Argumentative Essay On Fake News

Everyday, billions of people read websites, magazines, newspapers, or watch television segments so they are informed on what is happening in the world. The news is something that so many people rely on and check constantly. What people aren’t aware of however, is that so much of what they are being told is a lie. False news is a growing and constant issue in today’s society. Fake news spreads rapidly, changing people's views on the world constantly. However, putting an end to this media trend has proved to be a struggle.

Many members of the general public have caught onto the ruse of mass media outlets, and are starting to not trust them. A Gallup poll from the somewhat recent year of late 2016 has shown that Americans’ trust in mass media has fallen to a record setting low. For the general population, only 32 percent of Americans trusted the media outlets’ reports with a “great deal of trust” or a “fair amount of trust”. A deeper look into the polling shows that only 14 percent of population who classify as Republican trust the media a great deal or a fair amount. This could be due to the bias against Republicans in certain media sources, or it could fall into something deeper. As for age groups, ages 18-49 have shown 26 percent in the same trust rating, while 50 and older shows 38 percent. The difference in percentages due to age are most likely due to the technological fluency of younger generations. Better understanding of technology can allow for a person to dig deeper into what is true or false in the media

“Fake news,” like Pravda during Soviet Russia times, was used in the election to deliberately sway the political views of the voters and increase the support of one party’s side. During the election, “phony articles concerning candidates…emerged…this fake news boosted the image of…Donald Trump…” (“Fake News”). "Phony articles” or “fake news” on social media affected the candidates’ images, thus making voters more likely to vote for one candidate over the other. “Fake news” can be dangerous in spreading unreliable information and planting false accusations about a candidate in the minds of the voters. In 2016, a fake news story was leaked about Hillary Clinton that led to a shooting in a pizzeria,“Incidents such as this demonstrate how potentially dangerous fake news can be and how difficult it is to distinguish…”(“Fake News”). “Fake news” can cause people to abandon their initial beliefs about a person, like a political candidate, and align with the opposing side, destroying a person’s career over counterfeit media. "Fake news” is propaganda used to change people’s way of thinking, like both Pravda and Squealer’s role on The Farm. All of these methods of propaganda were substantial resources in changing people’s minds and feeding thoughts into their minds. They can be dangerous if they are not identified as being false or exaggerated, and can

There are newspapers (such as the “National Enquirer”) renowned for their fictitious (although admittedly attention-grabbing) headlines, yet we hardly hesitate to assume the information is fabricated. On the other hand, when our trusted news sources present their stories, many automatically assume the information is true, which is why “[e]rroneous reporting by established organizations is a bigger threat than

Facebook is starting to “crack down” on fake news articles throughout the social media website. However, Katrina Trinko says, Facebook’s fact-checkers have a liberal bias. Trinko believes that many of the fake articles on Facebook are withholding information that is containing the whole truth. She believes that these “fact-checkers” are more likely to crack down on conservative views instead of the liberal views. (Katrina Trinko Facebook fact-checkers have a liberal bias) Facebook like other social media sites, have been accused of posting fake articles across their website. According to the PEW research center, sixty-seven percent of Americans rely on social media for their news coverage (News use across social media platforms 2016: Jeffrey Gottfried and Elisa Sherer). While social media has been known to show “fake news”, this has a huge impact on the influence of the viewers (mostly being American teenagers). Whenever there has been fake news across Facebook, there are circumstances where the fake news will be shared. Although the person who shares the fake news may not realize that it is fake, the news is being shared causing people to believe that it is true. Facebook is reaching out to the conservative political action conference who are questioning the potential for bias news articles. Facebook was censoring stories about conservative topics back in spring of 2016. Now, CEO Mark Zuckerberg is investigating and Facebook moved its automate to the trending news section. Facebook is working to ensure that the

Most people around the world consider search engines as their main source for a resolution yet during this phase, maximum amount of people forget that Fake News still exists. The increasing use of social media in our lives has made critical thinking unnecessary to the extent where censorship of Fake News is required.

In our evolving world, it is difficult to differentiate the truth with the constant pour of information It is a journalist's job to report the truth and to be sure that they have reliable information. A journalist must be successful in performing fast-checking before they can validate a story. Credibility is the backbone on journalism, and once it is destroyed it can be difficult to regain. It is also vital that journalists remain free from faction. When journalists break the obligations of journalism they are subject to criticism and distrust of the public. It becomes an issue when journalists jeopardize the public's ability to be free and

