Latest news with #Birdwatch
Wales Online
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Wales Online
BBC Springwatch's Chris Packham's relationship issues and how he once 'loathed' himself
BBC Springwatch's Chris Packham's relationship issues and how he once 'loathed' himself Chris Packham has been a mainstay of the BBC's nature coverage for more than a decade, but his life has been far from plain sailing Chris Packham is back on Springwatch (Image: PA ) Chris Packham, the renowned naturalist and familiar face of BBC's nature programmes, has been a staple on Springwatch and Winterwatch for over a decade. In addition to his television work, Chris is also an accomplished author and has contributed to several other TV shows, including The Really Wild Show and Birdwatch. He is currently back on screens on BBC Two for the 2025 series of Springwatch. The 64-year-old has also raised awareness for autism, which he was diagnosed with later in life and has recently reacted to comments from a Trump ally who claims to be able to "uncover the root cause of autism". Discussing US health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr's comments, on ITV's Good Morning Britain, the presenter said he had "mixed feelings" about RFK Jr looking for a cause to what he described as an "autism epidemic". He said: "Firstly, there's no epidemic. What we have done is we've created a wider awareness of this condition (autism) and therefore more people are able, hopefully, to access help. And that has to be seen as a very, very positive thing. "Because people are learning about these conditions on social media, which we all use every day, that's not a bad thing. That's opening our eyes to the fact that these conditions are real and they need addressing and support. "The second thing, as a scientist, I would love to know what has made me an autistic person. My curiosity is in that direction." For the latest TV and showbiz gossip sign up to our newsletter . Article continues below It wasn't until 2005 when, aged 44, Chris Packham sought therapy, which led to his Asperger's Syndrome diagnosis, which is a form of autism. Drawn from his personal diaries, it's apparent Chris recognised signs of autism long before receiving his formal diagnosis, one that proved transformative for him. In conversation with ITV's Good Morning Britain, he reflected: "I grew up in the sixties and seventies when the condition wasn't widely known, certainly by my parents and teachers. "So, by the time I'd got to the beginning of my teens, and certainly into the early part of my 20s, my mental health issues were quite considerable. "I loathed myself, I thought that I was broken. Clearly, I was in a lesser cohort than most other people, so I blamed myself for everything that was going wrong." Chris has spoken openly about his autism diagnosis (Image: Getty Images ) Chris discussed his struggles in the 2017 documentary film, Aspergers And Me, and he later spearheaded a BBC series titled Inside Our Autistic Minds. In this series, Chris assisted a group of autistic individuals in making short films to communicate with their loved ones how they truly feel and what is occurring within their autistic minds. Born on May 4, 1961, Chris spent his childhood in Southampton. He attended Bitterne Park Secondary School and Taunton's College before pursuing a zoology degree at the University of Southampton. After university, Chris embarked on a career as a wildlife cameraman, which eventually led to his transition into presenting in the 80s. His first major role was on the children's wildlife programme, The Really Wild Show, in 1986. The star landed a BBC presenting gig for Springwatch in 2009 and has since fronted a variety of documentaries, including Chris Packham: Is It Time to Break the Law?, Dogs in the Wild: Meet the Family, and Chris Packham: A Walk That Made Me. Something that might be news to many is that his sibling is among the UK's most prominent designers, with quite the portfolio of celebrity clientele. Jenny Packham, celebrating over three decades with her own brand, has seen her designs grace the silver screen in James Bond features Die Another Day and Casino Royale, as well as being showcased on hit series like Sex and the City and Gossip Girl. Her creations have been donned by the Duchess of Cambridge, not least the dazzling golden dress at the No Time To Die premiere. Stars such as Miley Cyrus, Jennifer Aniston, and Keira Knightley have also chosen Jenny's designs for their wardrobe. Chris has found love with Charlotte Corney, who owns and operates Wildheart Animal Sanctuary. The pair have openly expressed that they have no intention to marry or live together. Chris with his partner Charlotte Corney (Image: Daily Mirror ) On The Different Minds podcast, when queried about potential marriage plans, Chris responded: "I would say no. It's all about animals at the moment, we have to concentrate on them. Her tigers are old, my dog Scratchy is old. It's not about us, we have to get through this period basically of aged animals." In conversation with The Guardian regarding how his autism diagnosis in his 40s impacted his relationship, Chris shared insights into why his partnership with Charlotte remained strong, distinguishing it from past relationships that typically ended after five to seven years. He remarked: "They all reached their full term because, as much as I was dealing socially with my neurodiversity, I wasn't dealing with it at home. I couldn't let my guard down and that was always very challenging for my partners. "I have slightly better control of my obsessive personality now. That means I don't totally expose Charlotte to my obsessions and force her to be part of them, which is what I did in past relationships – while at the same time being pretty unforgiving when partners wanted me to do anything they valued and I didn't." Chris Packham, who was previously married to NHS nurse Jo McCubbin, remains close with Megan McCubbin, Jo's daughter from a previous relationship. Meg often joins Chris on his TV shows, including Springwatch. While Chris's precise residence in the New Forest is a well-guarded secret, he is thought to dwell in a quaint cottage accompanied by his two beloved dogs, Sid and Nancy. Article continues below In October, 2021, the wildlife expert disclosed that his Land Rover had been maliciously blown up right outside his Hampshire abode gate. He has also been subjected to death threats in the past, received human faeces mailed to his house, and found dead crows affixed to his New Forest home's fence.
