In the modern world, information is the most valuable asset. People who own it can use it to achieve multiple purposes. Since today’s technological advancements make it possible for almost everyone to distribute their thoughts and opinions, trustworthiness is a case. Not many people check the credibility of identified information, and it allows fake news to appear. This phenomenon adversely impacts the whole globe, and the United States is not an exception. Thus, the essay will demonstrate how fake news affected the 2016 and 2020 elections and endangered the American system of democracy as well as comment on how this phenomenon can be combatted.
To begin with, one should explain what fake news is. The first meaning refers to inaccurate news pieces that are distributed in society. These pieces are often intentionally fabricated to influence public opinion. Quandt et al. also offer the second interpretation of the term, denoting “a polemic umbrella term meant to discredit ‘legacy’ news media” (1). It implies that this word combination can be used to doubt a story, concept, or even entire media source. The term became popularized during the 2016 election when the then-candidate Donald Trump excessively used it. This information allows for supposing that the word combination became a central concept of his presidential campaign. It refers to the fact that Trump actively relied on the term to undermine his opponents’ positions and gain public support. This state of affairs explains why fake news expanded rapidly in 2016.
It seems that Trump’s strategy became successful, and he did not want to leave it during his presidency. According to Sebenius, false claims and discrimination were characteristic features of Trump’s term in office (par. 4). The former president kept using the term against independent media, which created a danger for the freedom of speech in the United States. This fact allows for supposing that the continuous effect of the concept under analysis led to the emergence of an adverse context of the 2020 election. The rationale behind this statement is that information became polarized, reflecting public opinions. That is why in 2020, the topic of fake news was also acute, and it referred to the opportunity of external forces, including China, Russia, and Iran, to influence the election outcomes. However, the fact that Joe Biden won demonstrates that society became tired of fake news. That is why it is reasonable to identify specific details of how this phenomenon influences the US, and the following paragraph will comment on it.
It is possible to offer a few arguments to highlight the negative impact of fake news on democracy. Firstly, Hollyer et al. clarify that adverse outcomes can emerge when the government deliberately announces inaccurate information regarding economic health (par. 4). When it happens, this state of affairs can result in the fact that voters make wrong decisions. It can result in a scenario that a corrupt government wins reelection, meaning that the democratic principle of honest election is not followed. Secondly, if the situation above occurs, the general public can understand that high-ranking officials or partisan organizations have deceived them. In this case, it is possible to expect the rise of anti-democratic forces in society, leading to mass dissatisfaction or even civil unrest. Thirdly, one can state that fake news deprives the US of transparency that is a significant element of democracy. The rationale behind this statement is that people tend to doubt any piece of information, which eliminates transparency. This information reveals a vital link between fake news and endangered democracy.
The information above denotes that it is necessary to take specific measures to combat the phenomenon under consideration and its adverse impact. On the one hand, society and individuals bear the responsibility to ensure that they are not victims of false data. For that purpose, they are recommended not to take politicians’ words for granted. A helpful tip is to look for sources of information. In this case, official resources, including the government website, scientific studies, international organizations’ reports, and others, are of significance. On the other hand, social media is also responsible for combating the spread of fake news. One can admit that there exist multiple strategies to protect society from the adverse impact of disinformation. Since the concept under investigation is complex, it is challenging to offer a single efficient solution. Thus, Collins et al. stipulate that a practical approach is to combine the machine learning approach to detect fake news based on their headlines with human experts who will check the machine learning results (258). It denotes that every media organization should take specific steps to stop the spread of fake news.
In conclusion, it is impossible to deny the fact that fake news is an adverse phenomenon. It became popularized during the 2016 election, while the following years of Trump’s presidency promoted its spread. Scientific studies and reputable newspaper articles reveal an adverse impact of this phenomenon on individuals, society, and the American system of democracy. It happens because fake news provides people with false information that, in turn, makes them make wrong decisions during the election. That is why it is not a surprise that ordinary people and mass media should take specific steps to combat the issue. Media organizations can utilize a multifaceted approach to check whether the information is credible, while individuals should look for original and official sources of data instead of taking it for granted.
References
Collins, Botambu, et al. “Trends in Combating Fake News on Social Media – A Survey.” Journal of Information and Telecommunication, vol. 5, no. 2, 2021, pp. 247-266.
Hollyer, James R., et al. “Fake News Is Bad News for Democracy.” The Washington Post, 2019. Web.
Quandt, Throsten, et al. “Fake News.” The International Encyclopedia of Journalism, 2019, pp. 1-6.
Sebenius, Alyza. “Why Disinformation Is a Major Threat to the 2020 Election.” The Washington Post, 2020. Web.
Fake news can be regarded as an archetypal feature of an individual’s life as people have been bombarded by different types of information. The first acquaintance with fake news takes place in people’s childhood when children tell stories that they make up. White lies and incredible fairy-tales, and April’s fool jokes can be regarded as primitive examples of fake news that have become an indispensable part of people’s lives.
However, fake news in adulthood is not a harmless childhood experience as they can lead to quite serious consequences. For instance, Allcott and Gentzkow (2017) state that fake news played quite an important role during the presidential elections of 2016.
Fake stories made people change their attitude towards this or that candidate and give their votes to the other one. It has been acknowledged that the use of fake news in the political arena has become a global issue, as fake news shaped people’s political decisions during votes in Great Britain, France, and other countries. A brief causal analysis shows that fake news associated with the political sphere comes into existence due to people’s psychological peculiarities, political rivalry, real-life situations, and the development of technology.
The predisposing cause of the occurrence of fake news is human psychological peculiarities. The first reason for this is that people tend to trust their social contacts. Shao, Ciampaglia, Varol, Flammini, and Filippo Menczer (2017) state that people are vulnerable to fake information as they do not question the data they obtain through sources they see as reputable such as people they know, channels they find reliable, and the like.
Apart from reliance on channels that are deemed reliable, people often focus on the information consistent with their beliefs, views, and so on. For example, Allcott and Gentzkow (2017) found that during the presidential election in the USA, people were much more likely to believe fake news if the information was favorable for their candidate. In simple terms, people are often ready to be deceived as they want to make sure their attitudes are correct. Fake news can also help people justify their choices later on. Therefore, it is possible to note that cognitive peculiarities of human brain serve as the perfect background for the spread of fake news.
The principal cause of this spread is an attempt to achieve certain goals. The question concerning the ethical component is still without an answer, but different groups used fake news as their tool to achieve their political (or other) goals. For instance, supporters of Trump are believed to make up various fake stories to make their candidate look better in the eyes of potential voters. Similar accusations could be heard in Great Britain and France.
Some groups tried to affect people’s attitudes and even behaviors. Frier (2017) emphasizes that the vast majority of fake stories were favorable for Trump. It is also noteworthy that the principal cause of fake news appearance and spread is the desire to shape make candidates, individuals or events look less attractive. For example, one of the fake stories made a man with a rifle come to a restaurant where reportedly people were abused and try to save the victims (Frier, 2017).
Trying to affect people’s emotions was also quite common during the presidential elections in the USA. Some people claim that these attempts affected the results of the elections and could have a dramatic impact on the development of the country. Hence, it is necessary to stress that the principal cause of fake news is people’s desire to shape certain views, attitudes, etc.
The precipitating cause of the occurrence and rapid spread of news is, ironically, real-life situations. These actual events serve as a background for the development and distribution of fake news. For example, Frier (2017) mentions such fake news as the death of the officer who investigated the scandal related to Clinton’s email. A real-life situation (the investigation of the scandal) made certain groups or individuals come up with the fake information concerning the alleged death of the investigator.
Another fake news was related to Trump’s supposed inappropriate words concerning conservative voters (Frier, 2017). The basis for this fake story was the candidate’s manners and his quite specific views and behaviors. People tend to believe fake news as it is closely related to previously learned facts or well-known information. Many people believe that reliability of news can be ensured by previous events. In simple words, even a brief and quite a vague reference to a well-known fact can make a person feel that something can be the truth. In conclusion, the precipitating cause of the development and spread of fake news is real-life events.
Finally, the perpetuating cause of the development and spread of fake news is the development of technology. Social networks have become potent channels of information sharing. Kucharski (2016) compares the spread of news via social networks with the spread of infectious disorders. People share news without checking its reliability as it is so easy to click the corresponding button and become a source of some kind of news.
