Fake news… you hear about it, you talk about it… and at some point, you’ve probably consumed it. Clearly, news is a sticky situation in our world today. It’s nearly impossible to find a non-partisan source, we are averse to anything that doesn’t align with our beliefs, and it’s difficult to tell whether something is truth, or not. Fake news is typically created to misinform others and sway them to think or feel a certain way about a topic, candidate, or even a current event.
There are many reasons that fake news is so prevalent and its prevalence is not slowing down. First and foremost it is important to realize that fake news penetrates deeper than truth. People are more interested in the juicy headlines that tell raunchy lies about political candidates than the banal and seemingly repetitive headlines about the economy or foreign trade. Think about yourself in this situation, what would you really prefer to read? And what would make you click faster? The other problem with fake news is that it is a driving force behind the revenue generated for online news sources. Online news sources rely on increasing amounts of traffic on their websites and articles in order to grow their income. The point here is that people will produce articles that they can guarantee will captivate your attention and in turn, make them a profit. Most of the time, these attention grabbing articles promote falsehoods. One foundational step in combating fake news would be to create news platforms not entirely driven by money.
Another way to help yourself combat fake news, on the daily, is to understand verification and make it a part of your media consumption routine. In the past, verification was the duty of librarians and editors, but today, it is the duty of all of us. We must practice a healthy skepticism when observing the news so that we can be sure we are reading and viewing the most authentic and true content. Some factors to identify in the verification process are provenance, source, date, and location. The provenance of a news piece tells us whether it is an original piece of content and if not, we look for the real source to know if the creator is truly qualified. Knowing the date will help us know if this is true current news or if things could have changed since this story was uploaded or written. We want to know location because if an article was written overseas about a local American current event, it may not be as reputable. Furthermore, we should consume a wide variety of news on both sides of the political spectrum, we should ask questions of the stories we read, and we must remember that sometimes, fake news is not on purpose. Oftentimes, fake news grows out of other fake news stories, not out of cynicism. Keeping these qualities in mind while taking in the news will help us to be better informed citizens.
An article by the Pew Research Center states that the people who do best at accurately pinpointing fake news are highly politically aware, digitally savvy, and place high levels of trust in the media. We should consume broad ranges of news to educate ourselves on the entire spectrum, we should know how to verify and understand the ways of the internet, and finally, we absolutely cannot let the notion of fake news scare us away. To be the best news consumer we can be, we need not be afraid. Like I said before, a level of healthy skepticism is optimal but we have to be able to trust as well. We are not living in a post-truth era, we are living in a post-trust era. That is our own fault. We can’t control the way others tell the truth, but we can control the ways in which we trust.
Obviously fake news is a problem. The job of cleaning it up lies in the hands of us, the people of my generation. I have mentioned some tactics that may play key roles in refining the true versus false content we see, and being better able to tackle any piece of content and determine its motivators. However, at the end of the day, I believe the largest reason for our “fake news era” is because we let is get to us. If we stand our ground, verify what we see, and don’t shy away from news that may seem treacherous, we can take down this “fake news era” with the snap of our fingers.
Ruthie's Writings. 