{"id":178,"date":"2014-09-25T18:54:39","date_gmt":"2014-09-25T18:54:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.candelalearning.com\/gobehindthenews\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=178"},"modified":"2014-10-22T16:27:46","modified_gmt":"2014-10-22T16:27:46","slug":"searching-for-truth-and-verification-in-a-factual-void-2","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/snhu-gobehindthenews\/chapter\/searching-for-truth-and-verification-in-a-factual-void-2\/","title":{"raw":"Searching for Truth and Verification in a Factual Void","rendered":"Searching for Truth and Verification in a Factual Void"},"content":{"raw":"<h1>The Case of the Missing Malaysian Airplane \u2013 Searching for Truth and Verification in a Factual Void<\/h1>\r\n<div>\r\n\r\nMarch 18, 2014\r\n\r\n<strong> News Literacy Lesson 8: Truth and Verification <\/strong>\r\n<em> In this lesson, we explore the concept of the process of verification and where that process may break down when there is a a lack of information available regarding a big news story. As you move through the lesson, ask yourself and your students at what points they may need to be more skeptical of the information being broadcast through each of the news outlets featured below. You may also want to lead students through V.I.A. with each of the sources you choose.<\/em>\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.centerfornewsliteracy.org\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/KLIA_jets7.jpg\" rel=\"lightbox[2128]\"><img alt=\"KLIA_jets7\" src=\"http:\/\/www.centerfornewsliteracy.org\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/KLIA_jets7-640x480.jpg\" width=\"384\" height=\"288\" \/><\/a>\r\n\r\nA Malaysian Airlines 777 jet\r\n\r\n<strong>Summary<\/strong>\r\nAt 1:30 a.m. on March 8, 2014, a plane carrying 239 people dropped off air traffic control screens less than an hour into a flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Beijing, China. What happened next became the most baffling mystery in the history of aviation.\r\n\r\nAlthough the primary scenarios included a possible hijacking, action by a rogue crew, or catastrophic mechanical failure, no one really knew anything. But the complete lack of verifiable information about the plane\u2019s disappearance \u2013 the factual void at the center of the story \u2014 did nothing to prevent the world\u2019s media from offering a wide range of reasons for the plane\u2019s disappearance. \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/m.vice.com\/en_uk\/read\/media-conspiracy-theorists-malaysian-airlines-flight-mh370\" target=\"_blank\">We can\u2019t just report that Flight MH370 crashed and we don\u2019t know where or why yet<\/a>,\u201d Martin Robbins observed on Vice.com. \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/m.vice.com\/en_uk\/read\/media-conspiracy-theorists-malaysian-airlines-flight-mh370\" target=\"_blank\">Instead, we have to be able to relay the plot of exactly what happened, using whatever scraps of information we can find.<\/a>\u201d\r\n\r\nSo what did happen \u2013at least according to media reports?\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li>Was it terrorism \u2013of the anti-Western, anti-Chinese, or just generally Islamic type? Although no one knew, soon a terrorism narrative was built around the disaster \u201con the basis of basically zero evidence whatsoever.\u201d\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/news\/worldnews\/asia\/malaysia\/10685413\/Malaysia-Airlines-crash-terror-fears-over-stolen-passports-used-on-missing-plane-MH370.html\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/news\/worldnews\/asia\/malaysia\/10685413\/Malaysia-Airlines-crash-terror-fears-over-stolen-passports-used-on-missing-plane-MH370.html<\/a><\/li>\r\n\t<li>Had the Malaysian military mistakenly shot down the plane after it abruptly changed course, then covered up after realizing their mistake?\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2014\/03\/13\/world\/asia\/online-and-onscreen-disappeared-malaysian-flight-draws-intense-speculation.html\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2014\/03\/13\/world\/asia\/online-and-onscreen-disappeared-malaysian-flight-draws-intense-speculation.html\r\n<\/a><\/li>\r\n\t<li>Was it a form of psychological warfare by the United States to \u201csabotage the relationship between Iran and China and Southeast Asia?\u201d\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2014\/03\/13\/world\/asia\/online-and-onscreen-disappeared-malaysian-flight-draws-intense-speculation.html\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2014\/03\/13\/world\/asia\/online-and-onscreen-disappeared-malaysian-flight-draws-intense-speculation.html\r\n<\/a><\/li>\r\n\t<li>Did Chinese satellite images published on a Chinese government website show debris from the flight? Or did the satellite images not show anything connected with the event? And were they in fact released by mistake?\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/aponline\/2014\/03\/12\/world\/asia\/ap-as-malaysia-plane.html\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/aponline\/2014\/03\/12\/world\/asia\/ap-as-malaysia-plane.html<\/a><\/li>\r\n\t<li>Were 20 employees from a high-tech firm lost on the flight engaged in some kind of electronic warfare experiment that involved \u2018cloaking\u2019 technology?