Importantly, people tend to make mistakes, leave out details, exaggerate, and so on. Users facilitate the spread of fake data as the modified stories become more and more attractive. Another reason for that is people’s desire to be a part of a larger group or digital community. Every user of a social network has an opportunity to become a journalist and unveils some important or interesting facts, so many people become the sources of disinformation (Kucharski, 2016).
The development of technology has also contributed to the spread of fake news as machines (or the so-called bots) could generate and spread fake news (Shao et al., 2017). Hence, technological advances have become a perpetuating cause of the spread and creation of fake news.
On balance, it is possible to note that the occurrence and spread of fake news are caused by people’s cognitive peculiarities, political agendas, real events, and technological advances. Importantly, the creators of fake stories can be people, social media users, and even machines. Interestingly, social networks users spread the fake news unintentionally due to the lack of attention to detail, their inability or unwillingness to check the reliability of information, as well as due to their desire to become journalists or simply contribute to the overall knowledge base.
Social networks have become quite influential channels. Fake news has proved to have quite a significant effect on people’s and even nations’ lives so far, which makes it essential to develop effective tools to address the issue. It is necessary to pay specific attention to the development of strategies aimed at bringing order to social media that have become uncontrolled sources of disinformation.
References
Allcott, H., & Gentzkow, M. (2017). Social media and fake news in the 2016 election. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 31(2), 211-236.
Fake news is a form of propaganda that arises from inaccurate or deceitful reporting. According to Oliver and Wood (2014), fake news can be traced back to the 1835 Great Moon Hoax when a prank went viral in the U.S. and Europe following a publication in newspapers, including The Sun, describing the discovery of life on the moon. Later, the world learned that the news entailed half-truths. This hoax evidences the historical existence of misinformation in media platforms, although it is only in recent times that any propaganda has been termed as fake news. The 2016 U.S. elections introduced the debate on fake news in the public domain.
During this time, news such as the move by the Pope to endorse the candidature of President Trump spread across social media platforms, despite the lack of reliable evidence. Calls from different bodies, including the American Library Association, have been made emphasizing the need for shunning fake news across different social media platforms and websites (Spratt & Agosto 2017). The goal is to enhance the dissemination of meaningful, truthful, and unswerving information.
The above highlights have a bearing concerning the focus of the current topic because they underline the need for worldwide media firms to police and/or evaluate contents published in the current era marked by difficulties in differentiating fake and truthful news in social media and websites. Fake news entails a global phenomenon, which is shaping the conduct of 21st-century adolescents. Consequently, the literature review presented in this study suggests that young people aged 11 to 18 years in the UK’s secondary schools lack the necessary skills to identify fake news or information from websites and social media platforms. This study seeks to set a foundation for future explanatory research based on the study topic.
Literature Review
Major Issues and Debates Concerning Fake News
In the digital century, middle-school-going children can fluently engage in verbal and non-verbal communication via digital platforms such as social media and websites. Amid the earlier mentioned historical dating of fake news to the 1835 prank, the phenomenon has escalated following the emergence of new media tools, including social media and other online platforms such as websites. Although some media segments commonly regarded some forms of news as fake, there lacked a scholarly agreement on what amounts to fake news (Waldrop 2017).
However, attempts have been made to define it. Rather than defining it, Waldrop (2017) identifies propaganda as occurring on a large scale, whereby face value jokes, the manipulation of real facts, providing intentionally deceptive information, and giving stories reflecting contentious truth are common types of fake news. Based on the writer’s judgment, the above description may be misinterpreted because it does not reflect on what fake news entails.
As a result, Spratt and Agosto’s (2017) definition is treated as convincing because it not only captures the components of fake news but also indicates its level of infiltration into the field of journalism. According to the authors, fake news is entirely crafted and maneuvered to take the form of a persuasive reporting that seeks to capture the interest of the targeted audience (Spratt & Agosto 2017).
Considering the above different manifestations of fake news, Waldrop (2017) regards critical literacy as essential in helping children to establish a foundation for identifying and screening fake news. Consequently, 11 to 18-year-olds interacting through social media platforms should possess critical literacy skills necessary for their effective navigation through the digital age (Spratt & Agosto 2017). However, considering the focus of the current paper, a question arises on whether the UK’s secondary school children aged 11 to 18 years have the skills to identify fake news or information from websites or other social media platforms. A response to this scholarly question warrants consideration of the extent of the problem among the 11-18-year-olds based in the UK.
Key Theoretical and Conceptual Considerations
Different scholars propose various theories and concepts for teaching digital literacy. The models seek to ensure that young people develop the capability to recognize fake news featured on Internet-based social media platforms. According to Floyd and Morrison (2014), it is crucial to acknowledge the social-cultural concept that children learn social media from the society where older folks such as parents and friends introduce young people to the Internet.
The theory of constructionism, which was engineered by Seymour Papert, reveals that knowledge is constructed in various ways, including the use of Internet-enabled devices such as laptops and phones (Kazakoff 2014). In my opinion, although this theory appreciates that children can gain cognitive expertise from using the Internet, it fails to acknowledge the fact that their (children) social skills and the need to remain in touch with their peers may tempt them to spread or imitate propaganda.
In the global domain, Cranwell et al. (2016) estimate that 80% of young people aged between 10 and 15 years can access the Internet in the UK using phones or other gadgets. This high preference continues in an era when curriculums in many nations have failed to incorporate lessons on key social aspects and issues encountered in children’s online life (Wilkinson & Penney 2014). For instance, Makhdoom and Awan (2014) reveal how the English curriculum does not address mechanisms for analyzing online content in the quest to identify fake news.
A survey conducted in the UK revealed that almost 60% percent of children between 8 and 11 years and approximately 70 percent of those between 12 and 15 years claimed to visit news online applications and sites in 2016 (Lelkes 2016). According to the report, 20% of these young people believe that contents available on such platforms are factual and perfect (Lelkes 2016). Arguably, this figure of 20% presents a significant proportion of young people who lack the expertise to recognize not only the existence of fake news in social media platforms and websites but also those who are clueless about the ill motivation leading to posting fake news.
Firkins (2015) emphasizes the Four Resource model, which is a process-oriented digital literacy framework. It opposes the conventional syllabus-centered approach to inculcating digital literacy skills among school-going young people. Indeed, Firkins (2015) supports this conceptual framework by noting that it can provide a reliable mechanism for enhancing the integration of digital literacy across the UK’s curriculum. The Four Resource model has four main pillars.
The first one focuses on breaking the textual code. This step leads to the second pillar of meaning development. The two pillars result in the third step of ensuring that learners progress to become text users. The last pillar ensures the development of text analyst learners. Based on my judgment, this conceptual framework fails to establish details of specific competencies. This gap may have informed the argument by Firkins (2015) that teachers should interpret and manage the development of appropriate competencies depending on how digital information ecosystems evolve.
Figure 1 shows the Four Resource Model framework for inculcating digital literacy. From the diagram, the model has an additional fifth pillar, namely, the persona. Hinrichsen and Coombs (2013) added it arguing that more conceptual digital literacy indicates a prospect for an equivalent transformation from skill-based subjects to the notion of well-founded training. Nevertheless, I believe that the existence of digital literacy conceptual and theoretical frameworks does not imply that instructors in the UK teach 11 to 18-year-old young people about the skills necessary to identify fake news. The above claim is founded on the awareness of the high percentage of young people who are increasingly spending most of their time accessing news online without questioning the reliability and accuracy of news as Cranwell et al. (2016) reveal.
Figure 1: A Four-Resource Model.
Do the UK’s Secondary 11-18-Year-Olds have the Skills Necessary to Identify Fake News?
Spratt and Agosto (2017) support the line of argument that 11-18-year-olds lack the appropriate expertise to discern fake news. According to the authors, children’s minimal skills in identifying fake news subject them to the risk of incarceration, especially when such misinformation spreads to the respective government authorities. The action taken follows the impact that such fake news from children may have on various areas, including politics.
