Discusses of Fake News Types in Society

There are several types of fake news, ranging from apparent articles to more subtle kinds of deception. People frequently rely on critical decisions on what they read in the news, such as how to vote in elections or what therapy to provide when they are sick. This is why it is critical to have trustworthy news. When individuals cant identify the difference between true and fake news, critical social and political issues get muddled and misunderstood. A lot of false news is created with the intent of inflaming and exacerbating societal disputes. Most significantly, critical thinking is required while posting or researching on a certain issue, writing comments, and engaging in other social media activities. Many fake news articles are constructed in such a way as to elicit strong emotional responses such as fear or wrath. As a result, critical thinking and research are essential.

Its crucial to examine a few choices when spotting disinformation, recognizing fake news sites, and double-checking before sharing or posting a comment. First and foremost, double-check the source of the news or information. Fake news sites frequently employ addresses that sound like legitimate newspaper locations, but they lack authentic stories on various themes. If the website appears to be unsteady, go to the About page and seek a detailed description of the company. Second, look into the author. Check them out to see whether theyre reliable  do they have a strong reputation, and do they write about their field of expertise? Furthermore, the motivation of the author may be essential in the dissemination of forgeries. Third, fact-checking is necessary since trustworthy news reports will include numerous facts such as data, figures, and expert statements. If they arent there, inquire as to why. Reports containing misleading information sometimes contain wrong dates or time periods, so its a good idea to double-check the articles publication date.

Fake News and the Economy of Emotions

The concept known as fake news is not necessarily a new one, as it has existed since ancient times. However, it was during the 2016 presidential election when the term has caused a considerable amount of controversy. Although some people argue that fake news is not a major problem, many claim that it is indeed a serious cause for concern because it has enough power to influence the outcome of the election. The goal of this essay is to present the arguments and viewpoints of both sides as well as an opinion on what should be done with fake news.

First, it is necessary to take a look at arguments of those who are concerned about fake news. According to Bakir and McStay (2017), the main reasons why fake news is a serious social and democratic problem are that it produces misinformed citizens, traps them in echo chambers where they stay misinformed and provokes outrage due to its affective and provocative nature. All three of these issues are likely to bring social discontent with democratic outcome and process (Bakir and McStay, 2017). Another concern with fake news is that, due to low-level of many peoples cognitive processes, familiarity through constant repetition serves to make even the most implausible claims believable despite them being tagged as contested. (Pennycook, Cannon & Rand, 2017) Thus, it is necessary to find solutions that prevent people from reading fake news in the first place, as opposed to qualifiers that merely make people discount fake news (Pennycook et al., 2017).

On the other hand, some people dismiss concerns related to fake news, instead claiming that the overarching problem is in peoples waning trust in real reporting (Herrman 2016). The definition of fake news has widened to encompass not only the fabricated stories, but also the more traditional media on Facebook and elsewhere, which threatens the traditional medias ability to declare things as being true or not (Herrman 2016). In other words, pretty much any stories or sources, even the ones that are true, are at risk of being labeled as fake news.

Personally, I believe that fake news is one of the most serious threats to democracy, which the United States take great pride in and thus needs to be treated. Facebook has proposed a number of possible solutions, such as elevating quality of Related Articles on Facebooks News Feed, putting warning labels on stories flagged as false, listening to advice from the news industry etc. (Pennycook et al. 2017). However, because most fake news is generated not with political, but financial goals in mind it might be necessary to look into digital advertising and how it could help combat fake news. Even the most disreputable advertisers are not likely to want to be associated with untrustworthy sources. As such, it would be a good idea for advertisers to start identifying fake news websites and rejecting them, thus leaving them without a source of revenue. (Pennycook et al. 2017)

In conclusion, while the 2016 presidential election did not create the idea of fake news, it brought the idea into the public eye and revealed how it can be used as means of propaganda and for financial gain. The democracy is threatened by it now more than ever. As such, there is a new need to combat fake news and misinformation. While not a perfect solution, digital advertisers may play a significant part in making fake news less profitable.

Reference List

Bakir, V., & McStay, A. (2017). Fake News and The Economy of Emotions: Problems, causes, solutions. Digital Journalism, 1-22.

Pennycook, G., Cannon, T. D., & Rand, D. G. (2017). Prior exposure increases perceived accuracy of fake news.

Herrman J. (2016). Fixation on Fake News Overshadows Waning Trust in Real Reporting. The New York Times. Web.

Style Based Study of Fake News

News coverage has been the focus of attention for many researchers in linguistics and communication studies. It is especially relevant nowadays when the expression fake news is drawing much attention. The issue of fake news and the following problem of trustworthiness in media continue to receive interest not only from the general public and journalists. It is also a crucial matter for politicians and the digital industry. In this report, the main emphasis will be put on analyzing the writing style of fake news, i.e., the linguistic form of text rather than its semantics.

First of all, intentionally deceptive articles, headlines, and social media posts may appear for a number of reasons. Sometimes articles are created with the purpose of influencing elections. In some cases, they might contribute to an informational war between states. Other reasons include aiming at raising or lowering someones reputation. Finally, writing fake news is mostly about earning revenue. The intention is for the fake news to spread without readers taking the time to verify it properly. Journalists rely on attention-grabbing language and flashy vocabulary. Moreover, it is important to remember that outbreaks of false news are often initiated by recent events. They are written and then shared on the Internet among the audience who is expected to believe them.

As with any text analysis, fake news analysis requires a cross-functional, cross-linguistic, or cross-theme study. Having a reliable method of identifying fake news is essential. The primary cause of this issue is that in terms of stylistics, fake news imitates reliable reporting. For this reason, in recent years, several researchers have been trying to develop the stylistic features of fake news. For instance, Zhou and Zafarani (2018) have discovered some stylistic aspects of misleading content.

According to them, much like when false information is investigated from a knowledge-based viewpoint, exploring a hoax from a style-based viewpoint also accentuates examining the media content (Zhou & Zafarani, 2018). Nevertheless, knowledge-based research focuses on the evaluation of the accuracy of the news, while style-based research deals with the estimation of news intention. Therefore, the main question of stylistics regarding fake news is if there is a purpose of deceiving the public or not.