<\/li>\r\n\t<li>Was an even darker and more mysterious force at work \u2014 something entirely new and so powerful it can \u201ccan pluck airplanes out of the sky without leaving behind even a shred of evidence \u2014 a fearsome military weapon with such capabilities that whoever controls it already has the ability to dominate all of Earth\u2019s nations?\u201d\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.naturalnews.com\/044244_malaysia_airlines_flight_370_vanished.html\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.naturalnews.com\/044244_malaysia_airlines_flight_370_vanished.html\r\n<\/a><\/li>\r\n\t<li>Or was the plane diverted with the intention of using it later for another purpose \u2013 a notion that, according to the Wall Street Journal, U.S. counterterrorism officials were \u201cactively pursuing?\u201d\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/update-on-missing-malaysia-flight-2014-3\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/update-on-missing-malaysia-flight-2014-3\r\n<\/a><\/li>\r\n\t<li>Did data from the plane\u2019s engines show the plane stayed in the air for about four hours after it reached its last confirmed location?<\/li>\r\n\t<li>Or had \u201can analysis of signals sent through the plane\u2019s satellite-communication link\u201d revealed this instead?\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/online.wsj.com\/news\/articles\/SB10001424052702304914904579434653903086282?mg=reno64-wsj\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/online.wsj.com\/news\/articles\/SB10001424052702304914904579434653903086282?mg=reno64-wsj<\/a><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nHow could a concerned news consumer find credible, verified information about the missing plane, when everyone from sprawling mainstream media organizations with 24-hour news channels to lonely livebloggers and internet conspiracy theorists struggled to feed a global audience \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vice.com\/en_uk\/read\/media-conspiracy-theorists-malaysian-airlines-flight-mh370\" target=\"_blank\">with the meagre rations available\u2026until every last drop of flavour has been extracted?<\/a>\u201d After all, there was just as little evidence for a terrorist attack as for a missile strike; for conspiracy theorists, it was either the US government or the New World Order; for the Daily Mail and Fox News, it was Muslim extremists with scary-sounding names. When the facts ran out, you could always rely \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vice.com\/en_uk\/read\/media-conspiracy-theorists-malaysian-airlines-flight-mh370\" target=\"_blank\">on the efforts of experts-cum story-tellers, spinning yarns from the thinnest and most fragile of evidence<\/a>.\u201d\r\n\r\n<strong>Questions:<\/strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li>Are there any facts that have been ignored or buried in the avalanche of speculation about the missing airliner?<\/li>\r\n\t<li>For all the supposed increases in airline security in the wake of 9\/11, why are checks at airports so bad that people with stolen passports can apparently travel at will? Why has there not been more reporting on this issue?<\/li>\r\n\t<li>Why is it that in an era of high speed broadband, when even 40-year-old technology can transmit data back from beyond the edge of the solar system, we still have to send ships and divers to retrieve data from a plane, rather than simply transmitting it in real time? Why has there not been more reporting on this issue?<\/li>\r\n\t<li>Do invisible Muslim militant groups or government laser beams seem more interesting to news consumers than such basic safety issues? If so, why?<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"<h1>The Case of the Missing Malaysian Airplane \u2013 Searching for Truth and Verification in a Factual Void<\/h1>\n<div>\n<p>March 18, 2014<\/p>\n<p><strong> News Literacy Lesson 8: Truth and Verification <\/strong><br \/>\n<em> In this lesson, we explore the concept of the process of verification and where that process may break down when there is a a lack of information available regarding a big news story. As you move through the lesson, ask yourself and your students at what points they may need to be more skeptical of the information being broadcast through each of the news outlets featured below. You may also want to lead students through V.I.A. with each of the sources you choose.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.centerfornewsliteracy.org\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/KLIA_jets7.jpg\" rel=\"lightbox[2128]\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"KLIA_jets7\" src=\"http:\/\/www.centerfornewsliteracy.org\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/KLIA_jets7-640x480.jpg\" width=\"384\" height=\"288\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>A Malaysian Airlines 777 jet<\/p>\n<p><strong>Summary<\/strong><br \/>\nAt 1:30 a.m. on March 8, 2014, a plane carrying 239 people dropped off air traffic control screens less than an hour into a flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Beijing, China. What happened next became the most baffling mystery in the history of aviation.