Sassounian: It’s Often Difficult to Distinguish Fact from Fiction on the Internet

It is ironic that in this modern age of technology and abundance of information at the fingertips of everyone with an electronic device, it is becoming increasingly difficult, and sometimes impossible, to distinguish fact from fiction.

The internet, with its vast resources on every conceivable subject, can be a blessing or a curse when one is trying to discern the authenticity of a particular article.

There is no way of knowing if what is being read is true or false, unless the reader is an expert in that specific topic or checks websites like truthorfiction.com or snopes.com to distinguish rumors from reality.

Here are two recent examples of such misinformation that were circulated on the internet to millions of Armenians and others.

The first is an article supposedly from the Moscow Times, titled “Russian President to Turkish Ambassador: ‘Tell your dictator President he can go to hell along with his ISIS terrorists; I will make Syria a Big Stalingrad for him!’” This article was posted on thousands of websites, e-mailed around the globe, and reprinted in countless newspapers.

Putin was quoted telling Umit Yardim, the Turkish ambassador to Moscow, that Russia will cut off diplomatic relations with Turkey immediately unless Recep Tayyip Erdogan stopped supporting ISIS terrorists in Syria. The article cited “leaked information” as the source of a “two-hour long closed door meeting,” during which Putin reportedly called the Turkish president a “hypocrite” and threatened to turn Syria into a “big Stalingrad for Erdogan and his Saudi allies,” whom he compared to Hitler.

I received via e-mail several dozen copies of this forged article from Armenians around the world with cheerful exclamations, such as “Good for Putin” and “Finally someone dared to put Erdogan in his place.” It became tiring to respond to everyone, telling them that this was a fake news story!

Readers and even newspaper editors apparently did not bother to check that there was no such article in the Moscow Times. Furthermore, hardly anyone seems to have wondered how a Russian newspaper could have misspelled Putin’s name as “Purin”?

The second example of misinformation concerns the world famous singer Beyonce who supposedly sang a song dedicated to the Armenian Genocide. The video of the song “I was here,” which opens with the words “Armenian Genocide 1915 April 24,” was posted on YouTube on April 24, 2015, by someone with the nickname “Yakosamo.” The video then displays the words “Never Forget” in bright red letters, followed by footage of visitors at the Armenian Genocide Monument in Yerevan. For the next four minutes, the screen shows three armed Turkish soldiers killing an entire Armenian family and abducting a group of young Armenian girls. The video and the singing end with the words in bright red letters, “1915 April,” right after a Turkish soldier shoots with a pistol, in point blank range, an Armenian boy in the head!

Thousands of Armenians were probably tricked into thinking that this was indeed a Beyonce song dedicated to the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide. The link to the video along with hundreds of appreciative comments were posted on countless Facebook pages and YouTube.

I just learned about this song last week. At first, I was somewhat embarrassed that as a newspaper editor I was hearing of such an important song on the Armenian Genocide several months after its release. I checked the lyrics of the song and quickly discovered that it had absolutely nothing to do with Armenians or the Genocide. The singer kept repeating, “I was here, I lived, I loved, I was here….” The words Armenian, Genocide, or Turkey were nowhere to be found!

I finally realized that someone had taken a Beyonce song and added to it film footage from a movie on the Armenian Genocide. Regrettably, many Armenians were ecstatic that a world famous singer was publicizing the facts of the Armenian Genocide.

I have no magical formula on how to distinguish fact from fiction for every internet posting. It may be useful to remember the popular saying: “If something is too good to be true, it probably is” too good to be true! Readers should have a healthy dose of skepticism, without going overboard—by being neither too suspicious to believe anything or too gullible, blindly swallowing everything on the internet!

 

Harut Sassounian

Harut Sassounian

California Courier Editor
Harut Sassounian is the publisher of The California Courier, a weekly newspaper based in Glendale, Calif. He is the president of the Armenia Artsakh Fund, a non-profit organization that has donated to Armenia and Artsakh one billion dollars of humanitarian aid, mostly medicines, since 1989 (including its predecessor, the United Armenian Fund). He has been decorated by the presidents of Armenia and Artsakh and the heads of the Armenian Apostolic and Catholic churches. He is also the recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.