For example, concerning the Brexit referendum votes in the UK, researchers concluded that fake news had little implication on the results (Allcott & Gentzkow 2017). In my opinion, this research is unreliable because it ignores details such as the age or level of education of individuals who provided data to enable such a conclusion. In other words, it is crucial to point out that such a conclusion was made regardless of whether those who upheld such an opinion were children or not.
In case the UK experiences economic disadvantages in the future, its inability to identify fake news in social media, the source, and the necessary measures to address the situation will be a regrettable problem. Consequently, it is important for the UK to ensure that young people aged 11 to 18 years develop skills for discerning fake news at an early age. For instance, the UK’s curriculum may incorporate lessons for teaching appropriate behaviors for children, especially when they are analyzing and synthesizing information encountered in digital media platforms.
However, although much of the literature on young people’s inability to identify fake news is based on large-scale U.S. studies, Picton and Teravainen (2017, p. 8) point out, “a survey of 1,503 UK teachers, which found that 35% reported pupils citing clearly fake news or false information online as facts within their work”. This finding suggests the degree of students’ lack of expertise concerning verifiable information to support their points of arguments or counterarguments. In fact, the inability to identify fake news but include them in their work as evidence suggests their apparent lack of critical skills necessary to verify false information on social media platforms.
Although Pangrazio (2016) questions the line of argument that children lack the requisite skills to detect fake news, a close examination of the authors’ conclusion may be narrowed down as supporting Picton and Teravainen’s (2017) school of thought. Pangrazio (2016) only brings the aspect of the pedagogy of critical digital literacy whereby the question its level of incorporation into the country’s school curriculum. They reveal how teachers take noble roles to ensure that young people develop the necessary critical analysis skills by way of questioning any information they encounter on social media platforms and websites.
Probing is necessary to help young people to determine the reliability of information presented to them. Based on the writer’s opinion, Pangrazio’s (2016) line of thought is practical because digital literacy and the critical analysis of digital information can be integrated into the UK’s curriculum in primary and secondary education levels. This strategy can allow young people to acquire skills from the subject congruently with other class-acquired knowledge repositories. In this sense, digital literacy entails a mechanism of building talent appropriate for discerning fake and truthful news rather than the introduction of a completely new subject in the UK’S primary and secondary schools.
In my opinion, the blame concerning 11-18-year-olds’ lack of expertise in discerning fake news in the UK should not be solely directed to them. It is equally imperative to question whether teachers in the UK understand the need for equipping learners with such skills. Firkins (2015) borrows this line of argument by questioning the level of the inadequacy of the skills among the UK teachers.
Based on the opinion given by Pangrazio (2016), even though the term digital literacy can be found in almost all policy documents in the UK’s education sector, teachers have insufficient understanding of the concept. This observation substantiates the writer’s concern regarding how such information-deficient teachers in the UK can teach digital literacy effectively in schools to the extent that 11-18-year-olds can identify fake news in social media platforms and websites.
No studies in the current literature have examined whether teachers and government authorities are aware of the need to incorporate subjects that can equip 11-18-year-olds with the necessary expertise to distinguish reliable news from counterfeit information. In my judgment, teachers are responsible for propagating these skills. Indeed, there is a central and common agreement among educational scholars that teachers are critical success factors in boosting critical literacy skills.
For example, borrowing from the views presented by Anwaruddin (2016), the UK’s learners need to have teachers who are confident and assertive about critical skills. The House of Lords Communications Committee held a similar position when it recommended the need for “schools to teach online responsibilities, social norms, and risks as part of mandatory Ofsted-inspected Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education” (Picton & Teravainen 2017, p. 9). The commission went on to recommend the need for training teachers and ensuring they are resourceful in teaching digital literacy skills across the UK’s curriculum.
The literature examined in this paper has enhanced my knowledge concerning the topic under investigation. For instance, considering that social media and websites permit users to be newsmakers, it becomes difficult to differentiate between the original and verifiable piece of news. I have realized that millennials focus on how to spread the news by sharing social media information with friends, as opposed to criticizing the authenticity of the news shared (Pangrazio 2016).
However, even where some young news consumers may doubt the reliability and accuracy of news on social media and websites as Martin (2018) suggests, the literature has helped me to realize that people, including the 11-18-year-old population segment, still share an otherwise piece of fake news by treating it as a joke. This step creates a situation whereby the person consuming news on social media after being recommended to visit a particular link by a friend may fail to interrogate the age or experience of the source, in this case, an 11-18-year-old child. He or she may strongly believe in the friend recommending the link. Therefore, the whole debate shifts from the ability to detect fake news to trusting that a friend cannot share inaccurate news.
Consequently, I am now aware that unless teachers and even government agencies instill the expertise to discern fake news among children in the UK, the spread of propaganda by 11-18-year-olds in this country remains a nightmare.
In the UK, the newspaper sector experienced the worst performance since the global recession of 2007 and 2008. According to Williamson (2016), the daily circulation of newspapers fell by about 7 percent. This reduction may have significantly affected news consumption not only by 11 to 18-year-olds but also by the general population. A decrement in newspaper circulation in an increasing population implies that a growing population segment seeks alternative sources of news.
Recently, the globe has witnessed a massive penetration of smartphones and other mobile devices that enable users to easily access the Internet (Waldrop 2017). Hence, websites and social media platforms remain one of the easiest ways of accessing news, especially among the 11 to 18-year-old population segment in the UK. However, the literature has clarified to me that this segment may not only lack the ability to detect fake news but also consume information differently compared to past generations. Waldrop (2017) supports this assertion by observing that instead of just consuming news, the current generation becomes an important element of the process of the news flow chain.
Conclusion
Based on the literature review findings, pre-teen and teens in the UK spend much of their free time interacting through social media and other Internet-based sites. Others share the information they encounter in various social media platforms. The content therein can be spread to millions of other pre-teen and teens in a matter of minutes, thanks to the power of social media. However, they are largely clueless or unaware of the need to evaluate the accuracy or the trustworthiness of the information they come across or spread to their friends. This situation poses an enormous threat, especially among young people who cannot evaluate and differentiate counterfeit information from reliable news.
As discussed in the literature review, while some limited scholars argue that social media experts and professionals should now recognize that people doubt information carried by media platforms, another stream contends that people across all demographics do not interrogate the validity of the news they encounter in the social media and the Internet. In the UK, it is difficult to find a large-scale survey on whether 11-18-year-olds have requisite digital literacy skills to help them in identifying fake news.
Nonetheless, the literature review responds to the proposed research question by revealing that indeed a high number of this population segment lacks the requisite expertise to recognize fake news or information on websites and social media platforms. While the UK government features digital literacy through the education sector as an important critical thinking skill in its policy papers, the literature review suggests that teachers have not mastered the concept and hence the reason why 11-18-year-olds continue to spread fake news because of the lack of understanding of what it entails.
Reference List
Allcott, H & Gentzkow, M 2017, ‘Social media and fake news in the 2016 election’, Journal of Economic Perspectives, vol. 31, no.2, pp 211-236.
Anwaruddin, S 2016, ‘Why critical literacy should turn to ‘the affective turn’: making a case for critical affective literacy’, Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, vol. 37, no. 3, pp. 381-396.
Cranwell, J, Whittamore, K, Britton, J & Leonardi-Bee, J 2016, ‘Alcohol and tobacco content in UK video games and their association with alcohol and tobacco use among young people’, CyberPsychology, Behaviour & Social Networking, vol. 19, no. 7, pp. 426-434.
Firkins, A 2015, ‘The four resources model: a useful framework for second language teaching in a military context’, Technical Studies Institute Journal. Web.
Floyd, A & Morrison, M 2014, ‘Exploring identities and cultures in inter-professional education and collaborative professional practice’, Studies in Continuing Education, vol. 36, no. 1, pp. 38-53.
Hinrichsen, J & Coombs, A 2013, ‘The five resources of critical digital literacy: a framework for curriculum integration’, Research in Learning Technology, vol. 21 no.1, pp. 1-16.
Kazakoff, E 2014, ‘Toward a theory-predicated definition of digital literacy for early childhood’, Journal of Youth Development, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 1-18.
Lelkes, Y 2016, ‘Mass polarisation’, Manifestations and Measurements Quarterly, vol. 80, no. 1, pp. 392–410.