<\/p>\n<p>Although the primary scenarios included a possible hijacking, action by a rogue crew, or catastrophic mechanical failure, no one really knew anything. But the complete lack of verifiable information about the plane\u2019s disappearance \u2013 the factual void at the center of the story \u2014 did nothing to prevent the world\u2019s media from offering a wide range of reasons for the plane\u2019s disappearance. \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/m.vice.com\/en_uk\/read\/media-conspiracy-theorists-malaysian-airlines-flight-mh370\" target=\"_blank\">We can\u2019t just report that Flight MH370 crashed and we don\u2019t know where or why yet<\/a>,\u201d Martin Robbins observed on Vice.com. \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/m.vice.com\/en_uk\/read\/media-conspiracy-theorists-malaysian-airlines-flight-mh370\" target=\"_blank\">Instead, we have to be able to relay the plot of exactly what happened, using whatever scraps of information we can find.<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So what did happen \u2013at least according to media reports?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Was it terrorism \u2013of the anti-Western, anti-Chinese, or just generally Islamic type? Although no one knew, soon a terrorism narrative was built around the disaster \u201con the basis of basically zero evidence whatsoever.\u201d<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/news\/worldnews\/asia\/malaysia\/10685413\/Malaysia-Airlines-crash-terror-fears-over-stolen-passports-used-on-missing-plane-MH370.html\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/news\/worldnews\/asia\/malaysia\/10685413\/Malaysia-Airlines-crash-terror-fears-over-stolen-passports-used-on-missing-plane-MH370.html<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Had the Malaysian military mistakenly shot down the plane after it abruptly changed course, then covered up after realizing their mistake?<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2014\/03\/13\/world\/asia\/online-and-onscreen-disappeared-malaysian-flight-draws-intense-speculation.html\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2014\/03\/13\/world\/asia\/online-and-onscreen-disappeared-malaysian-flight-draws-intense-speculation.html<br \/>\n<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Was it a form of psychological warfare by the United States to \u201csabotage the relationship between Iran and China and Southeast Asia?\u201d<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2014\/03\/13\/world\/asia\/online-and-onscreen-disappeared-malaysian-flight-draws-intense-speculation.html\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2014\/03\/13\/world\/asia\/online-and-onscreen-disappeared-malaysian-flight-draws-intense-speculation.html<br \/>\n<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Did Chinese satellite images published on a Chinese government website show debris from the flight? Or did the satellite images not show anything connected with the event? And were they in fact released by mistake?<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/aponline\/2014\/03\/12\/world\/asia\/ap-as-malaysia-plane.html\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/aponline\/2014\/03\/12\/world\/asia\/ap-as-malaysia-plane.html<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Were 20 employees from a high-tech firm lost on the flight engaged in some kind of electronic warfare experiment that involved \u2018cloaking\u2019 technology?<\/li>\n<li>Was an even darker and more mysterious force at work \u2014 something entirely new and so powerful it can \u201ccan pluck airplanes out of the sky without leaving behind even a shred of evidence \u2014 a fearsome military weapon with such capabilities that whoever controls it already has the ability to dominate all of Earth\u2019s nations?\u201d<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.naturalnews.com\/044244_malaysia_airlines_flight_370_vanished.html\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.naturalnews.com\/044244_malaysia_airlines_flight_370_vanished.html<br \/>\n<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Or was the plane diverted with the intention of using it later for another purpose \u2013 a notion that, according to the Wall Street Journal, U.S. counterterrorism officials were \u201cactively pursuing?\u201d<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/update-on-missing-malaysia-flight-2014-3\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/update-on-missing-malaysia-flight-2014-3<br \/>\n<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Did data from the plane\u2019s engines show the plane stayed in the air for about four hours after it reached its last confirmed location?<\/li>\n<li>Or had \u201can analysis of signals sent through the plane\u2019s satellite-communication link\u201d revealed this instead?