Is It True? Living in a Fake News World “But I 'm ravenous for news, any kind of news; even if it 's false news, it must mean something” (Atwood, 1985). In this digital day and age, people have access to information and news at any time. People give their attention to a headline, an article, or a link just because they are posted on the internet. As a result, people have created a vicious cycle in which they search, read, believe, and share what they have read, without considering the reliability of the information and news. Technology has influenced communication and journalism; as a result, the media has adopted a business model based on clicks and advertising. The combination of people 's need for information and the greed of news corporations have allowed for the proliferation of “fake news,” a term that has gained importance in the last two years. Fake news is “completely made up, manipulated to resemble credible journalism and attract maximum attention and, with it, advertising revenue” (Hunt, 2016). News has the power to alter people’s perceptions which can impact their decisions related to economy, democratic process, and their lives and jobs. The media has a crucial role during democratic elections when people appeal to the media to acquire information about candidates and make a decision. However, the presence of fake news threatens democracy; therefore, it is essential that people recognize the effects of fake news and combat them.
Reasons behind fake news
Because news reporters are no longer the only ones to present information, citizens feel their way into the story, thus creating many layers of journalism. This use of affective publics does have both pros and cons, however. With many citizens presenting their beliefs, news on social media is powered by affective statements of opinion, fact, or a blend of both. In other words, many persuasive statements are opinion based rather fact based. On the other hand, with a large portion of society starting to dominate the media industry, citizens can emphasize and expose many underrepresented
Studies have shown that there is little evidence that coverage of the news is biased towards one party as a whole, though it has been shown that news media tend to be biased for those candidates ahead in the polls during an election. Regardless of its purpose, most media does not work in persuading viewers to change their opinions about an election. In fact, most potential voters pay little attention to elections, and have also already made up their mind
Society expect to be constantly entertained; they have become so concerned with things such as who the latest star is dating, scandals, or dumb people doing rather idiotic things. Much of society have been consumed in their personal instant gratification and what makes them “happy”. When on an off chance that news does show things that are serious and impactful(not necessarily positive things that is happening in the world) people have become so numb that the best they could do is feel sympathetic and at worst continue on with their day. The other part of the problem is that those behind what is being published and shown on the news media have been absorbed in their avarice nature, whatever allows them to make as much profit they do. “Writing thousands of hours of coverage from what could have been summarized in a couple of minutes every few weeks, a new rhetorical strategy was developed, or-let’s be generous-evolved”(6), Saunders describes the new formula formed by mass news firms that would yield the most profit.
NSA Scandal: Constitutional or Not? After the wiki leaks incident, some citizens feel that the Fourth Amendment was threatened. Large debates have been sparked over this topic, some defending the National Surveillance Agency’s actions as constitutional. The other side, defending the fourth amendment of American citizens.
In an age of what appears to be increasing insecurity, Americans have to make a choice between being secure and maintaining civil liberties or is it up to the government to decide. Privacy today faces growing threats from a growing surveillance apparatus that is often justified in the name of the national security. Security is privileged over values such as civil liberties after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Because of this horrendous event the national government, began its surveillance attack in hoping to stop another terrorist attack from happening. The government has been trying to rebuild the security that was lost (“Money”).
As a nation, Americans have experienced nothing but the rise of journalism since its birth in the mid-1600s. Starting off with hand-written bulletins, gazettes, and graduating to widespread newspaper publications, our entire nation has consistently been supplied with reliably sourced and usually unbiased information and educational articles. Having twenty-four seven instant access to the internet has changed the way we receive, read, and perceive information… but how so? Susan Jacoby’s article, “How Dumb Can We Get?” references this subject matter throughout.
From television to social media everyone has something to say. For the past 50 years, candidates have based their campaign around the messages in their television commercials and in their debates. Committed party members, both Republicans and Democrats alike, will take information in with caution and typically hear what they want to hear. It is the undecided voters who are swayed by the media as to whom they should vote for. More often than not it is the undecided voters who decide the elections, this is the case in point as to why the power of media in elections can be substantial.
One hundred years ago nobody heard about the news or current events from Facebook or the newest tweet. Until fairly recently the most up to date news had to be heard through the grapevine or read in a newspaper. Since the creation of the internet and the mass media that comes with it, information can now be spread all the way across the world in the time it takes to hit the enter button on a computer or phone and upload it to the internet. Some people think that this is a bad thing because so many things that are uploaded can be either false information or simply information that is misleading and could teach individuals the wrong thing. However, if mass media is used in the right way it can be beneficial to the accessibility of valuable information,
The central theme of media manipulation and the consequences of that are explained and uncovered in Ryan Holiday’s book Trust Me I’m Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator. Holiday offers a brutally honest insight into the world of PR and journalism, one that many people can have trouble accepting and one that makes us doubt every form of media and advertisement around us and exposes the twisted relationship between online media and marketing. In the beginning of the book, Holiday admits that he is a liar, but asks the readers to believe everything he says. As mentioned in an article published by Poynter institute, “He has a point to make, but he 's like the addict warning of the dangers of drugs, all the while snorting a line and shaking his head at how bad it is” (Silverman, 2012).
In Jason Zinser’s article, “The Good, the Bad, and The Daily Show,” he argues that Americans have dissociated from the conventional mainstream of news into a new program that is often filled with “fake” news, such as the The Daily Show. Zinser questions the ethics and validity of “fake” news sources, since these new programs have gained a considerable amount of popularity that can cause a detrimental effect into peoples’ mentality. Zinser acknowledges that fake news is a method to obtain information from a comical and satirical news source, however Zinser exhorts that, “The question isn’t whether Jon Stewart or the show’s producers and writers are morally corrupt people, but whether or not fake news is, on the whole, beneficial or damaging
“Today we live in a society in which spurious realities are manufactured by the media, controlled by governments, by big corporations, by religious groups, and by political groups”, quoted American writer Philip Kindred Dick. I bet his name got your attention! Anyways, let’s move on. Almost 90% of all international mainstream media is controlled by a total of 6 corporations. To put that into perspective, 1500 newspapers, 9000 radio stations and 1500 TV stations across the globe are owned by these 6 corporations!
Furthermore, fake news can be disseminated rapidly. Due to the widespread use of social media,
Fake news has been around for years, and yet it is still able to blend in to disguise itself from recognition mostly because of how the human brains addict to the fact they feel pleasant to see, which leads to the obtention of views, and directly to the calculation of money derived from advertising. But the unignorant fact of fake news being imprecise at its source and being friendly when mentioning a two-sided story will be the chance to identify them, and avoid them from mixing in with the real world. Overall, the emphasis on demanding the disappearance of fake news are stunningly valuable for without the ruthless data there could be another day having spent not being bothered by the information retrieved
Thanks to social media, access to information from all over the world has become easy. Because of the developments that social media has reached, it is no longer necessary for us to rely on receiving information from second hand sources. We are now able to access the main source of the news ourselves such as an eyewitness or video footage of the event. This can insure that the information we receive is reliable considering that many secondary news sources tend to be politically biased.
The media is supposed to be just like a warrior fighting with a pen or like a mirror which shows us or strives to show us the bare truth and astringent realities of life. However, in recent years the media has, like other agencies, come under the influence of politicians. Therefore, the media no more writes about the people’s grievance but in support of the ruling government party. It has been contaminated by political influences. Today, the media has many vital roles in a modern democracy such as; political lies, reviling the truth to the public as well as helping to aid with the hypocrisy of the nation.