While the advancement of style-based false news studies research is not fully developed, as there is a limited amount of correlated studies, the analysis of means of stylistic expression, which are used in public deception, has long been an operational field of studies. It is evident that specialists do not have an effective method of distinguishing between facts and lies yet, but there are particular style-based features that should be taken into consideration.

The researchers identify three deception style theories. They include deception style theory which elaborates on how content style can help investigate deceit. The next theory explores style-based characteristics and patterns that can identify deception. The last theory examines deception detection tactics and how style can be used to recognize fake news and other kinds of false information (Zhou & Zafarani, 2018, p. 13). Intuitively, the style of deceptive news that aims to provide false information to readers should, to some extent, deviate from the truth. It is usually filled with exaggerated expressions with the purpose of creating strong emotions.

As for style-based features, the researchers present a variety of them. Attribute-based linguistic characteristics, otherwise known as theory-based language qualities, are mainly created based on the corresponding above-mentioned deception theories. In accordance with their study, attribute-based linguistic features that characterize the content style can be classified into ten groups. They include quantity, complexity, uncertainty, subjectivity, non-immediacy, sentiment, diversity, informality, specificity, and readability (Zhou & Zafarani, 2018, p. 15).

While attribute-based linguistic characteristics are considered pertinent, interpretable, and expectable, they usually lack quantifying misleading content style in contradiction to structure-based characteristics. Attributed-based aspects frequently require some supplemental levels of measurement or computing. Needless to say, it can take some time, despite its importance, to appropriate feature evaluation and filter for misleading information.

Structure-based characteristics present content style on four linguistic levels. They include lexicon, syntax, semantic, and discourse (Zhou & Zafarani, 2018, p. 15). At the lexicon level, the primary purpose is to evaluate the frequency data of letters and words in a text. At the syntax level, all tasks are carried out by parts of speech that facilitate their marking and reviewing. Regarding the semantic level, such factors as Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count are commonly utilized to produce semantic classes for each semantic characteristic.

Regarding the theory of deception detection strategies, it must be noted that the main approach to style-based deceit discovery is to use a feature vector portraying the style of the fake article in an automatic learning framework to see whether the given information is misleading. In view of the fact that fake news sources commonly draw attention to a brief financial or political objective, they mostly use an informal and emotional style of narration. A headline on a front page may state one fact, but then the body of the article presents completely different information. Internet users even created a special word for this type of deceptive headline, which is clickbait. Such headlines quickly grab the attention to interest the reader in clicking the article.

While the theories above provide some insights into the stylistic nature of fake news, it is evident that a more thorough investigation is crucial for a complete understanding of the topic. Examining the content style of fake news, however, may radically differ from studying deceit in other kinds of written information. While the theories can assist in analyzing misleading records, they are not immediately oriented toward fake news. Further studies in stylistics are needed to discover and research ways to detect a lie from the truth.

The goal of this paper has been to thoroughly and attentively study the current stylistic means of distinguishing fake news from real news. In conclusion, it would appear that the trustworthiness of news articles can indeed be evaluated based on the style they are written in, though this is not a foolproof approach.

Reference

Zhou, X., & Zafarani, R. (2018). Fake news: A survey of research, detection methods, and opportunities. Web.

Analysis of a Fake News Article on the Notorious Website ‘The Onion’

In the article, ‘Obama Sinks Family Savings into Developing Presidential Tabletop Game’, an anonymous author discusses, as the title states, how the former president Barack Obama is sinking all of his financial gains into the development of a board game. This article can be found on a notorious fake news website called ‘The Onion’. The article achieves its purpose as a piece of fake news because it does not have a certified publisher to back up the article and the evidence and quotes are only in favor of the author’s argument. In the article itself, the author interviews Obama about his board game and how it has affected his life. The main rhetorical device used is Logos because the author wants to poke fun at Obama and make him seem uneducated; however, there is ethos and pathos as well. All of these devices are being used to make lampoon of Obama.

The main rhetorical device used to poke fun at Obama is Logos, which is a logic-based approach. The author employs this approach by placing alleged quotes from Obama throughout the article. One of these statements being, “I drained our bank account to pay this specialty manufacturer to make the game components, and I’m hoping the Kickstarter money will cover the cost of renting warehouse space to store the finished product”. This quote is meant to conjure up the idea that Obama isn’t that educated. By putting all of his savings into a game that may or may not gain traction shows he is irresponsible and not smart. This is because he is making a very drastic decision without a good reason or back up plan. With this being said, the article has a logos-based approach because the reader is observing facts and has to piece together the meaning behind them.

The approach is Ethos, which is the use of credibility to back up ones writing. Throughout the article, the reader can notice small details that make the legitimacy of the article questionable. First off, the author does not include his name. Without a name, the reader cannot observe other works by the author and confirm that they are qualified or giving reliable information. Secondly, the article has been published on a notorious news site called ‘The Onion’. This automatically should raise a red flag for anyone looking for dependable data. Lastly, a less noticeable feature is the diction used in the article. The diction used was not formal and had many grammatical errors. The article could be seen as a real source of new had these errors not been prevalent.

Another approach used in the article in Pathos, which is an appeal to the reader’s emotion. There is a lacking in a direct use of Pathos; however, the aspect of money problems mentioned earlier and the humorous ending to his board game can be stretched and used as Pathos. This is because the author makes the reader feel that Obama is just like a normal person who doesn’t think everything through and makes mistakes. With this being said, the use of this device helps create a connection that strengthens the ‘realness’ of this fake news article.

The author of this article does not accomplish his goal of making people view Obama as an uneducated man. But it does achieve its goal as a piece of fake news. Throughout the article the intended message permeated the text, however, due to many factors, the reader can obviously see that it is fake news. These factors could have been avoided had the author used the rhetorical devices in a better manner. These are the main reasons why this piece of fake news did not accomplish is the goal in the long run.