Makhdoom, M & Awan, S 2014, ‘Education and neo-colonisation: a critique of English literature curriculum in Pakistan’, South Asian Studies, vol. 29, no. 2, pp. 411-421.
Martin, E 2018, ‘The state of social media’, EContent, vol. 41, no.1, pp. 22-24.
Oliver, E & Wood, W 2014, ‘Conspiracy theories and the paranoid style(s) of mass opinion’, American Journal of Political Science, vol. 58, no. 4, pp. 952–966.
Pangrazio, L 2016, ‘Reconceptualising critical digital literacy’, Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, vol. 37, no. 2, pp. 163-174.
Picton, I & Teravainen, A 2017, Fake news and critical literacy: an evidence review, The National Literacy Trust, London.
Spratt, H & Agosto, D 2017, ‘Fighting fake news: because we all deserve the truth: programming ideas for teaching teens media literacy’, Young Adult Library Services, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 17-21.
Waldrop, M 2017, ‘The genuine problem of fake news: intentionally deceptive news has co-opted social media to go viral and influence millions. Science and technology can suggest why and how. But can they offer solutions?’ Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 114, no. 48, pp. 12631-12634.
Wilkinson, S & Penney, D 2014, ‘The effects of setting on classroom teaching and student learning in mainstream mathematics, English and science lessons: a critical review of the literature in England’, Educational Review, vol. 66, no. 4, pp. 411-427.
Williamson, P 2016, ‘Take the time and effort to correct misinformation’, Nature, vol. 540, no.7632, pp. 171-172.
Fake news is a challenge, which has found a global resonance. It emerged because of the oversaturation with news and information on the Web and potential access to a wide audience. In this way, the history of fake news epidemic began with the introduction of the Internet in everyday life around ten years ago, and every country has its own story that brought discredit to media (Connolly et al.). It is especially critical in the case of newspapers and national television. From this perspective, in journalism, this problem emerged at the beginning of the nineteenth century with the publishing of a fake article on political developments in one of the American newspapers (Uberti). Nowadays, it is as well most commonly associated with politics and economy with the same purpose as before – propaganda. Fake news was and is published to gain the desired audience and distribute information via media because of the expensiveness of advertising (Carson).
Standards and Barriers of Fake News and Editorials
Due to the criticality of the challenge of fake news, editorials developed standards and barriers to guarantee the relevance and accuracy of presented information. For example, most of them carry out pre-release reviews and assessing alternative facts. More than that, providing arguments and evidence is another common standard among editorials (Khawaja). These standards are as well as barriers to publishing fake news. Some editorials implement automated verification procedures, which serve as additional barriers for publishing fake news. However, in case of inadequate verification, personal checking of information by professionals is recommended to guarantee the relevance and accuracy of news. Still, not all social media develop standards for verifying information. For instance, Facebook executives opposed the necessity in such standards, as the social network is a platform for sharing information users find relevant. Nevertheless, they recognized they were wrong and began working on introducing them (Prokop). Finally, it is essential to accept the fact that no standards assure the correctness of data. In this way, critical thinking and common sense are imperative.
Anytime-Anyplace Access to Information
Dynamic implementation of the newest technologies in everyday life has changed the way people perceive and absorb information. It was not long ago that fixed-line access to the Internet was a norm. However, nowadays, wireless connection gains popularity faster compared to the fixed-line when it was first introduced (Walsh). Laptops, tablets, and smartphones are growing more popular, thus replacing desktops computers. In this way, this trend towards the growing popularity of Wi-Fi created the challenge known as anytime-anyplace access to information. It is widespread in different spheres of human life and activities, including education, work, health care, research and technologies, and scholarly activities as well as management and economics due to faster and more effective distribution of information to distant territories (Preissl et al. 179).
Even though these developments increase access to education and employment, they lead to significant decreases in performance and outcomes due to the impossibility of implementing strict control measures. Therefore, anytime-anyway access to information is a modern-day myth when it comes to online work and education (Fielding 103). More than that, this access is two-way, which means that it jeopardizes the security of private and sensitive information due to the potential remote access of cybercriminals via wireless networks (Terezinho). Finally, it deforms information literacy because of oversaturation with information and the problem of fake news on the Web (Walsh).
Works Cited
Carson, James. “What Is Fake News? Its Origins and How It Grew in 2016.” Telegrap. 2017. Web.
Fielding, Heather. “’Any Time, Any place’: The Myth of Universal Access and the Semiprivate Space of Online Education.” Computers and Composition, vol. 40, no. 1, 2016, 103-114.
Is it necessary to trust personal convictions and rely on “gut instincts,” or is it more correct to study the evidence of certain statements and claims? Various researchers from the spheres of sociology and political technology study if many people trust the information that comes from television and other resources or not. As a rule, some of them tend to believe in everything that they watch and hear. At the same time, some citizens express personal opinions regarding specific events or situations.
However, even though many people consciously decide in favor of particular beliefs, some are guided by their instincts, and some rely on specific knowledge. The data that helps to prove some facts is usually obtained as a result of detailed research. Blind faith in the words of different politicians is undoubtedly the object of condemnation for many activists. Such people are ready to do everything possible to make people trust them and everything that they hear and see.
The public disclosure of false statements is becoming increasingly popular among various debunkers who see their task as delivering truthful information to people. Nevertheless, it can be difficult to determine which data may be considered reliable and which may be false. One of the ways to do it is to compare the two ideas and determine their similar and distinctive traits.
Comparison
The comparison of the two concepts allows saying that they have some common features. As Dyer (2017) notes, many people today believe that politics affects the way people think and the conclusions they draw. However, some trust exclusively in reliable facts and evidence. These two segments of the population are a subject of Dyer’s (2017) research article. Among the results of his work, the author quotes Kelly Garrett’s words.
This man claims that people who are inclined to believe the news coming from the media are more likely to have inaccurate information. Nevertheless, the concepts of “gut instincts” and faith that is based solely on reliable details have some similarities. For example, they are both extreme versions of the truth. The two beliefs are associated with specific excesses, and it is hard to deny. The supporters of the theory of instincts, according to Dyer (2017), do not always trust information that is too contradictory or even impossible.
Thus, the author gives examples of well-known conspiracy theories, the assassination of President Kennedy, etc. (Dyer, 2017). At the same time, the supporters of reliable facts, as a rule, possess accurate information about particular events. This means that neither of these categories of citizens is always wrong to label their beliefs prejudices. Therefore, both concepts have overly categorical versions of the truth, but this is not commonly considered a reason to call the members of these groups deeply mistaken.
General Contrast
The two approaches still have more differences than similarities. There is a significant contrast in the perception of facts. For example, the proponents of instincts, as Dyer (2017) claims, tend to trust the most incredible and amazing theories. They belong to the category of those people who do not deny the existence of conspiracy theories. These people think about the surrounding world as extremely hostile.
They prefer to consider the facts that they learn from a conservative point of view. Their interest in confirming their beliefs with reliable information is poor. As for those people who prefer to analyze data, Dyer (2017) believes that they are not inclined to believe in all types of unconfirmed information. The author considers that they are less likely to state their position aggressively (Dyer, 2017).
For example, they believe in the absence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq or discount the conspiracies against the late Princess Diana and President Kennedy, etc. (Dyer, 2017). According to the survey, the researchers found that such citizens do not have any prejudices; they prefer to filter out disinformation coming through the media. Also, according to the author, many supporters of the concept of faith in evidence will sometimes seek to find the truth; but their conclusions are not based exclusively on their personal beliefs (Dyer, 2017). People with such a position, as a rule, study reliable sources to find evidence of this or that situation. Therefore, the difference between the two concepts is apparent, making it possible to call them more contrasting than similar.
Specific Contrast
On the whole, the position of those who support faith in evidence is stronger than those whose assumptions are based only on their prejudices. It is difficult to assess this or that situation when the media is actively disseminating it. Numerous sources and publications may interpret information differently. For example, conservative citizens, according to Dyer (2017), are inclined to deny the possibility of checking any information thoroughly.
Liberals, despite their active position, often seek support. These contradictions probably will never be lost since too many factors may influence their occurrence. Older people prefer television and newspapers to electronic resources. It may well be through the media that the government and politicians can most strongly affect citizens’ consciousness as a large number of people watch television daily.
