is a deepfake, deliberately manipulated to look like Zuckerberg said those words. It was part of an art installation called “Spectre,” created by artists Bill Posters and Daniel Howe in collaboration with technology startups4.
- Jon Snow’s Moving Apology for the Dismal Ending of Game of Thrones: There is a fictional deepfake video featuring Jon Snow from Game of Thrones apologizing for the show’s ending. In this video, Jon Snow says, “I’m sorry we wasted your time,” and reflects on the series finale. However, this video is not real and was created as a humorous take on fan reactions to the show’s conclusion
- Fictional Photos: Deepfake technology can create entirely fictional photos from scratch. For example, a non-existent Bloomberg journalist named “Maisy Kinsley” had a profile on LinkedIn and Twitter, likely a deepfake. Another LinkedIn fake, “Katie Jones,” claimed to work at the Center for Strategic and International Studies but was thought to be a deepfake created for a foreign spying operation2.
Remember that deepfakes pose significant challenges to media literacy and trust in information. Being aware of their existence and understanding how they are created is crucial in today’s digital landscape
