Determining Real Information in the Political and Professional Lives
The world has drastically changed from what it was a decade ago due to the great transformation in the information technology world. This has given rise to the aspect of “fake news”, which has been termed as one of the biggest threats to democracy and world order (Titcomb & James, 2018). Governments and individuals have used the powerful popularity of the internet to spread useful information to various parts of the world and boost their support. Despite the advantages resulting from the use of the popular web-based platforms, technology has turned against the same people who invented it due to the rapid spread of fake news.
Stecula (2017) stated that people could avoid fake information by being impartial and questioning the information they get online. A common characteristic of fake news is the fact that as much as the public is prone to getting such information from a vast range of websites, they may not understand how to effectively distinguish between false and real information (Algaze, 2017). The public in web-based platforms are usually polarized along ideological lines, a fact that facilitates motivated reasoning where people unconsciously process, believe and support information that enhances their ideological and partisan political views. The digitalization of information in web-based platforms means that most of the people access news through online based media, which facilitates the spread of fake news (Gray, 2017).
Solon (2017) observed that the public must also portray skepticism in the websites they access online-based information. Most of the people are ignorant and can believe anything presented on the internet. In most cases, people do not check the validity and genuineness of the source of the information they are spreading (Katz, 2017). The spread of fake news by such as re-tweeting or sharing on Facebook has been a common phenomenon in the recent past. People do not question the legitimacy of sources and sharing only aggravates the already bad situation. If people could be vigilant enough by checking the websites that spread news online, the rapid increase of fake news in web-based platforms would cease (Anderson & Lee, 2017).
Carey (2018) argued that people should also be aware of their cognitive biases and the effect they have in the spread of fake news. During the 2016 US general elections, the spread of fake news was associated with the rise and success of Donald Trump as the president. The argument is that, as people inclined to the Democratic Party shared the falsehoods in web-based media, Donald Trump gained more popularity toppling Hilary Clinton in the final tally. This shows how people’s cognitive biases can act as an advantage to an opponent (Bach, 2017).
In addition, individuals should scrutinize through various bits of information and settle for the one that sounds real. Fake news contains unusual formatting of material on the website. Most of the websites spreading fake news also use incorrect spellings and awkward layouts that are easy to identify (Algaze, 2017). The photos and videos occurring on such websites will be manipulated and when authentic, they will have captions that are out of context. Also, the validity of the information can be verified through the date since fake information contains dates that do not make sense or ones that have been tampered with to fit the current scenario.
In conclusion, fake news occurs as fabricated content presented deceptively as real news in web-based platforms. This is facilitated by the current web-based platforms that allow for the sharing of unfiltered information containing both truths and falsehoods to a large number of people with internet access globally.
References
Algaze, B. (2017). Technology Enables “Fake News”: Can it Help Stop it Too? ExtremeTech.August 21, 2017. Web. January 31, 2018.
Anderson, J. and Lee, R. (2017). The Future of Truth and Misinformation Online. Pew Research Centre. October 19, 2017. Web. January 31, 2018.
Bach, N. (2017). Trump Continues “Fake News Media” Attacks After Calling for Washington Post reporter to be Fired. Fortune. December 11, 2017. Web. Retrieved on January 31, 2018.
Carey, B. (2018). Fake News: Wide Reach but Little Impact, Study Suggests. The New York Times. January 2, 2018. Web. Retrieved from January 31, 2018.
Gray, R. (2017). Lies, Propaganda and Fake News: A Challenge for Our Age. BBC. March 1, 2017. Web. Retrieved on January 31, 2018.
Katz, M. (2017). The Fake News Culprit No One Wants to Identify: You. Wired. June 12, 2017. Web. January 31, 2018.
Solon, O. (2017). The Future of Fake News: Don’t Believe Everything you Read, See or Hear. The Guardian. July 26, 2017. Web. Retrieved on January 31, 2018.
Stecula, D. (2017). The Real Consequences of Fake News. The Conversation. July 27, 2017. Web. January 31, 2018.
Titcomb, J. and James, C. (2018). Fake News: What Exactly is it and how Can You Spot it. The Telegraph. January 29, 2018. Web. Retrieved on January 31, 2018.
