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Fake news (also known as junk news, pseudo-news, or hoax news) is a form of news consisting of deliberate disinformation or hoaxes spread via traditional news media (print and broadcast) or online social media. Digital news has brought back and increased the usage of fake news, or yellow journalism. Fake news is then often reverberated as misinformation on social media platforms and occasionally finds its way to the mainstream media as well.
Fake news is written and published usually with the intent to mislead in order to damage an agency, entity, or person, and/or gain financially or politically. It often uses sensationalist, dishonest, or outright fabricated headlines to increase readership. Similarly, clickbait stories and headlines earn advertising revenue from this activity.
The term "lying press" is at times used to cast doubt upon legitimate news from an opposing political standpoint. During and after Donald Trump's presidential campaign and election, he popularized the term "fake news" in this sense, regardless of the truthfulness of the news, when he used it to describe the negative press coverage of himself. In part, as a result of Trump's misuse, the term has come under increasing criticism. In October 2018, the British government decided that it will no longer use the term because it is "a poorly-defined and misleading term that conflates a variety of false information, from genuine error through to foreign interference in democratic processes."
While the interpretations of fake news vary from country to country, the negative influence it generates is becoming a global problem. Its contagiousness particularly distorted many countries' politics and caused chaos among the citizens in different ways.[1] Many countries are bring in legislation to regulate the spread of fake news, and a variety of actions are put in place to fight fake news.[2]
Definition edit
Michael Radutzky, the producer of CBS 60 Minutes, said his show considers fake news to be "stories that are probably false, have enormous traction [popular appeal] in the culture, and are consumed by millions of people." These stories are not only found in politics, but also in areas like vaccination, stock values and nutrition. He did not include news that is "invoked by politicians against the media for stories that they don't like or for comments that they don't like" as fake news. Guy Campanile, another 60 Minutes producer said, "What we are talking about are stories that are fabricated out of thin air. By most measures, deliberately, and by any definition, that's a lie."
In the context of the United States of America and its election processes in the 2010s, fake news generated considerable controversies and arguments, with some commentators defining concern over it as moral panic or mass hysteria and others worried about its damage done to public trust.
Identifying edit
Beginning in the 2017 school year, children in Taiwan study a new curriculum called "media literacy." The course is designed to teach critical reading of propaganda and the evaluation of sources. It also provides training in journalism in the new information society.
21 century edit
On the Internet edit
How fake news spreads and goes viral edit
Based on an analysis of survey responses from national samples in the US, a strong tendency of the third-person perception was found as a factor of causing the spread of fake news. Individuals believed that fake news would have greater effects on out-group members than themselves or in-group members. The survey also showed that social undesirability, partisan identity, and efficacy were positive predictors of third-person perception. Moreover, the findings revealed that those with a greater level of third-person perception were more likely to support for media literacy intervention to combat fake news but reject the media regulation approach.[3]
Popularity of fake news edit
Fake news has gained lots of popularity with various media outlets and platforms. Researchers at Pew Research Center discovered that over 60% of Americans access news through social media compared to traditional newspaper and magazines. With the popularity of social media, individuals can easily access fake news or similar content. One study looks at the number of fake news articles being accessed by viewers in 2016 and found that each individual was exposed to at least one or more fake news articles daily. (the sentence was removed because of absence of reliable citation) As a result, fake news is omnipresent among the viewer population and results in its ability to spread across the internet.
Usage of the term by Donald Trump edit
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President Trump has claimed that the mainstream American media regularly reports fake news. His usage of the term has increased distrust of the American media globally, particularly in Russia. His claims have given credibility to the stories in the Russian media that label American news, especially news about atrocities committed by the Syrian regime against its own people, where it was quoted that "munitions at the air base had as much to do with chemical weapons as the test tube in the hands of Colin Powell had to do with weapons of mass destruction in Iraq", as just more fake American news.[4]
By country edit
Indonesia edit
The fake news campaign rose again in the 2019 presidential election, which involved the same sides competing last time out.[5] For years, most fake news circulated in Indonesia are related to alleged Chinese imperialism (including Sinicization), communization, and Christianization.[6] It was made worse by the 2016–17 Jakarta protests led by Islamic fundamentalist groups such as the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) which successfully imprisoned Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, who happens to be a Chinese-Christian.[7]
Singapore edit
Singapore criminalizes the propagation of fake news. Under the Miscellaneous Offences (Public Order and Nuisance) Act, "Any person who transmits or causes to be transmitted a message which he knows to be false or fabricated shall be guilty of an offense".[8]
United States edit
In the months following the 2016 presidential elections in the United States, a growing number of voices pointed to the role of “fake news” and misinformation more broadly in leading voters astray in their assessments of the two major candidates for president, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Social media, as well as partisan media, were widely blamed for disseminating misleading information and propaganting partisan polarization that might have affected the election results.[9]
An investigation by The Michigan Daily in October 2019 into statewide networks of conservative-leaning, pseudo local news sites, published by Locality Labs and the Metric Media Foundation (removed the link, cuz page does not exist), revealed connections between the operation and Dan Proft, the Liberty Principles PAC, and the Nexstar Media Group.
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References edit
- ^ Connolly, Kate; Chrisafis, Angelique; McPherson, Poppy; Kirchgaessner, Stephanie; Haas, Benjamin; Phillips, Dominic; Hunt, Elle; Safi, Michael (2016-12-02). "Fake news: an insidious trend that's fast becoming a global problem". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-04-13.
- ^ hermesauto (2018-07-13). "War on fake news: How some countries are fighting misinformation with the law". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2020-04-13.
- ^ Jang, S. Mo; Kim, Joon K. (2018-03-01). "Third person effects of fake news: Fake news regulation and media literacy interventions". Computers in Human Behavior. 80: 295–302. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2017.11.034. ISSN 0747-5632.
- ^ Rutenberg, Jim (2017-04-16). "A Lesson in Moscow About Trump-Style 'Alternative Truth'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-04-20.
- ^ "Indonesia's election riots offer a lesson on the perils of fake news". South China Morning Post. 2019-09-09. Retrieved 2020-04-13.
- ^ "Indonesia's anti-Chinese fake news problem: out of control?". South China Morning Post. 2016-12-22. Retrieved 2020-04-13.
- ^ Lamb, Kate (2017-05-09). "Jakarta governor Ahok sentenced to two years in prison for blasphemy". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-04-13.
- ^ "Miscellaneous Offences (Public Order and Nuisance) Act - Singapore Statutes Online". sso.agc.gov.sg. Retrieved 2020-04-13.
- ^ Norris, Pippa; Cameron, Sarah; Wynter, Thomas, eds. (2018-11-22). Electoral Integrity in America. Vol. 1. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oso/9780190934163.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-093416-3.