The Rise of Fake News in Journalism Due to Social Media
The ease at which fake news can spread has been facilitated greatly due to social media platforms, where anyone can share whatever they please, putting in doubt trusted journalism platforms that most have relied on for decades.
Less than two decades ago, everyone got their news from reputable sources such as different newspapers, the radio and news channels on the television. In order to broadcast any news, one had to have a following on a one of these mediums, without it, their message would go unheard. As social media has grown prominent in our lives, so has the ease at which news can spread. Influencers with thousands, if not millions of followers, are able to spread a message for free to their countless amount of followers.
Luckily there are ways to spot misinformation, and there are many places that show how to tell the difference. However, many people put too much trust into the internet, and they believe everything they see on there.
Social Media makes it so easy to spread fake news, and studies show that most users will believe posts they see on social media. The above article by Forbes examines how people tend to believe posts they see on social media, especially if shared by someone they believe to be reputable.
This tweet is an excellent example of how some fake news is created purposefully. Certain Twitter profiles will create tweets with misspelled words along with the addition of what most would consider extremely unrealistic and create a tweet for the world to see. While most could potentially see that it is fake, there will always be those who believe it and spread it.
This Ted Talk by Hannah Logue is really to watch to learn how to spot the difference between fake news and real news.
There are also people that are opposite and believe everything they read to be “#fakenews”.
Overall, this has negatively affected journalism because there are now people who have lost all trust in journalism and news platforms, people that believe everything to be fake news. This is the effect that social media has had not only on reputable news platforms, but for consumers as well, there are those who no longer know what to believe and dismiss everything as fake. In conclusion, it is important for people to do their own research when coming across articles on social media. By conducting their own research, consumers of news can verify information for their themselves.