8 Comments

  1. Thank you, Mr. Sassounian. Accuracy is crucial! The temptation to believe those things that we long to hear is very strong. But we weaken our ability to strengthen our cause every time we are distracted and lulled by inaccuracies. Thank you again for keeping us on the straight path!

    • “The temptation to believe those things that we long to hear is very strong.”

      This is such a strong emotional motivation that it’s hard to stop and evaluate the accuracy of the material and credibility of the source. It’s human nature and it’s also easier to take it at face value, than put some extra effort into evaluating what one just heard.

      I’m glad Mr. Sassounian brought this up. This subject may pale in comparison with other major issues facing us today but it’s still important. It’s important for credibility. If one is talking about Armenian issues to a non-Armenian, you want to have a good understanding of the subject and accurate information to give out.

      In this information age, what one says can so easily be fact checked.

      Don’t believe everything you read on the Internet, specially what’s on youtube. Even if it seems pro-Armenian fact check it first.

  2. I think that this kind of “wishful believing” is a reflection of the Armenian frustration with the status quo and the struggle for justice.

    • That’s there as well. The frustration leads to a strong thirst for even small acknowledgements.

  3. “Readers and even newspaper editors apparently did not bother to check that there was no such article in the Moscow Times. Furthermore, hardly anyone seems to have wondered how a Russian newspaper could have misspelled Putin’s name as “Purin”?”

    This is perhaps the the most important part. This is a big issue with American media as well. Not fact checking by those who’s job it is to disseminate facts.

  4. Baron Harut, regarding the leak, you are failing to put things in their proper context. Several weeks ago Putin and Erdogan had a meeting about the situation in Syria. It was only reported that the meeting was short and tense. Soon after the meeting Ankara announced that it was putting on hold the South Stream pipeline project it had recently singed with Moscow and Russians renewed their pro-Assad rhetoric. Tensions between Russia and Turkey have been on the rise in the Caucasus (where Ankara is trying to merge forces with Baku), Ukraine (where Ankara is trying to support Tatars) and in Syria (where Ankara is supporting ISIS). Therefore, don’t be surprised with news that Russian officials have been using harsh rhetoric in their behind-closed-doors meetings with Turks. Also note that the “Moscow Times” is not a Russian newspaper, it is owned by Americans and I think it operates from Finland. Moreover, the source of the leak in question may have been AWD News, which is another Western owned (I think German) operation. Nevertheless, notice that the Moscow Times did not refute the leak in question. In my opinion, the leak was clearly put out for public consumption by Western interests. Why? It’s anyone’s guess. Finally, official Moscow denying the leaks means absolutely nothing. In fact, it is expected for public officials to deny such rhetoric. While I cannot say what was exactly said, I believe Ankara DID receive a direct threat from Moscow. Russians have been issuing such threats against Turks for centuries. One of the more recent ones as you know occurred back in 1993 when Moscow threatened Ankara with a world war if Turkey militarily intervened in the war over Artsakh.

    • “Nevertheless, notice that the Moscow Times did not refute the leak in question.”

      They don’t have to. It’s just some very minor internet rumor that gained traction in some small circles.

      That said, I think part of why this story gained traction is given the history between Turkey and Russia and the current geo-political competition between the two and the level of nationalism in those two countries. So it is believable even if not true.

      The lesson is, we should fact check stories before we believe them and pass them on. This is specially true for the news media on which we rely.

    • {I believe Ankara DID receive a direct threat from Moscow.}

      It may well be so, since several news media reported that Putin in a closed door meeting with a Turkish emissary said the following: “Then tell your dictator president he can go to hell along with his ISIS terrorists and I shall make Syria to nothing but a ‘Big Stalingrad’ for Erdogan and his Saudi allies who are no vicious than Adolf Hitler. How hypocrite is your president as he advocates democracy and lambasts the military coup d’état in Egypt, and he simultaneously condones all terrorist activities aimed to overthrow Syrian president.”

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