Fake News and Its Impact On Reality: Critical Analysis of the Onion

Fake news isn’t a new issue in today’s society. Fake news is news, stories or information created to misinform people intentionally. Counterfeit news is destructive in nature, it makes misguided judgments and disarray of genuine reality news. There are varying sentiments with regards to distinguishing kinds of fake news. Nonetheless, with regards to assessing content online there are different kinds of fake or deluding news we should know about. Fake news can travel by mouth, on the internet, on flyers and etc. Fake news is a critical issue to social media and it shows multiple ways of how fake news can travel. This has been a very big thing in social media for years, but its more regrettable now. Many fake publishers like The Onion, ABC Journals and more spread fake news about people, the economy or whatever they can get people’s attention on. The Onion was found in 1988 with the goal that reveal to you how long fake news has been near. The Onion composed fake news that was moderately clever for our diversion. Destroying many people trust in their company, people found out that The Onion was developed on untruths, at that point it will be troublesome for individuals to trust that news article once more. It will be hard to inspire individuals to try and view your site. Fake news additionally affect the entire society. This is the manner by which lies spread. Individuals that do these things are named as being chaotic. That is the reason in some cases, publishers utilize fake names now and then when they distribute certain articles because these articles sometimes be false data or pretend stories.

Fake news has picked up such a great amount of consideration as individuals have changed ways to get their news. TV is an extraordinary case of where a great deal of fake news is publicized. A few people think all that they hear on TV is valid, and those people will take things to web-based social networking in the wake of hearing news and this how fake news spread. In Maria Paola Ferretti’s insight, she stated ‘ The second dimension of fake news, deception, refers to the motivational aspect behind fake news, or the reason why people diffuse them. For example, fake news may be divulgated because of ignorance, or with the purpose of making people laugh, or with the intent of misinformation or manipulation of public opinion for the sake of political or economic advantage.’ I concur with Maria since I feel like numerous individuals make and spread fake news for a chuckle or to wind up known on the web. Not realizing they are blemishing somebody’s picture, individuals do things like this and think there are no outcomes behind this. I honestly don’t think there are consequences but being sued. That’s why some people change their names when they do these such things. Regardless of whether it’s everything lies, a few people don’t take the time out to check whether things are actually valid. Television keeps on affecting the media, and individuals will keep on spreading whatever they accept. I feel like older people do this more than younger people because sometimes the youth are more up to date than the elderly. Falsehood is hard to address and it can spread leaving an effect on things and even individuals. We as a whole realize that many individuals sit in front of the TV to have something to discuss with their companions or family and on social media. Precedents like the news channels is a good example of this. You will dependably hear somebody discussing what they saw on the news regardless of whether it is just about the climate. Some of the time a reporter may misunderstand the data. I know it’s very some timing for a news journalist to report the wrong data, however it occurs. Individuals don’t see who composed what they will in general read. Online networking considers news to be extended with no confirmation. Without check, this brings an issue of what number of individuals accept and question they read on social locales. the media need to complete a superior occupation in isolating certainties from conclusion. Fake news is so widespread on the grounds that clients think that it’s helpful to get to news via web-based networking media channels and there is by all accounts a propensity to share the new stories without first checking its validity.

Fake news has even affected the president of the United States. These misperceptions can add to a wide assortment of social issues. For instance, there are claims that fake news affected the result of the 2016 presidential decision and that fake news proceeds to affect Donald Trump’s presidential position today. Individuals had such huge numbers of made up tales about Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton. A bogus news story showed up before the race, of the individuals who support Donald and Hilary. Individuals are in every case liable to trust stories that support their favored competitor. All things considered, that makes it confusing for people and scholars since they wouldn’t recognize what to trust half of the general public is stating a certain something, and the other piece of society is stating something very surprising. This show to tell you that fake news doesn’t just affects a random person’s life, the most important people in the world go through things as horrible as fake news also. At this point, every single human being on this earth needs to think about information they read on social media or online before they spread it.

There are such a significant number of approach to maintain a strategic distance from fake news. To evade counterfeit news, individuals should search for things in an article like the production date or the distributer name. On the off chance that there is no significant source, at that point that should give you a clue that its most likely extortion. Individuals should search for believability and to know when a specific article is fake. Some URL’s let us know that the webpage we are on isn’t legit. I can’t pressure how critical this is for fake news. State for example, you read an article that was work off lies on the web. You had enthusiasm for this article or news, so you vent and informed individuals concerning it. They discover what you disclosed to them wasn’t valid, presently they don’t trust a word that leaves your mouth. This is one mistake that fake news will make you do. Spreading fake news can be avoided. In ’10 Ways to Spot a Fake News Story’ by Melanie Radzicki Memanus, Melanie stated that ‘many other fake news sites intentionally try to pass themselves off as real, either by never disclosing their satirical nature or hiding the disclosure deep within their website. (23)’. I concur with this without bounds provided that an individual composes something intriguing knowing everything are lies, they most likely won’t put a name on it. By improving your data proficiency aptitudes, you will be smarter to recognize fake news, just as potential predisposition in ordinary news. This will assist you with avoiding a ton of fake news and inept one-sided data dependent on their people groups convictions. Individuals depend via web-based networking media to remain side by side of the most recent news refreshes. Fake news doesn’t mean it is a level out untruth, rather news that are probably going to be comprised of conclusions and no verifiable articulations. It’s unmistakably fiction news that is made up to sound and look genuine.

Taking everything into account, fake news is wherever on the web, more so than different sources that give news or data also. I’ve came to acknowledgment on how deceptive fake news can be and the terrible results that tails it. Perceiving genuine from fake news is now and again hard for specific individuals. I sense that it relies upon the age gathering. More youthful individuals may know genuine from fake news, and more established ages most likely don’t. Despite the fact that a few people are a little while ago getting presented to online networking, they are being presented to counterfeit news too. The vast majority of the phony news is based off made up data and it is exceptionally one-sided. Along these lines, don’t rush to think all that you see or hear off the web and TV is always true. This is where most people tend to mess up at.