Many respected publishers present numerous scandalous stories every week. Sometimes, politicians need the support of the people, and they are ready to take any measures to earn recognition. The side of those who choose justified and theoretically verified arguments looks more reliable. Perhaps, “gut instincts” is not the best way of thinking. If many people shared this point of view, the situation in the world would probably change for the better.
Conclusion
Thus, it is not easy to say whether it is necessary to trust personal convictions and entirely rely on “gut instincts” or follow substantiated and verified data. The supporters of both concepts find arguments in favor of their beliefs. All the facts can be considered from different angles. Politicians’ attempts to convey false information to the public should certainly be stopped by any means. Too active a civil position caused by this or that statement can lead to serious consequences.
Nevertheless, each person must determine his or her preferences. People can conduct personal inquiries regarding relevant topics or trust respected people who represent certain situations through the mass media and other resources. According to Dyer (2017), everyone can continue to “listen to their gut and still overcome their political biases,” and the author considers that this is satisfactory news (para. 16). Individuals’ desire to receive reliable information and be aware of the situation of their country is logical. On the whole, both theories can exist, but it is essential to ensure that neither of them hurts the development of society.
Reference
Dyer, J. (2017). Trust in ‘gut instinct’ linked to belief in fake news. Web.
In the studied context, the term medium refers to the third party or a tool used for communicating a particular message. This definition applies both to information technology as well as to seances. When it comes to information technology, a medium refers to the physical transmission medium or a presentation medium, which explains such terms as multimedia and advertising media. According to the definition given by Marshall MacLuhan and Lapham (1994) from their book Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, “the medium is the message” (p. 7).
Therefore, there are both personal and social consequences associated with any medium. MacLuhan and Lapham (1994) wrote that a medium is the “result from the new scale that is introduced into our affairs by each extension of ourselves, or by any new technology” (p. 7). In the example of information, new patterns of human association tend to eliminate jobs, which is the negative result of emerging mediums. From a positive perspective, automation initiated through media creates new roles for people, which facilitates the depth of involvement and human association.
When discussing the categories of communication media, there are physical and mechanical types. Physical communication media are further divided into verbal and non-verbal based on how they are exercised. Verbal communication is associated with the use of sounds and language for transferring a certain message. Verbal communication is a vehicle for expressing desires, concepts, and ideas that are essential for learning. Non-verbal communication represents the means of transmitting information through auditory, visual, and kinesthetic channels. Based on these definitions of communication types, physical media can include video conferences, large meetings, close and personal meetings, and word-of-mouth communication.
Mechanical communication media is associated with the use of electronic or written channels. These channels can be used as message archives or for presenting a bigger picture or a deeper knowledge. These types of media can be fast and, because of their written quality, are interpreted by readers based on their condition. This means that humor or irony cannot be transferred well through the use of mechanical channels. The kinds of these channels include e-mail, regular letters and newsletters, billboards, the Internet, social media, text messages, and billboards. Thus, mechanical media can be both written and electronic, which depends on how communication is transferred from one person to another.
Lastly, when in the exploration of communication media as a vehicle for information transference, it is important to mention that the choice of a communication channel (for instance, verbal or non-verbal) depends on the message that one is trying to transfer. For example, the use of a billboard is warranted when one tries to spread awareness of social issues, such as cooperation or climate change. When giving feedback on the work of an employee, a one-on-one conversation is a best-suited channel. Financial information prompts the use of printer or electronic means while psychosocial issues are best addressed either in group meetings or during individual conversations.
Historical Comparison of Print and Digital Communication Media
Print Communication Media
To arrive at the culture of digitalization that exists to this day, human society had to go through numerous stages in development. The first step considered as crucial in this chain of events refers to the invention of woodblock printing in China around 600 A.D. Wood blocks were used for printing designs on silk that were subsequently used for the paper (Demuth, 2015). The second important step refers to Johannes Gutenberg’s invention in the 1430s when he introduces the new technology of the Movable Metal Plate. The technology used movable metal components for reproducing document elements on paper. The importance of the tool is linked to Gutenberg’s combination of lead, tin, and antimony, which became a standard for 550 since then.
The progress that Gutenberg made sparked further developments, such as the first printing press in English. William Caxton was responsible for the invention; he was a merchant and a writer. The first printing press in England was set up in Westminster Abbey in London in 1476 (McCormack, 2004). The first reproduction of a book known to history was Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. After Caxton initiated the mass printing of literature, a complete iron hand press was developed by Earl Stanhope around the year 1800.
The great rigidity and durability that iron had boosted the innovative capabilities of the press through the increase of pressure. Therefore, the efficiency boosted to a great degree; however, it is worth noting that the output had not undergone any significant increases. Nevertheless, the speed of the press increased from 200 sheets per hour to 250.
In 1838, Moritz Hermann von Jacobi made a tremendous discovery regarding the development of print communication. He discovered electrotyping (otherwise called galvanoplastic), the method that used electroplating. This method worked through the use of analogous to a battery acted in reverse, which created a stereotype. The latter referred to the impression taken from a movable lead type and subsequently used for printing instead of the original type.
Such a technique was given the name of relief printing. The importance of von Jacobi’s method was associated with increased print efficiency. Subsequently, the steam-powered rotary press was invented by Richard M. Hoe in 1843. This landmark invention was notable for allowing us to print millions of copies of a page in one day. This gave the boost to the mass production of printed works after the transition to rolled paper since the continuous feed enabled the pressure on the presses to run much quicker compared to the previous tools.
The dramatic shift to mass production of copies enabled the introduction of dry (or waterless) printing. This event is associated with the finding of the company Xerox (initially called The Haloid Photographic Company) in 1906. Originally, the company manufactured paper for photography and other equipment; however, in 1939, Chester Carlson, an independent physicist, invented a new printing process that could print images through the use of a metal plate charged by photoconductor-coated in combination with dry powder, which was referred to as toner.
Nevertheless, the establishment of the Xerox machine as the first dry printer was credited to Joseph C. Wilson who saw the opportunity in Carlson’s invention and 1946 signed a contract with the physicist to prompt the introduction of the Xerox machine as an innovative commercial product. The term xerography was coined through the combination of two Greek roots dry writing, and in 1961 Haloid was renamed into Xerox Corporation. Today, the Xerox machine is still considered the iconic product that gave the start to the digital progress in the sphere of communication.
The progress that was advanced by the Xerox Corporation prompted the development of Laser printing, which was the electrostatic digital printing process. While Xerox Part was the initial inventor of laser printing, it is important to note the importance of Hewlett-Packard (HP) to the development of laser printing. The LaserJet printer, introduced by the company in 1984 gave the start to a completely new market segment. Back in the 1970s, HP worked with Canon to perfect laser printer technology, and the cooperation between these two giants led to the introduction of the first LaserJet.
Notable characteristics of the printer include the machine fitting on the desktop and producing fast, “letter-quality output with virtually no noise” (“HP LaserJet printer, 1984,” 2012). This invention is considered important to the progress of print communication because the printer was ideal for the use in small businesses, company departments, and other establishments that needed to print correspondence, financial spreadsheets, memoranda, and other paperwork. The use of the disposable cartridge that had the capability of printing approximately 3,000 pages with the speed of around eight pages per minute (“HP LaserJet printer, 1984,” 2012). Overall, the LaserJet is the closest machine to the printers that modern offices use today.
3D printing marked a completely new sphere in the development of print communication. Despite the misconception that the printing method was developed only recently, it dates back to the 1980s when Hideo Kodama from the Nagoya Municipal Industrial Research Institute proposed the model of a “functional-prototyping system using photopolymers” (Goldberg, 2018, para. 1). The first 3D-printed organ was implanted into the human body, which represented a drastic leap in printed communication development. Today, 3D print technologies have reached high stages of progress, with such industries as housing and jewelry using the invention to optimize existing processes and reducing the time needed for the production of necessary items.
Water-based printing is another interesting stage in the chain of events relating to printing technologies. This type of printing uses water in the role of a solvent base for carrying the pigment. While there are several types of water-based inks (for example, HAS and RFU), the benefits of water-based printings relate to the ability of paints to stretch and layer on each other easily, which enables the ease of complex printing.
