Disinformation and misinformation have been around decades however they have taken on a new life in the digital world.
The latest shifts in traditional reporting show that readers are engaging with information differently. People have access to personalized news coverage and email newsletters which was something that wasn’t widely available as it is now three decades ago. The quality of journalism is evolving as society does the same. Having information readily available is helpful. When we have questions, they can be answered within seconds. However, having access to too much information can be counterproductive and dangerous. It’s terrifying how fast misleading reporting can spread and the expansion of social media has made it easier to do so. Readers are in a vulnerable state now because it’s harder to discern the misinformation. The rise of ‘fake news’ has made news publications work harder to maintain their creditability. I’ve noticed there’s a broader emphasis on fact-checking, especially after the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections.
Former President Donald Trump was a firm user of ‘fake news’ whenever someone called out his falsehoods or made him look bad. I can’t count how many times he’s said ‘fake news’ during his presidency. His repetitive style devalued the importance of balanced reporting. Falsified information isn’t a new problem, but it has taken off in recent years. In an MIT study published in Science Magazine, the scientists researched how lies spread faster than the truth on Twitter. The MIT team stated, “Falsehoods are often notably different from the all the tweets that have appeared in a user’s timeline 60 days prior to their retweeting them...fake tweets tended to elicit words associated with surprise and disgust, while accurate tweets summoned words associated with sadness and trust, they found”.
The institution of journalism has fallen victim to the partisan press within our society. When bad-faith actors sense the vulnerabilities with the truth, it is then used to publish inaccurate information. There needs to be synergy between journalists and their audience. Journalists have a duty to provide the public with factual and objective information. As readers, we should make it a priority to examine a publication’s authenticity and creditability.
Sources
Borchers, C. (2017, Feb 9). ‘Fake news’ has now lost all meaning. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/02/09/fake-news-has-now-lost-all-meaning/
Meyer, R. (2018, March 8). The Grim Conclusions of the Largest-Ever Study of Fake News. The Atlantic. https://amp.theatlantic.com/amp/article/555104/
Vosoughi, S., Roy, D., & Aral, S. (2018). The spread of true and false news online. Science Magazine, 359(6380), 1146-1151. https://science.sciencemag.org/content/359/6380/1146/tab-e-letters
Wales, J., & Kopel, O. (2019, October 19). The Internet Broke the News Industry—and Can Fix It, Too. Foreign Policy. https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/10/19/internet-broke-journalism-fake-news/