The Issue Of Fake News In Modern Journalism

Today the term journalism is applied to popular publications like The New York Times, The Washington Post, BBC, and to television news operations like Good Morning America and 60 Minutes. Journalists use their First Amendment right to tell the world a story. The political parties of the United States have sadly decreased news media in communications. Journalism has changed greatly since the colonial days. When newspapers were just delivered to one’s door early in the morning with information around the world. Still then and now, Journalists have to have terrific abilities to take on this career. Journalism is a very competitive career, it takes great writing skills, terrific communication skills, and outstanding research abilities. Journalism is an important career, it provides news to the world. News is how everyone knows what is going on around them. Journalism is responsible for spreading current ideas. With journalism comes writing, writing the perfect story to tell the world is important. Writing skills and time management are necessary in journalism. Taking a four year college degree in journalism is required to have a job as a journalist. Once one is settled in as a journalist, their salary ranges from $30K to $120K yearly. The spread of fake news is one of the most problematic issues the world of journalism is facing. Journalism is an important way of viewing the past.

Journalists should be ready to support or explain the on-site reporting of a news story. Becoming a good journalist is learning how to research and review until you have what you need. Journalists are always researching, whether it is talking on the phone with 15 people a day, or interviewing 10 people a day. To be a successful journalist you must be willing to spend long hours researching and writing. Journalists must also be creative and aggressive. Many skills are necessary to be successful in this field, but with time and effort it could be accomplished. Education is the key to making it somewhere important in this world; education is something no one can take from you. To become a journalist you will need a high school diploma and at least 4 years of college. Your studies would be journalism, communications, mass media, or broadcast journalism. When going to school for a degree in journalism, a student might be required to apply for an internship in a nearby journalism work place. This way students can have a taste of what it would be like before they go off on their own. During college, professors will teach students how to properly write, use technology necessary for journalism, operate a camera, and present confidently. All upcoming journalists must be prepared for the world to come.

Communication is the key to becoming a great journalist. Communication allows you to open up to the world, and voice the opinion of those who are afraid to speak. If you’re a confident journalist, you will move up in the career and be taken seriously. Once you move up, the salary will too. News is the communication that keeps the uninformed, informed. Communication skills show the Journalists to be taken seriously, and shows confidence. Other networks will notice this confidence and invite you to a better job. Great journalists get paid very well. As a beginner journalist, most start off with a salary of $30K to $60K yearly, depending on your skills and what network you start from. As you move up a journalist could receive higher job openings and pay. Popular journalists could receive up to $120K yearly.

Without research, a journalist does not have a story to tell. Research allows the journalist to put together a juicy story to tell the world. No research makes a story fake news. Fake news will kill journalism as a career in 10 to 15 years. Researching a story permits the Journalist to collect all of the data, then they place all the pieces together to create this outstanding story.

Without enough research, a bad researched story could place your story into fake news. Fake news is one of the most problematic issues the media faces. Which is why if fake news keeps spreading, journalism and media will be dead in 10 years time, because the public won’t trust journalists anymore. Journalism has already begun to die as a career choice because the world receives their news from cell phones and the internet. The internet has changed journalism forever. When fake news stops spreading, journalism will be based on technology skills instead of writing.

Unmasking the Threat of Fake News: Navigating the Digital Maze

Understanding the Proliferation of Fake News

There are four categories of make news which include: False, misleading sites that are shared on social media, websites that contain misleading, unreliable information, websites that tend to use clickbait-y headlines, and comedy sites that offer critical commentary on society and politics. There are multiple ways to distinguish real news from fake news, but it’s up to you to do it. When you’re investigating news and trying to determine if it’s legit or not, you should take a couple of notes.

Determine if the source of the link is credible, point out clear false information throughout the article, background check the information given, find source citations, if graphs are given, check to make sure it makes numerical sense, double check for misspellings and other grammar errors. All over the world, fake news has dramatically increased. Fake news content encourages people to click the link. The more people click on these sites are considered “traffic.” The more traffic a site gets, the more it will look legit. Those who are behind these fake accounts benefit by attracting traffic which increases funding for more advertisements.

Personal Encounters with Fake News on Social Media

As I scrolled down Facebook, I ran into some ads that looked kind of fishy. Before I intended to click the link, I determined if the advertisements had any broad errors. After clicking on certain links that offered something “FREE,” they asked me to fill out a survey. Any link that says they’re going to give me something free, I automatically consider it to be a scam. Obviously, this specific ad had a poorly worded headline and non-legit links and sources. Another link I decided to click informed me of tips to dodge “COVID-19”. As I scrolled down to check the source, it wasn’t credible.

The only credible sources that I would legit believe are anything from medical sites or scientists. This link had authors that I didn’t recognize. The last link that I clicked took me to a blank pop-up window, so, of course, that link isn’t credible. Although fake news and media are increasing, it’s not that hard to tell fake from real. The reason advertisers get away with contributing fake news to the public is that they are able to pay for ads and promotions. The more you pay to get something advertised, the more traffic & customers willing to give it a try.

Guidelines for Recognizing Authentic News

Tips for evaluating news sources include: Read past the headline, see if you recognize the new outlet featuring the story, double check the date and time the article was published, consider whether or not you recognize the author, look for links and sources and lastly, look for reports on the same story through other news outlets. Sometimes legit sources sometimes use poorly worded headlines which makes them questionable. So many false misinformation ads, links, and promotions go undiscovered. Therefore, it is highly important for consumers to use critical thinking skills to eliminate falling for “fake news.” Fake advertising is designed to look real. Many believe that just because it was made to look real, it is real. For example, those sites with quality graphic designs are more prone to trick consumers.

The Role of URLs and the Dangers of Naivety

It is also important to pay close attention to links’ “URL” A legit link usually ends in .com or .net. Those links with unfamiliar URL data should automictically make you think twice about engaging in the site. Some people know nothing about fake news, which makes them more venerable to get tricked. If more people knew how to detect fake news, a lot of people wouldn’t get scammed.

Using the tips and techniques to determine real vs. fake news should be shared with all. It doesn’t take a lot to re-check the sites you visit for credibility. No one wants to be misled with false information regarding their community. However, with everything that’s going on now, COVID-19 – there are a lot of fake articles going around informing people “how to cure coronavirus.” As a consumer, you shouldn’t that these things lightly, and you also shouldn’t believe anything you see on the internet.