Fake news is news that does not tell the entire truth about a story or reports it wrong or simply lies. Fake news could also be reporting news and commentary indistinctly, and not make a clear enough distinction between the two. Alternative facts is another branch of the fake news tree. What exactly is alternative facts? No one is sure what these two words mean, so confusion was widespread, when an advisor to the president stated it in reference to the president’s crowd at the inauguration. CQR mentions this sort of debacle again when an aide is outed for giving the president a cover for a magazine which mentions an ice age that was fake, instead of global warming. The aide justified said actions by arguing that it was “fake, but true.” Media trust is an issue today because, many of news sources have political affiliations and commitments to political organizations. Also the people who finance these are devoted or interested which may lead to inaccurate reporting. Also, some news companies are obsessed with pushing a certain narrative to its viewers in order to further their party’s reach. This a huge problem, because some of the places we look to being informed are actually just trying to change your mind politically rather than report unbiased facts. When you take a look at certain news sites, you normally see negative things painted in a normal light, or as less evil, in reference to the site’s interests. Essentially it is given a spin, towards the news’ preferred

A recent study conducted at Stanford found out that 82 percent of students cannot tell the difference between fake and real news (Crook). This is a major problem because it can affect people’s careers and even sway election results. Fake news occurs when hoax websites report false news. False news stories are reported every day and are being spread all over the internet. This is a huge dilemma in today’s world because “62 percent of the U.S. adults get their majority of news from social media …” (Crook). This type of news spreads so easily because people share outrageous stories without actually reading the story to realize it is false. Former president

Beginning with the first printed American newspaper in 1690, citizens have desired knowledge not only of their country’s state of affairs, but also that of the rest of the world (Early American Newspapering, 2003). This first venture into media did not end well: the authors ran afoul of the ruling government and it was shut down a stunningly short four days later. It was not until the end of the 18th century that newspapers became fully established as the source of news in the country (Early American Newspapering, 2003). However, it was not until the 1920’s that the idea of objectivity was applied to journalism in response to “growing recognition that journalists were full of bias” (The Lost Meaning of ‘Objectivity’, 2003). Bias is a preconceived particular tendency or inclination, and “media bias” is the exhibition of bias by journalists and producers in the selection of events or information and how they are reported to the public (Media Bias Law and Legal Definition, 2016). Today, the sources for news have expanded from newspaper to include television, radio and now the internet and are used to provide even more information to an even larger base audience. With the influx of multiple sources and avenues to receive news, the need for fair and unbiased reporting is at all-time high. However, perhaps due to flood of information available, many concerned citizens are asking just how biased modern media is and whether it is easy to recognize their bias.

Yellow journalism was a major issue in the late 1890s during the Spanish-American War. The purpose of yellow journalism is to use headlines and report sensational events that draws the attention of the audience in order to sell more newspapers, even if the facts used were not legitimate. Yellow journalism came to an end with the development of objective journalism, which reports facts that are not biased. With the rise of social media, yellow journalism and “fake news” are making a comeback and becoming a “norm” in modern society. The rise of social media is contributing to the amount of yellow journalism and fake news that is occurring, which is ultimately leading to party polarization.

News is everywhere. It’s on TV, in newspapers, on phones, and on computers. Some may say that it’s inescapable. Lately, a whole new type of news has begun circulating without much of a second glance. This form of news, referred to as “fake news”, contains fraudulent or misleading information that masquerades itself as real news. While some believe that fake news is easy to discern from real news, that is not the case. Because of this, the circulation of fake news has real and significant political consequences. The most obvious and relevant of these consequences is the election of the forty fifth president of the United States.

Journalists are often confronted with the ethical and moral dilemmas of producing accurate, yet interesting stories. They must be responsible with their reporting, but at the same time keep the public interest high in order to be successful. It is suspected the propaganda has been around as long as freedom of expression.

The recent surge in popularity of social media comes with a price: fake news. Fake news is defined as news or media that has been altered or modified. Journalists have begun to analyze why that fake news exists and why it continues exist. Two authors, Eoin O’Carroll and Kevin D. Williamson, both have written articles about fake news. Eoin O’Carroll’s article “How Information Overload Helps Spread Fake News,” discusses how the media has bombarded us with news stories, blurring the distinct lines between real and fake news. Kevin D. Williamson, a journalist for the National Review, writes in his article “‘Fake News, Media and Voters: Shared Reality Must Be Acknowledged” that the news is not fake; it just does not align with one’s personal beliefs. Both authors successfully appeal to their audiences’ emotions and feelings, but O’Carroll is more likely to succeed than Williamson in persuading his audience to try and combat fake news because the writer presents himself as someone the intended readers will more readily identify with and offers evidence that his readers will find more compelling.

“The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses” (X). The Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press clauses in the First Amendment of the Constitution’s Bill of Rights protects citizens’ rights to obtain and publish information and their opinions. This is done without any government censorship or fear of punishment. Censorship is when the government examines publication and prohibits offensive material from being published and distributed (Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press). This freedom applies to all types of printed, electronic, and broadcasted material in the United States. While this is great for a majority of Americans, this freedom has its consequences. With fake news and constant discrimination, the media and the freedom of the press bears a negative effect on today’s society. Fake news has become more common and has slowly increased in frequency in America over the past years.