In terms of the use of nanotechnologies in printing, it is currently possible to make printing eco-friendly and energy-efficient. For instance, Singapore-based researchers created a new “non-colorant method that can deliver bright-field color prints with resolutions up to the optical diffraction limit” (Milne, 2014, para. 3). While color information is usually determined by the dimensional characteristics to relate to metal nanostructures, the newly-developed method enabled the production of images of bright and sharp color changes and fine variation in tone. The benefits of nanotechnology printed are applied for creating micro-images used for stenography, optical filters, and security.
Digital Communication Media
The advent of the Morse Code and the telegraph marked the start of the chain of events about the development of digital communication media. Developed in the 1840s by Samuel Morse, the telegraph made a revolution in long-distance communication between people. The technology worked through the transmission of electrical signals over a metal wire that was laid between stations. Apart from the telegraph, Morse developed a system of codes that used dots and dashes instead of English alphabet letters for the simplified transmission of data between communicators.
In the 1890s, Tesla was researching the wireless phenomenon as a system of power distribution. His vision allowed for the emergence of a transmission method that used wireless telegraphy and electrical energy distribution by stationary waves, in which the entire world was used as a conductor (Bartlett, n.d.). After Tesla’s invention was later followed by Boris Rosing’s development of the electric telescope (TV); through multiple experiments, the scientist managed to create the prototype of current televisions that used a fragment of alkaline metal placed in a vacuum tube that emitted electrons in response to light. Later, Resign combined magnetic deflection coils placed around the CRT and a photocell detector along combined with a CRT display.
The creation of a satellite in the 1950s by the USS was a significant event in the development of digital communication as numerous satellites orbit the Earth today. The Sputnik, which was the first satellite, was launched on October 4, 1957, orbited the low Earth orbit for three weeks, transmitting a radio signal that could be detected even by regular audio users (NASA, 2007). Importantly, the launching of the satellite initiated the developments in military, scientific, and technological advancements.
As a response to USSR’s success, the United States developed a military radar system Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE). This led to the emergence of the commercial airline reservation system SABRE in 1960, the Dartmouth Time-Sharing System in 1964, the NPL network in the 1960s, the ARPANET in 1969, and CYCLADES in 1973. These developments initiated the emergence of the Ethernet, the capacity of transmission of which was increasing with every year.
Martin Cooper’s cellular technology was another step toward digital communication media advancement. The scientist is an important figure as it worked at Motorola on wireless communications systems and radio-controlled traffic-light systems. One of the key advancements is Timothy Berners-Lee’s invention of the World Wide Web (WWW). The technology represents a space full of information in which web documents and other types of resources are accessible to users via the Internet. The WWW was key to the development of information technologies and promoted the emergence of ICQ instant messaging, Skype, and the subsequent creation of social media: Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat. Each of these platforms allowed users to connect and develop strong bonds despite long distances.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is the most advanced stage of communications media development. It represents a network of various devices ranging from software to electronics that can connect, interact, and participate in data exchange. IoT is not vastly used in several settings and industries such as analytics, smart homes, healthcare, transportation, and many others. To a large degree, IoT combines the past advancements into one cohesive system the users of which can use multiple tools available to them to communicate. IoT is now the place for numerous news outlets, entertainment media, services such as financial or educational, and well as much more. Importantly, even printed resources have now been transferred into digital forms and are being stored in the IoT.
Challenges of Journalism
The profession of journalism implies a variety of factors and therefore has as many challenges. While the industry may attract some people with its high salaries and worldwide travel opportunities, the issues of the profession are vast and pressing. In the recent decade, journalism has struggled from the significant deterioration of consequences in which media and journalist professionals work. For instance, journalists have the responsibility of reporting the National Security crises that modern society face. These range from the devastating number of terrorist attacks to diplomatic quarrels and represent a significant challenge for reporters (“A national security crisis,” 2018).
Due to existing security issues, ensuring the legal and physical safety of journalists has become complicated. The protection of journalists is an urgent challenge because of the increased number of violent acts against the representatives of the profession; these include murders, serious injuries, acts of intimidation, and other serious events (OSCE, 2014). Despite OSCE’s establishment of clear principles and commitments to guard the safety of journalists worldwide, the latter still undergo various breaches in their universal rights of freedom and safety.
Freedom of expression is a challenging concept for journalists when it comes to another challenge of the profession, the re-printing of classified information. This issue is linked to the 2014 Supreme Court’s refusal to overturn a court ruling that the Fists Amendment does not protect journalists from refusing to testify about a whistleblower who leaked classified CIA information (Silva, 2014). This decision of the supreme court set a precedent that a journalist can be put in jail for failing to disclose their sources and therefore jailed for printing classified information.
The fake news challenge represents another problem for the journalist profession to the risks of adversely influencing the state of political affairs and national security. Fake news can influence politics and security in numerous ways, from spreading false warnings to misinformation, social cohesion is destabilized and therefore challenges the politics. Simultaneously, fictitious narratives that do not have any support, in reality, can serve a nefarious purpose and indirectly influence national security.
When news is based on destabilized events such as terrorist attacks or social protests, the spreading of fake news tends to increase the concern within the society and subsequently call for significant political counter-measures (Lezzi, 2018). Importantly, the political elite can gain a benefit from the mechanism of fake news as it contributes to power legitimacy.
The last challenge of journalism refers to the complexity of keeping up with the various news media outlets, and social media in particular. The rapid pace of development and information sharing on Facebook or Twitter makes it harder to track everything, and journalists are responsible for learning news only from reliable sources. This means not only getting news from different sources but also checking them for credibility and cross-referencing.
German Press Code
The German Press Code represents a set of guidelines for journalistic work as suggested by the German Press Council. The code protects the freedom of information, journalists’ independence, the right to expression, and criticism. While there are sixteen sections in the Press Code, it was chosen to focus on three particular sections: section 4 “Limits of Research,” section 7 “Separation of Advertising and Editorial Content,” and section 11 “Sensational Reporting, the Protection of Young People” (German Press Code, 2013, p. 4).
Section 4, “Limits of Research” dictates the management of dishonest methods that are used for person-related news, photographs, and information. The text of this section is divided into three guidelines: principles of research, research among individuals that need protection, and blocking or deletion of personal data. The first set of guidelines says that journalists must identify themselves as such when collecting information and make their identity known. Undercover information is warranted only in cases if the recovered information serves a specific public interest and when its recovery cannot be ensured by other means.
The second guideline refers directly to individuals who require protection and states that vulnerable informants, such as children or persons who had undergone severe emotional trauma, must not be exploited when gaining information (German Press Code, 2013). Lastly, the third guideline suggests that any personal information collected as a result of Press Code violations should never be deleted or blocked from the relevant publication.
Section 7, “Separation of Advertising and Editorial Content” refers to the limitations for journalists to use content that has been influenced by either private or business third-party interests (German Press Code, 2013).
The first guideline in the section provides differentiation between advertisements and editorial text. Any paid publication must be created in such a way that it will be recognizable for readers. The second guideline is linked to the risk of surreptitious advertising, which takes place when a story exceeds public interest and is paid for or rewarded with monetary value. Special publications, which is the third guideline, are governed by the same principles outlined in the first guideline. The fourth guideline, economic and financial market reporting, states that journalists and their publishers must take relevant measures for ensuring compliance with the following regulations:
Information should not be used for personal advantage or the advantage of third-parties;
No reports about securities and/or other issuers with the enriching intentions should be published;
“No securities should not be sold or bought either directly and indirectly” (German Press Code, 2013, p. 7).
Section 11, “Sensational Reporting, the Protection of Young People” regulates the use of “inappropriately sensational portrayal of violence, brutality, and suffering. The press shall respect the protection of young people” (German Press Code, 2013, p. 8). The first guideline in the section states that journalists must not use inappropriate sensationalism when the person covered in the report is reduced to a mere object, especially in instances when he or she is dying or suffering.
The second guideline, reporting acts of violence, provides information on how to report the traumatic information: no interests of victims and other persons involved should be harmed. The third guideline in this section refers to the reporting of accidents and disasters, says that any individuals who suffered from misfortune should not experience any further problems based on their unfair portrayal in media (German Press Code, 2013).