References:

  1. “How to Spot Fake News” by FactCheck.org. FactCheck.org.
  2. “Evaluating Information: The Cornerstone of Civic Online Reasoning” by Stanford History Education Group. Stanford University.
  3. “Identifying Misinformation: An Introduction to the INFO Protocol” by American Library Association. American Library Association.

Unveiling the Challenge of Fake News in the Digital Age

Be Prepared for Combating Fake News on The Internet

People in Twenty-first Century can get a lot of information on the internet, allowing him or her to study work and address personal issues. The internet is also similar to a post office, which lets people send and receive emails. The internet has brought about a paperless age and has also increased the speed at which one access or spreads information. There are various search engines that one can use to get information in a few minutes. By comparing it to print media such as books, the web is superior as it saves the time required for studying or working. Even though the internet has brought a lot of conveniences to human society, it also has some disadvantages that cannot be ignored.

The imperfection of the administration and monitoring of the internet has led to the spread of false information by both individuals and organizations for personal gains and selfish interests or with the aim of attracting attention. On the one hand, misinformation can mislead the internet to trust specific websites. On the other hand, if the phenomenon cannot be solved, the user of the internet will no longer trust the information available on the web. Fake news has appeared on the internet in different forms to attract readers’ attention. However, as a reader, one should evaluate the sites carefully and be skeptical about what is available online to avoid misleading or false information.

Fake News: A Historical Overview

Fake or biased news has existed since the beginning of human history. The people that control the flow of information can create fake stories to influence the public perspectives or regulate the treatment of a specific group in the community. According to the book, Influencing Machine, the author Brooke Gladstone describes ancient Chinese society. He asserts that there are no journalists in every place for written language emerging in Sumeria China, only Scribes that he describes as Publicists (Gladstone 3,4). Thousands of years ago, people wrote on different materials, such as bones, stones, or clay. Originally, they used the slates to record daily events and historical accounts. The scribes were treated with respect, and they amassed wealth and gained a positive reputation because they had the right to control the content of the texts.

They controlled the rights to get knowledge, information, and the approaches of expression in the community. For instance, in the article “Combating Fake News in the Digital Age,” Joanna Burkhardt asserts that “Some of the information that has survived, carved in stone or baked on tablets or drawn in pictograms, extolled the wonder and power of the leaders. Often these messages were reminders to the common people that the leader controlled their lives”. Through using the messages, leaders in the past expressed information that would promote respect among the public and allow them to perform their duties smoothly. The people had limited information about their lives and believed that the information carved in the stone or baked on tablets was correct without verifying it. It shows that people in the past created biased information to exert public rule.

The Digital Era: The Rise of Fake News in Modern Society

In modern society, people have more access to information that they need but often do not verify whether it is true or not. Without verification, there is more fake news spreading mainly through the internet. According to the article “Social Media and Fake News in the 2016 Election,” Hunt Allcott and Matthew Gentzkow provide a list that reveals that more and more people get news from social media. The article shows that 62 percent of US adults get news on social media, the most popular fake news stories were more widely shared on Facebook than the most popular mainstream news stories, and many people who see fake news stories report that they believe them.

The data shows that 62 percent of people were more likely to read news about the 2016 election from online sources, and they deemed the news as credible. Then, they shared the news with friends or family. However, many people responded that they wanted to share the link because it was interesting but did not consider whether what they spread was fake or biased. That influences people’s perspectives concerning a specific agenda or issue. Gladstone mentions, “And now the internet can act, easily, even influence how those stories end.” It is true that because of the convenience of the internet, everyone plays a role in the spread of fake news and can unknowingly influence various consequences. No matter the kind of media a person subscribes to, he or she does not want to convey information confusing people’s perspectives.

Misrepresentation of Africa and the Role of Media

In the video “The Danger of A Single Story,” Chimamanda Adichie, A Nigerian short story, nonfiction, and novel writer, claims that if people express their information inaccurately, it can lead to negative consequences for their lives. Adichie establishes that many people have a misunderstanding about Africans’ lives, even some renowned authors. She gets a quote from the writings of a London merchant called John Lok, who says that “Africans are also people without heads, having their mouth and eyes in their breasts.” People hear different impressions of a specific issue and make judgments depending on what they hear and see.

Lok doesn’t reveal the true characteristics of Africans but instead expresses a wrong message to mislead people’s perspectives. This biased information is created because Lok doesn’t have an accurate depiction of the continent and just writes based on his imagination. He subjectively thinks that Africa is a place of negatives, of difference, and of darkness. In the Internet Era, people can have more access to verify if Africa is that bad a place. One can make a judgment based on what they read on the internet. Therefore, if this new bias is expressed, those who do not carry out fact-checking are more likely to be misguided.

References:

  1. Gladstone, Brooke. The Influencing Machine: Brooke Gladstone on the Media. W.W. Norton & Company, 2011.
  2. Burkhardt, Joanna M. “Combating Fake News in the Digital Age.” Journal of Electronic Resources Librarianship, vol. 30, no. 3, 2018, pp. 121-127.
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Use of Fake News Narratives and Memes to Generate False Memory

In this paper, we discuss the science of false memory and how misinterpretations are formulated through both fake narrative stories and fake visual aids to build false memories. In the Fridenberg & Silverman textbook*, we study that the hippocampus is responsible for the consolidation of information from memory, including both episodic and autobiographical memories. This helps us ​consume​ and ​understand ​information, particularly memories of past events, and to make sense of novel information presented to us.

As we consume information through social media, including fake news often repeated through memes and mass circulation, we establish through this paper how such fake information is often ingrained in our brains as fake memories over time. I choose this particular topic as it relates to my research on memes and helps inform my decisions in building a better media consumption platform with my startup, memoirs .

Through this paper, we first discuss the false narrative paradigm developed by Loftus and Pickrell, including the use of false narratives by Loftus and fake photographs by Wade et al. to cultivate false memories. As we develop an understanding of the power of suggestion and how such false memories are formed, we then explore these researches in context to modern-day media consumption through the internet and the more recent viral phenomenon of memes to propagate such information. We discuss how fake news narratives are crafted to aid in false memory formation and are amplified through the use of memes. Finally, this paper establishes the influence of memes and fake news narratives in developing false memories.

