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Essay On Fake News

Decent Essays

According to Statistics Canada (2016), 59 percent of Canadians use the internet to stay updated with weekly news and events. Social media platforms are the main carriers of this news information. A grave concern currently shared amongst Canadian politicians and the government is the impact of Canadian citizens consuming news media from these digital networking sites. The 2016 American election was disturbed by incorrect information that was shared amongst citizens over the web. This spread of inaccurate information is known as “fake” news. In the context of this reflection paper, I define “fake” news as: “a fictitious report relating to current events which is fabricated, and often titled misleadingly with the deliberate purpose of …show more content…

In a poll conducted for CityNews, 41 percent of Canadians thought Syrian refugees would have a negative impact on the economy, 32 percent believed they would have a positive impact, and 27 percent were undecided (City News, 2015). It is easy to see how the spread of a “fake” news story can influence public opinion.
In my own experience, I recall family members complaining about the number of refugees being let into the country. At one family function, my Aunt and brother teamed up in a heated argument against my sister and I. They argued that the Canadian government was ignoring the underprivileged, destitute citizens who already live in Canada in favour of the refugees. They believed that the refugees were taking funds away from natural-born citizens. Furthermore, they asserted that this money would not be regenerated by refugees through their employment in Canada. My sister and I were disappointed that our family members had not further investigated this issue to see the abundance of information disproving their argument.
Like my family members, many other Canadians were heavily swayed by “fake” news. In response to the public’s uncritical acceptance of this information, news media outlets posted articles aggressively challenging these inaccurate messages. Some headlines included: “No, Canada doesn’t spend more on refugees than on pensioners,” “Why Canada should welcome more Syrian refugees – a lot more,” and “Syrian refugees will

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