The fourth guideline, coordination with authorities or news ‘blackouts’ suggests that no reporter should accept the embargo on news reports. This must only be accepted in cases when news ‘blackouts’ only for specific periods and in cases when that time is used for the interest of solving a crime. The fifth guideline regulates the publishing of criminals’ memoirs; they are considered an infringement of journalistic principles when the crime is “justified or qualified with hindsight” (German Press Code, 2013, p. 10). Therefore, no such memoirs should be published for mere sensationalism. The last guideline refers to drugs and suggests that not news stories must diminish the impact of illegal substances.
Fake news is information disseminated through traditional news outlets or online social media and consists of purposeful deception or hoaxes. Fake news has resurfaced and grown in popularity because of digital news. As a result, stories and opinions may spread at an unprecedented rate, allowing people all over the world to participate in a near-real-time debate about both serious and inconsequential topics.
Fake News Experience
In early 2020, after the COVID-19 outbreak, there circulated news that the consumption of garlic would cure the illness. I found the recipe on Facebook, which recommended that one eats the garlic and drinks the water to witness improvement and healing overnight. I shared the news with friends as it claimed to have been proven effective by many patients and an old Chinese doctor. However, WHO knocked down the information on the stand that garlic had not been proven to protect individuals from COVID-19.
Combating Fake News
The scourge of disinformation and fake news can be combated through media companies. Through algorithms and crowdsourcing, tech companies could invest in technologies to uncover fake information and identify it for users. In addition, algorithms can help social media businesses automatically detect fake news and hoaxes. Furthermore, Companies should reduce cash benefits for bad content, mainly false information and disinformation, because the fabrication of fake news is frequently motivated by financial gain.
Moreover, educating the public about fake news could help combat it. The government should allocate money to facilitate partnerships between journalists, corporations, educational institutions, businesses, and nonprofit organizations in enhancing news literacy. Educating the public about the fact that not everything they read is accurate and that many digital sites specialize in spreading misleading information aids people in learning how to evaluate news sites and protect themselves against false information.
Counteracting the fake news and disinformation scourge requires that everyone plays a role by promoting strong professional journalistic norms, encouraging investigative journalism, lowering financial incentives for fake news, and enhancing public digital literacy. These initiatives, when taken together, will promote quality conversation while weakening the environment and enhancing disinformation around the world.
Fake news, misinformation, and inoculation theory are at the forefront of modern communications science. The article by Bodaghi and Oliveira (2020) speaks about the characteristics of rumor spreaders in the context of Twitter. The 2022 article by the same authors discusses the theater of fake news spreaders and which role they play. Finally, the theory of inoculation revolves around a sinister concept of training individuals to accept certain premises through exposure to weaker strawman arguments (NATO, 2021).
From a technical perspective, the ideas seen in class that allow understanding the papers’ context include propaganda, radicalization, and confirmation bias. Fake news and rumors are some of the tools of propaganda. They provide seemingly factual support to specific political agendas and parties, and are widely used, to some degree or another, by all sides of the political spectrum. Fake news is typically aimed to invoke an emotional response in order to cloud one’s judgment and put the readers on one side of the political spectrum. Finally, misinformation is typically aimed at people seeking to confirm and reinforce their prejudice.
Additional concepts that are useful for understanding the subject matter include information warfare, selective readings, and fact-checking practices. The latter, in particular, would be interesting and helpful to discuss for better understanding of the articles. Many organizations engaged in such practices (such as Snopes) are commercial in nature and therefore are susceptible to bias (Bodaghi and Oliveira, 2022). Based on the conclusions of the articles, behavioral science can be applied in several ways. First, it can be used to understand the mechanisms behind fake news, particularly the Duckling syndrome. Second, it allows to understand how fake news and its damage could be counteracted. Finally, it can spread awareness and push back the Third-Person Perception effect. It is a fallacy where a person thinks of themselves as invulnerable or less vulnerable to manipulation. Increasing awareness of it would help create a nation-wide immunity to information threats.
From an ethical perspective, there are many issues that are related to the context. The primary one is a dilemma of safety versus freedom. As exemplified by Twitter, blocking and censorship of non-truths is used to counter fake news. At the same time, NATO (2021) acknowledges that hyper-partisan and polarizing content is difficult to fact-check, since it depends on a person’s perception. Indeed, accusations of fake news have been used by both parties in the context of the US mass media to discredit one another (Bodaghi & Oliveira, 2020). Thus, the threats of deception versus censorship have to be weighted in. The inoculation theory, also discussed in the NATO (2021) article, has several ethical issues surrounding it as well. It supports essentially utilizing strawman arguments to build “immunity” to specific kinds of messages, enabling individuals to reject stronger future evidence. Such practice, though framed as beneficial in protecting against foreign propaganda, can be effectively used in domestic efforts by governments to essentially indoctrinate individuals into their ideology.
To conclude, the articles touch upon misinformation and its spreading mechanisms within modern media. Fake news is a quintessential part of the Internet in its current iteration. It presents a danger to democracies and societies, as it allows populists and demagogues gain weight. At the same time, enabling censorship to counter the perceived threats of fake news may be just as dangerous, if not more so, as it gives specific organization the authority to decide what is and is not truth.
References
Bodaghi, A., & Oliveira, J. (2020). The characteristics of rumor spreaders on Twitter: A quantitative analysis on real data. Computer Communications, 160, 674-687.
Bodaghi, A., & Oliveira, J. (2022). The theater of fake news spreading, who plays which role? A study on real graphs of spreading on Twitter. Expert Systems with Applications, 189, 116110.
NATO. (2021). Inoculation theory and misinformation. NATO Stratcom COE.
Fake news is an attribute of today’s media world. Moreover, it has become a kind of media industry. Fake information may be used for different purposes. Firstly, the aim may be to spoil the opinion about political opponents. Spreading fake information is the most effective way to do it as it makes the target of the badgering look pathetic in the minds of the public. Secondly, the reason for creating fake news may be to attract public attention to some subject.
The shocking news is always more attractive and discussed than an ordinary one. Finally, this method may be directed at forming in the masses a certain opinion on policies, economy, and many other spheres. For example, when there is an urge to justify the unpopular measures of a country’s government, fake news may serve as sufficient informational support. Thus, false information generally serves as an instrument of forming opinions. The aim of this work is to analyze one piece of fake news and prove that this method of dirty journalism may be used to support a widely shared stereotype.
The piece of news under consideration will be that of President Donald Trump’s removing the bust of Martin Luther King from the Oval Office. This event was reported in January 2017 by the Time correspondent Zeke Miller (Gibbs). The information was placed on Time’s official website and raised a huge clamor both on the news and social network services where it was discussed by the public.
Before analyzing the fake information itself, it is necessary to view the context in which it was generated and spread. Firstly, Trump is a political figure that, although he was elected President, meets strong opposition in the American society due to his right-wing views and policies and sometimes to his extravagant behavior. That is why any of his actions and words are widely discussed. Secondly, Martin Luther King is a significant figure for the United States and the American citizens.
He was one of the leading activists of the 1960s civil rights movement and was murdered for his political activity. It is important that his views and beliefs were partly left-wing. On the other, he became one of the USA’s national symbols. Thirdly, according to McNair, the election of Trump caused a boom of fake news around the world (1). It means that Miller did not invent anything new: he simply followed the trend.
One of the main questions under consideration concerns what the purpose of creating the false item was. One should bear in mind that Time is a respectable news and analytics source that is trusted by millions of people not only in the English-speaking countries but all around the globe. After the fake appeared on the website, Trump published an angry tweet against Miller, and there was an official refutation from the President’s administration.
However, the reputation of the news portal was damaged. According to Lăzăroiu, “the ethic of impartiality is a benchmark of good journalism” (114). This principle is evident not only to journalists but to almost anyone, even those who are far from this profession. Miller violated it and did harm to the news source that he was working for. It is hard to identify his motivation for sure, but there may be various reasons for him to write false information about Trump.
The first reason may be because Miller is an irreconcilable opponent to Trump, and his initial aim was to blacken the politician’s reputation. Having found nothing better, the journalist decided to invent the information about the King bust being removed from the Oval Office. However, it is more likely that the correspondent, consciously or unconsciously, wanted to contribute to Trump’s negative image of a die-hard right-wing politician. Lăzăroiu states that news is targeted at giving its readers or watchers some new information (114). Thus, to attract his audience’s attention, Miller invented a detail that corresponded to the stereotype about Trump.
