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I found an interesting article on fivethirtyeight.com about fake news and how to address it. It's a long article but worth the read. This bit is near the end:
Media outlets keep trying to debunk fake news. This won't work, particularly for readers who have already decided that the traditional press is fake news — and, fair or not, partisan. Research suggests that the more partisan a topic, the more likely people who identify strongly with one side will double down on their argument even if they are presented with facts that counter it.
Maybe, instead, the media should do a better job of distinguishing real news from fake news, to regain readers' trust. Click-based advertising has left us adrift in a sea of inaccurate, sensational headlines, even at legitimate news outlets; this makes it easier for dramatic fake news headlines to survive. Aggregation has us spreading stories with no original research or corroboration, and it makes everyone look bad when outlets fall for fake bait. Over the holidays, a heartwarming story about a Santa Claus who visited a child's deathbed went viral. Three days later, the Knoxville News Sentinel, which originally published the story, retracted it, but not before it had spread to CNN, Fox, USA Today and more.
Maybe the news should stop trying so hard to entertain.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 07 2017, @05:26AM
2 weeks before the election: https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2016-election-forecast/?ex_cid=rrpromo [fivethirtyeight.com]
90/10. Sorry I was off by 2 points. That's way better than Ultra-Celebrity Genius Nate Silver.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 07 2017, @06:34AM
The polling from two weeks before the election did not reflect what James Comey did 3 days later. If the election had been held before that day, maybe Clinton would have won.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 07 2017, @08:33AM
Um, that's 4? Evidently maths is not your strong point. No wonder you are so easily mislead by fake news, fake hair, fake breasts, and small hands. Trump voter clean up in aisle twelve!!!
(Score: 1) by toddestan on Saturday January 07 2017, @08:49PM
So? His analysis is basically "what would the result be if the election was held today?" The polls a few weeks before the election had Clinton in a pretty good lead, which Trump managed to chip away at leading up to the actual election. Now, you might argue the polls are biased, but since 538's model is based upon them, then it's just garbage-in-garbage-out. Though at least 538 has a "what if the polls are all systematically slanted?" factor, which is why they were almost always giving Trump a better chance than most every other site out there that does a similar analysis. I remember in 2012 they still gave Romney something like a 9% chance even though the polls had him considerably behind. Most other sites were saying something like 99.9% Obama at that point.