The Importance Of Fake News

Social media news and magazines are brainwashing students: many people would say this actual worldwide effect on todays' society! Especially, author Camila Domonoske would agree, who published, “ Students Have 'Dismaying' Inability To Tell Fake News From Real, Study Finds” she argues and illustrates there is a “ fake news crisis” and that teens are allegedly the most affected by what is true in the news today. Domonoske’s sources are put together without adding personal opinions in her article, which can be considered “ bias” and not reliable to some readers. Her article is supported strongly to readers with informing the readers of several sources, abundant amount proven facts, statistics and using a creative writing strategy such as logos throughout her argument to appeal her readers.

“I am not going to give you a question. You are fake news.” This is the now infamous response from President Donald Trump during his first press conference since taking office when asked “Sir, can you give us a chance to ask a question?” by CNN reporter Jim Acosta (Johnson, 2017). President Trump’s dismissal of Accosta sparked the colloquial usage of the term “fake news,” a phrase the current president uses to lambaste media sources who report stories that do not present a favorable impression of his presidency. However, true “fake news,” has existed for far longer than Donald Trump’s presidency and includes three main types: satire, biased reporting, and deliberate misinformation. Fake news has grown in quantity and now Americans across the country are expressing concerns about not being able to trust media sources once considered honest and reputable, along with having trouble distinguishing between real and fake news.

In today’s day and age technology makes it easier for false reporting to arise, but that same technology also is making it easier to see through the flaws in the system. Many are still wondering “if” and “when” full intervention will take place. In 2010, Free Press sent in a letter asking that these practices be investigated: “This week, Free Press filed a letter asking the FCC to take action to put an end to fake news. The letter urges the FCC to investigate new instances of fake news, conclude its review of pending complaints and put new rules on the books that would require stricter and more prominent disclosure of paid spots.” (Reinish). How refreshing is it to see words being put into actions, and working to get to the bottom of the issue, for many different purposes? It remains to be seen if these efforts result in changes in how news reporting goes about. “…Free Press and the Center for Media and Democracy exposed numerous stations in 2006 and 2007…Three years later, we are still waiting for the FCC to take a stand. While we wait, advertisers are inventing new ways to insert their products into our news programs. Their latest tactic is the paid “expert.” These hucksters appear on live newscasts purporting to be experts on everything from toys to travel. Without saying a word, anchors hand the microphone to these paid spokespeople and provide them with a free platform to pitch

In “Colleges Turn ‘Fake News’ Epidemic into a Teachable Moment” (Washington Post, April 6, 2017), Kitson Jazynka highlights professors from across the United States that have implemented different strategies for teaching students to find and address fake news. Jazynka first writes of professor Beth Jannery at George Mason University and how her students have had personal experience with fake news and how they handled the situation. In one case, the student decided to research the topic herself and find the truth. Jazynka advises that the professors cited in her article are teaching students to “detect bias, missing points of view, misleading slants and economic influences” to ensure they have a complete understanding of the articles and their

There are so many conflicts in life and when people go to find the truth, the media is the first to be looked at. People like to think that there is correct information from the media but in reality there isn’t. There was a book written by Bernard Goldberg called “Bias” where a CBS insider exposes how the media distorts the news. This books lectures about how news networks need to get a reality check since there is bias fed to the media. This happens when there are a large group of people who think alike that use group thinking. These groups usually get filtered news that are not all so true. The news is supposed to be where people get facts about what activities or events going on in the world. Although stories can be changed when too many like minded people make the decisions on what an audience or reader views.

U.S. adults spend, on average, over 10 hours everyday consuming media. Media is everywhere around us, whether it is the internet, television, newspapers, or even the ads that you see outside everyday. Americans are surrounded by media and it is practically impossible to avoid media for the average American. For the most part, we look towards media to make sense of the senseless, and to show us what the difference is between the lies and the truth. Many Americans feel as if the media would never skew from the complete and utter truth. But, that is a false assumption, the media, like everyone else has an opinion on topics and many times they use their great voices to make the consumers develop the same opinion.

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

Whether it is news channels on the television or whether it is Twitter and Facebook news, the public will always have a way to find out current reports. Since society has become so dependent on technology, a greater amount of individuals get their actual news online and especially through social media. As many of the public know, you cannot trust what people online are saying. Since individuals are so accustomed to getting the news online, many of them tend to believe what they just happen to scroll across on Twitter and Facebook or any other sort of social media. Finding actual facts and truths on the news have become so difficult now, due to all of the millions of different sites and places where we can get our news from. The news online tend to be biased and untrue due to how openly and freely individuals can create their own site and “reports” on current events such as a real news channels would. Social media has just made it more complicated to find the actual accuracy of current events but with enough research, dedication, and using the SMELL test, finding the right information would not be as

Today’s media likes to give the appearance of honesty and truth, but it is really still just biased propaganda paid for by the bigger powers that control the news we know today. Many People are easily swayed by big news companies because they think they can trust them, when in reality they are just taking advantage of people.

In addition, news companies deceive the public by

Nowadays journalists have the responsibility to report facts as accurately, objectively, and disinterestedly as is humanly possible. ‘’The, honest, self-disciplined, well-trained reporter seeks to be a propagandist for nothing but the truth’’ (Casey, 1944b).

“Fake” news commentators are comedians. They come in each day to work and take a look at the news and choose what will be the subject of their show for that evening. With pen and paper in hand they sit down and study the news clips for anything they can find that funny, wrong, off, hypocritical, biased, contradictory, brushed over, hidden, or twisted into sounding good when it really is not. Most days the job entails poking a lot of fun at our government, our political leaders, our corporations, our silly rules and laws. Some days though, the news is so horrific, so scary, and so evil- that jokes are just not appropriate from a human standpoint to be made. On nights like these, “fake” news reporters deliver

The duty of journalists is to tell the truth. Journalism means you go back to the actual facts, you look at the documents, you discover what the record is, and you report it that way. — Chomsky 2008

As the world evolves and changes due to the explosion of technology, so does mankind's ways of intellectual comprehension of informative news. The present day of news has overemphasized the meaning of fake news; which represents any form of false information that is illustrated as factual news. That tends to spread throughout the internet and the media. Misinformed news has taken over the world in so many ways, such as the birth of satirical and sketchy news, the financial motivation to publish actual false news, and difficult to sustain news.

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.