More than two decades ago, Loftus and Pickrell demonstrated the ease of persuading people to remember false childhood events. They developed a procedure that came to be known as ​a false narrative paradigm​, in which adult subjects were given narrative descriptions of their own childhood and were then asked to remember and describe their memories of these events. They were told that all of the narratives were provided by their family members; however, the researchers introduced a fake narrative that was confirmed to be not true by the family members.

Lost in a shopping mall, The false narrative introduced by Loftus and Pickrell described the subject being lost in a shopping mall but eventually returning back to the family by an elderly person. They found that 25% of the participants falsely remembered not only the incidence of that event but even novel details about their being lost. This was one of the first demonstrations of scientific evidence by controlled experimentation that completely false events can be implanted into memory. Remember, this was before the movie ​Inception​ came in.

Implanted memory of 14-year-old Chris

In the 1993 case study by Loftus, a 14-year-old Chris was told the fake story of his being lost by his brother as if it was true. In two days, Chris began to recall his feelings about the incident — ‘That day, I was so scared that I would never see my family again. I knew that I was in trouble.’ As time progressed, his false memory began to rapidly expand from ​recalling ​a conversation with his mother and even the stranger to, in a few weeks, saying: “I was with you guys for a second, and I think I went over to look at the toy store, the Kay-bee toy and uh, we got lost, and I was looking around, and I thought, ‘Uh-oh. I’m in trouble now.’ You know. And then I…I thought I was never going to see my family again. I was really scared, you know.

And then this old man, I think he was wearing a blue flannel, came up to me…he was kind of old. He was kind of bald on top…he had like a ring of gray hair…and he had glasses.” It is worth noting the level of detail and sophistication Chris reached with his false memory, including specificities about the location, his feelings, the conversations he had, the appearances of people, and everything in between. As if the brain had written a whole movie just from an outline of the plot.

More interestingly, when he was debriefed and told that the memories were false, his reaction was — ‘Really? I thought I remembered being lost…and looking around for you guys. I do remember that. And then crying. And mom came up and said, ‘Where were you? Don’t you… Don’t you ever do that again.’” He couldn’t believe that this was unreal, and it was as if he’d lived that experience that had never happened.

This case study presented by Loftus and the scientific experiment done by Loftus and Pickrell just show how powerful fake narratives are and the lasting impact they carry on subjects exposed to them. Over the next several years, these false narrative studies have been proven by various case studies, including Garry and Wade 2005; Hyman and Billings 1998; Hyman et al. 1995; Hyman and Pentland 1996; Lindsay et al. 2004; Pezdek et al. 1997; Porter et al. 1999. In fact, in 2017, the famous YouTuber Michael Stevens captured this very phenomenon of fake narratives in false memory through his video series, Do You Know Yourself? – Mind Field in​ ​a 21st-century-themed full HD video study that brought life to these plain old text-based research papers.​

How does such false memory develop?

According to Hyman and Kleinknecht 1999, Hyman and Loftus 1998, and Mazzoni et al. 2001, there are four distinct stages involved in the formation of false memories. ​First, subjects must find the event plausible. Second, they must develop a belief that the event happened. ​Third​, construct a memory of what the event would have been like. ​Fourth, mistakenly attribute their constructed memory to actual experience.As Loftus established in Hyman and Loftus 1998, the false narrative paradigm closely follows each of these stages, and as we discuss next, Wade examine each of these stages in the use of fake photographs for false memories.

In Fridenberg & Silverman*, the text talks about different models of long-term memory and how everything is always accessible once it reaches the long-term memory. More specifically, the text talks about episodic memory that contains episodes or personally experienced events that we are not consciously aware of. This supports the Hyman et al. model as it shows the vulnerabilities of such long-term memory and the fallibility of the retrieval process for such memories.

A picture is worth a thousand lies: false photographs.

I remember being home for Christmas last month, and my mom took out the old family album of when I was a 5-year-old kid. At first, all of the photos looked strange to me, not being able to recognize anyone in the photos or any places or events. But my brother, my dad, and my cousins jumped in — stirring conversations about different events which, in fact, started to form vague, disconnected fragments in my mind. Soon enough, I began to ​recall ​memories behind many of those photos. But I wondered if those were actually true memories or if they were false memories constructed through suggestions.

Wade exploits this exact phenomenon. Wade et al. (2002) said that we know false narratives can lead to false memories, but what about other forms of suggestive media, such as photographs? They questioned if such fake photographs could have the same effect, especially considering them as authoritative evidence according to Hyman’s stages. In the experiment, they use the “lost in the mall” approach by Loftus and Pickrell but instead, replace narratives with photographs.

They ask subjects about four childhood events, one of which was a photoshopped image of a hot air balloon ride, something that never happened, according to family members. Interestingly, after three interviews, 50% came to develop false memories of the ride. Not only did they remember the incident, but they also reported vivid additional details like: “I’m certain it occurred when I was at, um, the local school… Um, basically, for $10 or something, you could go up in a hot air balloon and go up about 20 odd meters… it would have been a Saturday, and I think we went with, yeah, parents and, no, it wasn’t, not my grandmother, not certain who any of the other people are there.

Um, and I’m pretty certain that Mum is down on the ground taking a photo.” And similar to false narratives, they expressed astonishment during debriefing on learning that the photograph was fake — “Is that right? Yeah, truly? How’d you do that?!” Suggesting that they truly believed that what they were reporting was a real memory. Sutherland et al. Sutherland et al. proved that fake photographs can produce false memories for even implausible events, such as having a tea date with Prince Charles.

In their study, six and 10-year-old children were equally likely to develop a memory of the balloon ride vs. the tea date with Prince Charles with just as much vivid details from the cost of a ride to family activities. However, 6-year-olds were more likely to develop false memories than 10-year-olds (40% vs 17%). These studies by Wade et al. and Sutherland et al. show how fake photographs can easily stir people to report false experiences as real

. Considering Fridenberg & Silverman*, the text discusses the hippocampal system of the brain and, more specifically, how the hippocampus acts as an integrator, combining and reuniting fragments of experience into a single unified memory. I suspect this is what we observe when experiencing this automatic gap-filling mechanism in human brains that takes parts of suggested memories and then makes sense of them by combining and inter-relating these fragments with real episodic memory.