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Mark Zuckerberg's Meta is about to take a page from Elon Musk's X
Meta (META) is rolling out community notes on March 18, taking a page from the playbook of Elon Musk's X. The incoming feature will ask users to fact-check or clarify claims in popular posts, marking a departure from Meta's former fact-checking system, which relied on fact-checking experts. 'We won't be reinventing the wheel. Initially we will use X's open-source algorithm as the basis of our rating system,' Meta said in a press release on Thursday. Twitter introduced community notes under the name Birdwatch in 2021, well before Musk bought the service and rebranded it as X. Users on X already rank other users' notes, and the most popular response appears directly below posts. Meta said it will launch its similar feature on Facebook, Instagram and Threads, but only within the United States for now. The company eventually intends to roll out the new system globally. Meta added that user-submitted notes won't actually appear beneath posts until it thinks its system is working properly. Meta first announced that it would retire its third-party fact-checking program in January. At the time, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that the company would replace it with community notes, similar to X, without giving much detail. Meta's third-party fact-checking program started in 2016, shortly after President Donald Trump won his first election. At the time, Facebook faced criticism for failing to catch election-related misinformation on the platform, including disinformation campaigns led by foreign governments. 'We expect Community Notes to be less biased than the third party fact checking program it replaces, and to operate at a greater scale when it is fully up and running,' the company said in the press release, saying the experts in the earlier fact-checking program had political biases that affected their judgement. 'Community Notes allow more people with more perspectives to add context to more types of content, and because publishing a note requires agreement between different people, we believe it will be less prone to bias,' Meta said. Separately, Zuckerberg has said the change could also mean that Meta is 'going to catch less bad stuff,' per ABC. Meta's community notes also won't have penalties associated with them. Under the earlier system, posts that received third-party fact-checking intervention were shown less often on people's feeds, due to them potentially harboring false and harmful information. That won't be the case with posts that receive community notes. But X's crowd-sourced fact-checking has also been deemed ill-equipped for handling misinformation. Reports have found that accurate notes on misleading posts were not displayed 100% of the time, and even when they were, the original post got significantly more views than the correcting note. Meta shared that around 200,000 users have signed up to become Community Notes contributors so far across all three apps, and the waitlist is still open for those who wish to take part. The feature will be available in English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, French and Portuguese to start before expanding to other languages with time. For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Elon Musk wants to 'fix' Community Notes on X
Elon Musk has a problem with Community Notes, the crowdsourced fact-checking feature that started as Birdwatch, and launched at scale after he purchased Twitter. "Unfortunately @CommunityNotes is increasingly being gamed by governments & legacy media," Musk posted. "Working to fix this..." Based on the rant his tweet descends in to afterwards, his issue appears to be with how X's Community Notes contributors have been treating misinformation about President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the war in Ukraine. Musk quotes a post from an X account that claims polls showing Zelenskyy has a 57 percent approval rating in Ukraine are "not credible." Information like that being challenged on X doesn't jive with President Trump's description of Zelenskyy as a "dictator" or Musk's desire to use the platform as an unofficial arm of the current administration. What "fixing" Community Notes will look like remains to be seen, but Musk uncritically quoting a post that cites no sources beyond an image with small text that says "Accuracy Confidence: Normal" is hopefully evidence enough that Community Notes are the bare minimum needed. Ragging on the feature of course fits the larger pattern of Musk's tenure at X, which has been characterized by him manipulating the platform's algorithm and eliminating features that helped determine credibility, like verification. If he thinks you can't even trust crowdsourced fact-checks, there's really no source of truth left on the platform. The concept of Community Notes is no longer unique to X — Meta recently opened up the waitlist to use the feature on its platforms — but how long Community Notes exists its current form is apparently now an open question.
