News has been an essential factor throughout history by creating a way for individuals to be knowledgeable of the events taking place around them. The world today lies within the dark abyss accompanied by the uncertainty the media causes. Envision what the earth along with the lives of people would look like without the media. News has been around for hundreds of years, increasing its importance towards societies. It has only recently begun that the news could actually take a toll on the way the future advances. This alternative type of media cause damage beyond repair directed towards divergent communities. The crucial presence of social media spreads false news in societies as well as effecting presidential elections and the daily lives of …show more content…
After the Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year was released, it came as no surprise when the word was revealed as post-truth. A mere couple of months before the word came out, the world had commenced to revolve around the United States presidential election. During those few hectic months there were more false stories than factual ones. In fact, “of the 20 top-performing false election stories identified in the analysis, all but three were overtly pro-Donald Trump or anti-Hillary Clinton” (Silverman). Numerous people question if these news stories assisted the outcome of the presidential election. Although there have been countless claims about both candidates, the false news sites seemed to be biased towards Donald Trump. These news stories were polarizing the nation, splitting people by their opinions on the election. A top Google search came out right before the election that stated Donald Trump had won the popular vote which had a great effect on American’s beliefs. False assertions about Hillary Clinton being behind the death of a federal agent and Donald Trump getting approved by the Pope have caused confusion and slanted the result of the election towards one candidate (Sreenivasa). Therefore, presidential elections are affected by social media's role in the diffusion of false …show more content…
Terrorism is significantly associated with much of the false news going on in the world today. Many groups of terrorists rely on social media to threaten individuals and cause fear among nations. False news about terrorist attacks cause an extensive amount of harm and terror towards the public. Additionally to terrorism, a recent act derived from false news almost resulted in another shooting “on December 5, fake news propelled 28-year-old Edgar M. Welch as he drove from his home in Salisbury, North Carolina, to Washington, D.C. At 3p.m., he walked into Comet Ping Pong, a popular pizzeria in the northwest quadrant of the nation's capital carrying a rifle”. There had been a false news report that indicated there were children getting abused in the basement of a restaurant. Of course, these claims were untrue. False news in the media can kill (CNN Wire). On a daily basis, people are receiving deceptive stories leading them to sometimes oppose their original belief about something. These sites, with the goal of making money, do not have any concern of the impact the reports will have on the individual (Washington Post). To summarize, the daily lives of the public are affected by the role of social media in the spread of fake
In this paper, I consider the growing role of social media in presidential politics during the current era. The research questions the extent of the political impact of social media on the president and his communication with the public. It is necessary thus to examine the properties that make social media an attractive tool to use, the different ways the president interacts with social media, and both benefits and limitations of using social media as a platform for communication. As a result, it is essential to make conclusions regarding the nature of the relationship between social media and the presidential politics.
In the article "How Digital Disinformation Turned Dangerous," Dave Karpf discusses the dangers of fake news and disinformation. He explains that there are three reasons why disinformation has become so dangerous. Dave Karpf's primary claim of the argument was that there are tons and tons of adverse effects of disinformation being turned dangerous. With all of these technological advances and the internet, it is becoming dangerous, especially for those who do not know how to recognize or know what is true and what is fake (Karpf, 2021). His rhetorical uses of logos, pathos, and ethos are his primary way of getting the reader to believe his argument.
When a person thinks of neurobiology of their brain they often don’t connect it to politics and how it can polarize a person, but what if they were greatly connected in many ways? Few people see this connection between their brain and politics because it is not obvious, but may not agree with it and believe there is another and bigger cause to our polarization. They believe this cause is social media. Experts say polarization in America has become an underlying problem in due to the persuasive social media, and the dominate neurobiology of our brains.