Combing fake photographs and false narratives

In Section 1, we described how powerful false narratives are in suggesting false memories, while in Section 3, we show the power of fake photographs in stirring people to report false experiences as real. However, what if we combine the two? Lindsay et al. explored this by asking subjects to remember three school events, one of which was false. They gave all of their subjects a narrative describing the event, while half of those subjects were also given a class photograph accompanying the event.

They found that while 45% of those who read the narrative developed false memories, 78% of those also with class photographs remembered the event. This demonstrates how powerful the suggestion could be when including both false narratives as well as fake photographs, as it becomes a springboard and amplifies the formation of false memory according to Hyman’s stages we discussed in Section 2.

Memes and fake news on social media.

All of the studies that we have discussed so far were published over two decades ago in the pre-internet and pre-social media era. In the last ten years or so, social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter have caused a dramatic shift in information distribution and the way people consume information today. Since the 2016 election, there has been widespread concern about the role of false stories, a.k.a, fake news, circulated through social media. Since there are no barriers to sharing content on social media, anyone can share anything that they want to, including false stories.

Any individual with no historical track record or reputation can go viral on these platforms and reach millions of people and, in some cases, more than the readers of traditional news media like CNN, NYT, Fox News, etc. In fact, according to Gottfried and Shearer 2016, 62% of adults in the US get news on social media. This shows the sheer value of social media platforms in news consumption and the apparent fatality of ease of sharing any kind of information, including fake news.

Fake news can be considered in parallel to false narratives that we study today. As an individual consuming news through social platforms, if I come across fake news that matches Haymen’s model of false memory formation, it would act as a springboard for formulating false memories about particular events or people.

As Silverman discusses, such fake news is generally geared towards propaganda, for example, how fake news stories tended to favor Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election. In fact, Silverman even asserts that the most popular fake news stories were more widely shared on Facebook than the most popular mainstream news stories. Silverman and Singer-Vine 2016 demonstrate how the people who see fake news stories also report that they believe them.

Lazer et al. discuss in detail the science behind fake news and how “people prefer information that confirms their preexisting attitudes (selective exposure), view information consistent with their preexisting beliefs as more persuasive than dissonant information (confirmation bias), and are inclined to accept information that pleases them (desirability bias).” This is clearly in line with Haymen’s model of false memory formation and suggests the role of fake news in building false experiences.

Fake news is rapidly spread across the internet through sharing on social media, often in the form of memes — the viral media content of the internet that includes images and videos. First coined by Richard Dawkins, memes are anything that spread rapidly from one person to another, often along with some minor variations.

In 2007, Knobel and Lankshear documented the content of many Internet memes and how most are intended to provide humor or social commentary. R.E. Guadagno et al. take the work a step forward, and they conclude that only content that generates stronger affective responses is likely to spread virally on the internet. They further establish that we are more likely to forward funny videos as we share this information with friends and acquaintances, and we want them to experience the same pleasure that we did, irrespective of authenticity.

In agreement with Guadagno et al. (2010) on the role of contagion, they also assert that due to the ease of sharing information, i.e., sharing a meme with 20 friends or forwarding into a group chat is easier, we are more likely to share content we find in agreement with, often wrapped as memes under the disguise of fake news. This shows the sheer power of memes and the internet in spreading fake news, and as we discussed how easily fake news can form false memories… we can deduce a relation between the spread of memes with fake news and the generation of such false memories.

Conclusion In conclusion, through this paper, we studied the power of the false narrative paradigm and the use of fake photographs in stirring false memories. Through the research of Lindsay et al., we conclude how the combined power of the two amplifies the springboard effect in Haymen’s model, suggesting the development of false memories. Finally, we view this research in light of the post-internet and social media era, discussing the widespread use of social media for news consumption and the ease of publishing false stories or fake news through these platforms.

We then discuss memes and the inherent viral sharing they bring due to their nature and the ease of sharing media enabled by technology. This suggests the deep and mostly unlooked role of memes in spreading fake news through the internet and the consequent formation of false memories that can influence a variety of actions in real life (such as the 2016 elections). In consideration of the Fridenberg & Silverman textbook, through this paper, we see the adverse consequences of the hippocampus in storing long-term memories and its role in combining fragments into complete episodic memories.

We see how such long-term memories, due to their unique retrieval mechanism, can be fooled through appropriate activations with suggested memories and by giving it enough time to “fill the gaps” by ​retrieving​ false memories. Once such false memories are retrieved, they are also stored back due to recency (as we study in the text) and thus generate​ false memories that people believe to be true even after being debriefed about their falseness. As a point of further discussion and research, there lies an opportunity to conduct in-depth case studies on the use of memes in spreading false stories and the direct correlation between reading false stories and forming false memories.

This paper provides a platform to build a deductive hypothesis based on existing research, but empirical studies must be conducted to prove actual results. Further, as we observed the power of false narratives and fake photographs in suggesting implausible and entirely false experiences – there lies a scope of work on harnessing this phenomenon for good. For helping people with depression, trauma, etc. – to rewire such memories in treating patients and producing a healthier lifestyle. In fact, the TV series ​Sherlock Holmes depicted this exact use case, as he had rewired the memory of his sister killing his friend as a dog being lost on the beach.

