A pod of killer whales has become trapped in drift ice off the coast of Japan.
The animals are closely packed together and appear to be sticking their heads out of the water to breathe. Drone footage shows a group of at least 10 orcas about half a mile (0.8km) from the shores of Rausu, in Hokkaido.
A pod of killer whales has become trapped in drift ice off the coast of Japan. The animals are closely packed together and appear to be sticking their heads out of the water to breathe. Drone footage shows a group of at least 10 orcas about half a mile (0.8km) from the shores of Rausu, in Hokkaido.
. A pod of killer whales appear to have become stuck in drift ice off the coast of Japan.
. Drone footage shows a group of at least 10 orcas about half a mile (0.8km) from the shores of Rausu, in Hokkaido.
The animals look closely packed together and appear to be sticking their heads out of the water to breathe.
Accuracy
]} else if (facts[i] ===
Deception
(30%)
The article is deceptive in several ways. Firstly, the title implies that the orcas are fighting for their lives when they are not actively struggling to escape from the ice. Secondly, it states that a local fisherman spotted them trapped by sea ice but does not mention who else might have seen this beforehand and reported it to Wildlife Pro. Thirdly, while drone footage shows the whales taking turns coming up for air in a small section where the ice has broken up, there is no indication of how long they will be able to survive or if their condition will worsen over time.
The title implies that the orcas are fighting for their lives when they are not actively struggling to escape from the ice.
Fallacies
(70%)
The article contains an appeal to authority fallacy when it reports that a local fisherman spotted the orcas trapped by sea ice. The author does not provide any evidence to support this claim and relies solely on the testimony of one person. Additionally, there is no mention of any scientific research done on the topic, which would have provided more credibility to the article's claims.
. A pod of killer whales appear to have become stuck in drift ice off the coast of Japan.
. Drone footage shows a group of at least 10 orcas about half a mile (0.8km) from the shores of Rausu, in Hokkaido.
Ice has not divided to create enough space for the pod to travel through due to lack of wind in the region
Accuracy
The animals look closely packed together and appear to be sticking their heads out of the water to breathe.
Deception
(50%)
The article is deceptive in several ways. Firstly, the title suggests that the orcas were trapped and then freed when they escaped from the ice. However, this is not entirely accurate as it implies that they had been rescued by someone which was not true according to local officials.
The article states 'At least 10 orcas that were seen trapped by sea ice off the coast of northern Japan on Tuesday appeared to have escaped' but later reports state that only one whale survived. Therefore, this statement is deceptive as it implies all ten orcas had escaped when in fact only one did.
The article states 'Pod of killer whales struggling with their heads above the frozen waters off Hokkaido, Japan.' However, according to local officials and drone footage released by Wildlife Pro the pod was not actually struggling but rather floating on top of the ice. Therefore this statement is deceptive as it implies that they were in distress when they were not.
Fallacies
(85%)
The article contains an appeal to authority fallacy when it states that the coast guard was unable to rescue the whales because of thick ice. This is not a factual statement and implies that the coast guard's inability was due solely to the thickness of the ice, which may not be entirely accurate.
The article contains an appeal to authority fallacy when it states that 'the surrounding ice was too thick'.
The article also contains a false dilemma fallacy when it implies that there are only two options for rescuing the whales: either they were rescued or not. The fact is, we don't know if they were rescued and this information should be presented in a more nuanced way.
Bias
(100%)
None Found At Time Of
Publication
Site
Conflicts
Of
Interest (100%)
None Found At Time Of
Publication
Author
Conflicts
Of
Interest (0%)
Gina Martinez has a conflict of interest on the topic of orcas as she is reporting for CBS News which is owned by ViacomCBS. This company also owns National Geographic and Discovery Channel which have their own programs featuring orcas.