<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/online.wsj.com\/news\/articles\/SB10001424052702304914904579434653903086282?mg=reno64-wsj\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/online.wsj.com\/news\/articles\/SB10001424052702304914904579434653903086282?mg=reno64-wsj<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>How could a concerned news consumer find credible, verified information about the missing plane, when everyone from sprawling mainstream media organizations with 24-hour news channels to lonely livebloggers and internet conspiracy theorists struggled to feed a global audience \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vice.com\/en_uk\/read\/media-conspiracy-theorists-malaysian-airlines-flight-mh370\" target=\"_blank\">with the meagre rations available\u2026until every last drop of flavour has been extracted?<\/a>\u201d After all, there was just as little evidence for a terrorist attack as for a missile strike; for conspiracy theorists, it was either the US government or the New World Order; for the Daily Mail and Fox News, it was Muslim extremists with scary-sounding names. When the facts ran out, you could always rely \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vice.com\/en_uk\/read\/media-conspiracy-theorists-malaysian-airlines-flight-mh370\" target=\"_blank\">on the efforts of experts-cum story-tellers, spinning yarns from the thinnest and most fragile of evidence<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Questions:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Are there any facts that have been ignored or buried in the avalanche of speculation about the missing airliner?<\/li>\n<li>For all the supposed increases in airline security in the wake of 9\/11, why are checks at airports so bad that people with stolen passports can apparently travel at will? Why has there not been more reporting on this issue?<\/li>\n<li>Why is it that in an era of high speed broadband, when even 40-year-old technology can transmit data back from beyond the edge of the solar system, we still have to send ships and divers to retrieve data from a plane, rather than simply transmitting it in real time? Why has there not been more reporting on this issue?<\/li>\n<li>Do invisible Muslim militant groups or government laser beams seem more interesting to news consumers than such basic safety issues? If so, why?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t <section class=\"citations-section\" role=\"contentinfo\">\n\t\t\t <h3>Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t <div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <div id=\"citation-list-178\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <div class=\"licensing\"><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Shared previously<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Searching for Truth and Verification in a Factual Void. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Stony Brook University. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.centerfornewsliteracy.org\/resources\/the-case-of-the-missing-malaysian-airplane-searching-for-truth-and-verification-in-a-factual-void\/\">http:\/\/www.centerfornewsliteracy.org\/resources\/the-case-of-the-missing-malaysian-airplane-searching-for-truth-and-verification-in-a-factual-void\/<\/a>. <strong>Project<\/strong>: Center for News Literacy. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY: Attribution<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t <\/section>","protected":false},"author":9,"menu_order":3,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"Searching for Truth and Verification in a Factual Void\",\"author\":\"\",\"organization\":\"Stony Brook University\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.centerfornewsliteracy.org\/resources\/the-case-of-the-missing-malaysian-airplane-searching-for-truth-and-verification-in-a-factual-void\/\",\"project\":\"Center for News Literacy\",\"license\":\"cc-by\",\"license_terms\":\"\"}]","CANDELA_OUTCOMES_GUID":"","pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-178","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":21,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/snhu-gobehindthenews\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/snhu-gobehindthenews\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/snhu-gobehindthenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/snhu-gobehindthenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/snhu-gobehindthenews\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/178\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":179,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/snhu-gobehindthenews\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/178\/revisions\/179"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/snhu-gobehindthenews\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/21"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/snhu-gobehindthenews\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/178\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/snhu-gobehindthenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/snhu-gobehindthenews\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=178"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/snhu-gobehindthenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=178"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/snhu-gobehindthenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}