References:

  1. Sequin, M. (2017, August 11). Yes, there’s now an app with the sole purpose of showing you dank memes. Retrieved from https://mashable.com/2017/08/11/memeois-is-the-new-app-giving-you-dank-memes
  2. Loftus, E. F., & Pickrell, J. E. (1995). The formation of false memories. Psychiatric Annals, 25(12), 720-725.
  3. Loftus, E. F. (1993). The reality of repressed memories. American psychologist, 48(5), 518.
  4. Wade, K. A., Garry, M., Read, J. D., & Lindsay, D. S. (2002). A picture is worth a thousand lies: Using false photographs to create false childhood memories. Psychonomic bulletin & review, 9(3), 597-603.
  5. Wade, K. A., & Garry, M. (2005). Strategies for verifying false autobiographical memories. The American journal of psychology, 587-602.
  6. Hyman, I. E., & James Billings Jr, F. (1998). Individual differences and the creation of false childhood memories. Memory, 6(1), 1-20.
  7. Hyman Jr, I. E., Husband, T. H., & Billings, F. J. (1995). False memories of childhood experiences. Applied cognitive psychology, 9(3), 181-197.
  8. Hyman Jr, I. E., & Pentland, J. (1996). The role of mental imagery in the creation of false childhood memories. Journal of memory and language, 35(2), 101-117.
  9. Lindsay, D. S., Hagen, L., Read, J. D., Wade, K. A., & Garry, M. (2004). True photographs and false memories. Psychological Science, 15(3), 149-154.
  10. Pezdek, K., Finger, K., & Hodge, D. (1997). Planting false childhood memories: The role of event plausibility. Psychological Science, 8(6), 437-441.

Evolution of Fake News: From Yellow Journalism to the Internet Age

The Evolution of Fake News

Fake news, despite being a new term, has been around for an exceedingly long time. While no one can know exactly when it began, it was likely not long after the creation of written language. It has been used ever since, though in varying forms and with varying motives. The internet age then opened an entirely new set of doors for fake news since it is anonymous and accessible to nearly everyone.

The Role of Social Media

In a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, it was found that 62% of U.S. adults get some of their news from social media. Fake news has taken on many forms, including yellow journalism and propaganda, but now, in the internet age, we are in a very dangerous time with fake news. Because of this, media literacy should be considered an important part of our education from an early age. Yellow journalism began in the late 19th century and, as described in “Yellow Journalism,” an article by Richard Sheposh, a writer for the Salem Press Encyclopedia, “Yellow journalism is a style of news reporting that relies on sensationalized and often manufactured elements in an effort to attract attention.” The beginning of yellow journalism is usually accredited to Joseph Pulitzer and his journalism in the New York World. Pulitzer discovered that by making his journalism more sensational and catchier, focusing on topics such as scandal and crime, he could sell more newspapers. This, in turn, would make more money through advertising.

Yellow Journalism’s Historical Impact

Yellow journalism likely also played a part in the beginning of the Spanish-American war when the USS Maine exploded in pearl harbor. Journalists like Pulitzer reported this as being entirely the wrongdoing of Spain. They sold newspapers claiming that the USS Maine hit a mine left by Spain, with dramatized illustrations of the ship exploding. While the exact cause of the explosion was never found, most credible sources at the time attributed it to an onboard explosion of the main turret ammunition.

Propaganda Through the Wars

Propaganda is another form of fake news, as it often contains fabricated or greatly exaggerated facts and ideas. According to ” Propaganda,” an article by Mark Dziak, a writer for the Salem Press Encyclopedia, ” Propaganda refers to the process of using words, images, and other forms of communication to sway the opinions of others.” Dziak then illustrates that, because of increased communication technology, propaganda was at the height of its usage impact during World War I and World War II. This propaganda was designed to convey messages through emotion rather than conscious thought. The more emotional and dramatic the propaganda was, the more impact it had. Some propaganda was oriented at specific demographics, targeted to affect only certain people, while others were aimed at affecting a broader range of the population.

During World War I, the U.S. government needed to convince citizens to support the war effort. In order to do this, the U.S. government created Committee on Public Information. This organization was created to persuade citizens that the war was for the good of the people. The propaganda produced by the Committee on Public Information was meant to increase hatred of the enemies, boost morale, and convince enemies that the U.S. possessed more weaponry and technology than they truly did. A particularly prominent example of propaganda was the German Corpse Factory.

This fictitious factory purportedly collected deceased soldiers from German battlefields and rendered them down for fat for use in manufacturing weaponry and machinery. This story was spread as truth by newspapers, becoming believed by many. When the U.S. entered World War II, the U.S. government faced a challenge, much like the challenge they overcame in World War I, of persuading citizens to participate in and provide support for the war. The government responded in a similar fashion, creating pro-war media in the form of cartoons, posters, and films. Due to the scale of the engagement, World War II required more troops and, in turn, more citizen support than any other recent war.

The Role of the Internet

While fake news has existed for a long time, we are currently in a flourishing time for fake news. This is due to the invention of the internet and its popularity. Today, most fake news is found on the internet, either on social media or fake news websites. An example of a fake news website is the now-defunct news site wtoe5news.com. This website posted an article claiming that Pope Francis had endorsed Donald Trump during his campaign. This fake news article was shared over one million times on Facebook.

A large reason why fake news is so common on social media is that 62% of U.S. adults rely to some extent on social media for their news. It is also far simpler and easier for people to create news on social media than in a newspaper. For example, to become a writer for any reputable news source, such as The New York Times or The Washington Post, a prospective journalist must already possess strong writing skills and pass a job interview. In contrast, on the internet, any person with an internet connection can simply post whatever they wish. The internet is also anonymous since the poster of the fake news can simply use a pseudonym as their online title.

Challenges and Solutions

Fake news is clearly an issue, but finding a solution to it is less than straightforward. While it certainly would be convenient if people simply ceased spreading false information, it is unlikely to ever happen. Another option is to make fake news illegal; however, this would be extremely difficult to enforce effectively. A more easily implemented solution is to simply educate people in media literacy.

Media Literacy: A Necessity

Being literate in media enables you to discern what is real news, what is fake news, and what is simply satire, such as the Onion or Saturday Night Live. Media literacy should be considered a crucial part of our education, given the current impact of fake news.

The 2016 Election and “Fake News”

The event that greatly popularized the term “fake news” was the 2016 United States presidential election. The term was frequently used, particularly by Republican candidate Donald Trump. He began to use it not to refer to the deliberate spreading of false information but simply anything he disagreed with or found offensive. Donald Trump’sTrump’s mentality about the definition of fake news has made it a somewhat overused term whose meaning often can be confusing.

Works Cited:

  1. DiLascio-Martinuk, Tracey M. “Fake News.” Salem Press Encyclopedia, 2017.
  2. Dziak, Mark. “Propaganda.” Salem Press Encyclopedia, 2017.
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