Virtual Internship Opportunity: News and Facts Research

ABOUT COMPANY " Bias is the norm and confusion is the result. " Truza is a start-up intending to bring clarity to some of the most contentious topics of discussion in the 21st century. The highest value of Truza is to remain unbiased and non-partisan. This is a not-for-profit initiative and our only intent is to combat fake news. PROJECT SCOPE The world of media is evolving and knowing the difference between fake news and facts is becoming increasingly difficult. Lots of news organizations are already influenced by political parties and corporate sponsors. As an effect, the information we consume is often incorrect, for reasons such as: -Omission of details; -Hyperbolized and loaded language in official reports; -Deliberately confusing misinformation; -Over-reporting and under-reporting of certain events; -Over-simplification of decisions and events which leads to incorrect conclusions; -Remarks taken out of context; and, -No consideration of alternate claims or views. These are all taking place more frequently than ever before, and can be classified as a sophisticated and modern form of propaganda. The topics we will tackle are broad, and include issues such as: -Is increased CO2 in the atmosphere caused by humans, or is a natural phenomenon? -Did Donald Trump say racist remarks, or was it taken out of context? -Does mandatory minimum wage result in unemployment, or is this a myth? -Did Russia hack the 2016 U.S. election or not? Unfortunately, depending on where we search these questions, we’ll see entirely different responses. How is a person in search of the truth supposed to become informed? The purpose of Truza is to simply compare the best available sources for specific topics, on a side-by-side basis using a standardized rubric. This will allow the reader to quickly see which argument is more credible, without anyone in our organization providing our opinions, and also avoiding being bias. Our organization is currently able to offer a virtual internship opportunity for 2 students. The primary focus for the student will be: - Researching opposing claims on contentious issues - Fact-checking by deriving the correct context of quotes, analyzing statistics, and determining the quality of sources against a standardized rubric. Our goal at the end of this experience is: - To create a factual and well-presented database of different news topics and arguments from different parts of the globe. Other duties the student may complete could include: - Arranging data in an understandable manner and giving comments or suggestions to make the project successful. We will plan to communicate with our virtual intern using these communication tools: - Skype - E-mail Student must be well-versed in English, be highly capable of critical thinking, and can bring an open mind to the project.