“Fake news” has infiltrated the public’s consciousness. Although it’s not a new concept, with yellow journalism predating well before Facebook clickbait, fake news has become a buzzword within the past few years, garnering significant attention from journalists, media outlets and social media companies.
What is “Fake News?”
Depending on where you search or who you talk to, you’ll probably get a different answer. Fake news can be thought of as an umbrella term for various types of misinformation or disinformation. This can range from outright lies and fabricated reporting, to misleading headlines aimed at pushing an agenda or driving clicks.
And social media allows for these stories to proliferate.
Dictionary.com defines fake news as “false news stories, often of a sensational nature, created to be widely shared or distributed for the purpose of generating revenue, or promoting or discrediting a public figure, political movement, company, etc.”
This definition, however, allows for articles from satirical media outlets like The Onion and Clickhole to be categorized as fake news, when the outwardly fictitious content is intended to be entertaining and humorous, rather than deceptive.
In 2017, Scott Dikkers, founder of The Onion, spoke to Marquette University about media ethics, specifically on how satire and fake news are different. He said, “If ‘The Onion’ ever wrote a story that fooled people, that was an accident, and that was because they didn’t know better.”
How Can We Fight Fake News?
As fake news continues to spread, newsrooms must be vigilant about fact-checking. This means training journalists and editors on how to detect fake news, pushing them to question sources, be skeptical of information and adhere to a higher standard of verification and analysis. Journalists should educate the public on the facts versus the fiction because the only way for fake news to lose its power is for people to recognize its illegitimacy, and that starts with media literacy.
When it comes to the role of social media companies, it's a slippery slope because they’re not the ones creating the content, but enabling its circulation, which has led to substantial backlash.
Last year, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Twitter signed the EU’s “code of practice of disinformation,” which is a voluntary agreement that delineates how to fight fake news on their platforms. However, EU commissioners said “…there is more work to be done under all areas of the code,” according to reporting from CNBC.
Additionally, many social media platforms are using algorithms to catch suspicious content, but these can be manipulated, amplify bias and don’t understand context in the same way humans do.
It’s evident that there is a declining trust in the media, but there are steps that can be taken to inform the public on the "news" being disseminated. As written for Reveal, “As journalists, our mandate to listen is stronger than ever.” And with this comes the need to communicate our findings.
Comments