In this way, the journalist did not only follow the stereotype but also added a new detail to it. Despite his later excuses, many people associate Trump with those who struggle against human and civil rights.
This story spread quickly and via multiple channels. Firstly and naturally, Miller’s report was caught up by various news agencies, who interpreted the fake in the key that the removal of the King bust is characteristic of Trump and his political views. Moreover, those who presented this fake to the audience might have implied that the removal was a symbol of the beginning of the right-wing era in the state policy of the US.
This could not but enforce the Trump stereotype. Gibbs states that the White House reacted by placing a refutation on its official website. No matter what purposes the administration pursued, they sharpened the public attention to the topic. Thus, unintentionally, the White House took part in spreading the fake. To add, social networks also contributed to the process of discussing a piece of news. Thus, the issue became even more resonant as it involved millions of social-media users.
It is necessary to consider the rhetoric that Miller uses. According to Gibbs, the journalist did not say directly that the King bust was taken away: he hinted at it by claiming that he had not seen the bust. This kind of rhetoric is typical of fake news and rather sophisticated. On the one hand, Miller allegedly does not focus on the fake circumstance. On the contrary, he mentions it as a minor detail. However, the fake attracts the audience because the image of Martin Luther King as a fighter for justice is emotionally strong in the mass consciousness. Having learned that Trump removed King’s bust from the Oval Office, the average reader feels anger and disgust towards the politician, and this is the purpose of using exactly this rhetoric that supports and enriches the stereotypical image of the President.
The strategy that makes the story persuasive is that the reporter presents himself as a detached observer by intentionally distancing himself from making judgments and giving evaluations. The fake information was included in an ordinary political report that only enumerates events, political decisions, etc. In most cases, such pieces of information are viewed by most readers as boring. However, when provocative details are included, the situation changes to the opposite. In the case under consideration, the indifferent matter-of-fact tone makes the story persuasive: there is no obvious reason why the reader might doubt what the author says. To add, it is important to notice that Miller demonstrates the image of Trump exactly according to the wide-spread stereotype.
As this fake was a small piece in an article, it did not include much detail. However, one sentence is quite important. It goes like “more decorating details: apart from the return of the Churchill bust, the MLK bust was no longer on display” (Gibbs). It is significant because the remark is small but convincing. The reader may think that the author himself did not pay much attention to the detail described and even included it in his report unintentionally. It is presented casually as if it was one of the many “decorating details” (Gibbs). The average reader may suppose that it is usual for Trump to violate human rights and practice chauvinism or other kinds of discrimination.
The story was proved to be fake by Trump himself on his Twitter. Then, the White House official representatives put a refutation on the website (Gibbs). On the one hand, this action may be considered right: the President was calumniated, and the officials’ duty was to prove Miller’s report to be fake. It corresponds to Lăzăroiu’s principle of “factual accuracy” (116). However, others may say that it was a wrong move on the part of the administration. As it has already been mentioned, the White House drew even more attention to the fake and roused much more discussion than there had been before. It is possible that Trump’s refutation on Twitter was convincing enough. After the official statement appeared, Time published their excuses (Gibbs). Miller himself begged a pardon on Twitter.
However, the journalist achieved his initial goal as millions of people were deceived. On Time’s website, there is an option of reposting any piece of news on Twitter and Facebook. As the site is visited by millions of users, it is obvious that the fake was repeatedly reposted. The refutation can never erase all the consequences of such a resonant piece of news. It is natural to suppose that Washington’s official statement was never read by all of those who had read about the removal of the bust. As a result, Miller significantly spoiled the image of Trump as a politician.
It is important to add that the journalist’s report was accompanied by a video that shows Trump making an official speech in the White House. Visualization is extremely important for creating a stereotype. When the reader who has seen the false piece of news sees Trump’s impressive face and hears his voice, it is possible that further on, the picture of the politician in the reader’s mind will associate with the removal of the King bust and die-hard right-wing policies.
The tone of the mental image will be negative. Such dishonest journalist methods are characteristic of the modern fake-generating. This proves Lăzăroiu’s thesis that “market-driven journalism is grounded on commercial priority rather than professional norms like consequence neutrality, or ethical considerations, such as fairness” (116). The example demonstrates that stereotypes (fake ones included) draw more of the audience’s attention than honest pieces of news.
To conclude, the instance under discussion shows that fake news is an effective instrument for supporting, developing, enforcing, and imposing stereotypes. Firstly, a fake story tends to contain some shocking piece that catches on the reader’s attention and, to a certain degree, insults feelings or beliefs. Secondly, the appropriate rhetoric should be applied to make the story convincing. If the author seems unemotional, it is easier to believe him as the reader sees no motivation for lying.
It is not difficult to impose a stereotype if one uses the matter-of-fact presentation. Thirdly, the Internet makes fake news spread at an enormous pace, and it is hardly possible to eliminate the consequences as any refutations may be uninteresting to the public. Moreover, exposures may be of no help at all as they make the topic more burning and the stereotype stronger. Finally, visual details enforce the stereotype on the psychological level and make a person subconsciously believe in the fake piece of information.
Lăzăroiu, George. “Post-Truth and the Journalist’s Ethos.” Post-Truth, Fake News: Viral Modernity & Higher Education, edited by Michael A. Peters, Sharon Rider, Mats Hyvönen, and Tina Besley, Springer, 2018, pp. 113-120.
McNair, Brian. Fake News: Falsehood, Fabrication and Fantasy in Journalism. Routledge, 2017.
The phenomenon of fake news has grown out of proportion recently, with people believing false information almost instantly. According to a recent article addressing the issue, Facebook has been affected by the plague of fabricated information, and its numerous gullible users have been tricked into believing it (“Unbelievable News?”). While discerning the truth in the flood of ridiculously false information is rather simple at first, users soon succumb to the phenomenon known as the “illusory truth effect” (“Unbelievable News?”). As a result, they develop the tendency to believe the ideas that they would have discarded before exposure to a vast range of falsified information.
In addition, the repetitive nature of the stories that people read on modern media affects the perception of information. After a certain number of reiterations, readers will eventually perceive a certain statement, no matter how questionable it might seem, as possible. The specified assumption has been verified in a study where participants were provided with repeated news, as well as the ones that were started only once.
According to the article, the study showed that the participants were inclined to believe the repetitive information to a greater degree (“Unbelievable News?”). Proving false information wrong is unlikely to have any effects. Quite the contrary, the specified step is likely to anger people and convince them to believe the false source even more (“Unbelievable News?”). At present, there is no efficient solution to the problem.
Sources
To support their statement, the author of the article refers to the sources such as Buzzfeed and CNN. While the former serves as the example of falsified information, the latter supports the author’s argument regarding the efforts made to address the problem. By providing examples of both false and trustworthy media, the author makes their argument objective.
“Fake News”
Summary
In hindsight, the rise in exposure to false news was easily predictable. President John Adams wrote that the influence of fabricated news stories would only increase in the future, and he was completely correct in his assumptions (Mansky). The very concept of the press and the news as media dates back to ancient times, which means that distorting the truth to champion a particular cause will always remain relevant. Therefore, to understand why the modern media is filled with falsified stories and downright absurd information, as well as to define the reasons why people believe it, one will have to consider the history of media.
While studying the history of false news is critical to developing a better understanding of their current forms, it is also necessary to explore falsified stories that emerge in modern media. The taxonomy is built for distinguishing between different definitions of fabricated media based on their purpose and content. For instance, news satire can be seen as a self-conscious attempt at creating false news for humorous and deconstructive purposes.
Parody news stories, in turn, also have a social function as the means of mocking a specific situation or conflict. Propaganda is also a well-known method of creating made-up stories to convince the target demographic to make specific choices. However, false news evolves fast, making it increasingly difficult to identify fabricated stories. Nonetheless, these are the examples of free speech and communication, which have to be tolerated as per the existing concept of free speech (Mansky).
Sources
In the article, the author uses several references to prove her point and show the effects of falsified news. One of them allows providing the story of the arson of Hutchinson’s house as an example, whereas the second one cites the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798. Both sources give a historical perspective on the problem and offer readers to expand their knowledge range on the subject matter.