A study by the University of Maryland indicated a third of Fox News’ audience believed Iraq participated in the 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center despite military and diplomatic proof they did not. This belief, accompanied by several other misunderstandings about the Iraq war, developed through negligent representation of world events by the news (Marcovitz). Sometimes, the news doesn’t do what it is intended to do—accurately publicize information. Media has a tendency to focus less on the truth and more on a good story for high ratings. Obsessive coverage of certain pieces can lead to the neglect of other important issues, specifically, world tragedies—natural disasters and civic crises. Regarding our response to human adversity, the advent of social media has come with new advantages and new problems. Media’s coverage of worldly disasters is important to inform people and encourage help, but the wide variety of media available now must be used responsibly.
In the modern day and age, media is all around us. We have become a world obsessed with “knowing”. Being up to date with the goings-on in the world gives many a sense of liberation. We feel that by gaining insight into the lives of others, understanding the intricacies of our global environment and being up to date with what we define as “the news”, we will somehow better equip ourselves with the tact to successfully deal with the inevitable challenges life will throw at us. Whilst this might not be the most objective view on the nature of the news in our society, one certainly cannot argue of its ever-growing presence in our lives. From billboards along the side the road, to smartphones in our pockets, the news is surrounds and is seldom out of reach.
In the US, election years have always been heavily charged with supporters of either party throwing blatant insults and opinionated information about the candidates at bewildered voters, especially those in battleground states. During this time, it is crucial for voters to be able to obtain unbiased information to make a vote they support. Recently, as the internet and social media are used more to spread news, that may have become more difficult. Media bias is any form of media used to get information that is misleading to the reader, which has been present in practically every presidential election in US history. There are many different types of bias, such as slant and other unintentional bias, as well as fake news and mudslinging, which are intentional.
Now more than ever, people find themselves trapped in the midst of American politics because of the vast social media coverage. But what effect does social media have on American politics? One side argues that social media has opened up a vast world of information to better educate political parties and voters. Those on the other hand argue that the same vastness of information dilutes true political issues and can misinform potentially informed voters. The argument I present today suggests that the usage of social media in American politics today has created a larger divide between political ideologies, having the greatest influence on the most active social media users, Millenials and Gen Z. Since the creation of the U.S. political landscape,
Throughout history media has been prevalent in delivering facts and stories relevant to current events. Now a day though the media is less focused on delivering the truth, than on pushing their own political agenda on the public, while seamlessly defaming the other media networks. The 2016 presidential election between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton demonstrated polarizing affect the media’s bias has on the public. Each day leading up to the election new stations would find some piece of dirt on Trump or Clinton and run story after story on it, instead of focusing on each candidate’s platform.
Naturally, journalism would spill over to the Internet and as social media websites such as Twitter and Facebook grew in popularity, so did regular citizens involvement with sharing news. The argument can be made that the explosion of social media journalism was due to frustration from the lack of coverage of news that mattered to society. For example, the lack of subjective coverage of Michael Brown 's death helped with the creation of #BlackLivesMatter and spread of news related to African-American’s and other minorities across the country. After all, journalism is supposed to be a public forum. Millions of people on Twitter share their thoughts and opinions on several topics, furthering the conversation and to some degree challenging society. Things such as “Moments” on Twitter provide us with direct links and summaries to the world’s most important stories and encourage a conversation. According to journalism.org, 63% of users on Twitter and Facebook get their news from these websites. Even more eye opening is that 59% of users on Twitter keep up to date with news stories via Twitter while they are in the process of happening.[3] The rise of social media related journalism has caused some issues however. “Inevitably, as citizen involvement grows, more of our media culture is concerned with talking about news, instead of focusing on original reporting and the vetting of it.”[4] Because the general public has the ability to post as they wish and pass it off as news, it has affected the accuracy of many reports. Many stories lack reputable sources but are shared between millions as an accurate and true story. There are several websites designed to spread inaccurate information. The website www.fakenewswatch.com exists to inform people of these sites in order to avoid mishaps. Recently a Connecticut mom went viral for being involved in an online hoax
Social media is a powerful tool, it offers an online medium that has the ability to bring millions of individuals together daily. Due to instant connections available through social media, information is moving faster than it ever has before. The American Marketing Association found that in 2015 there were 1.96 billion social media users with an estimated 2.44 billion users to be in 2018 (“ Number of Social Network Users Worldwide). Politics is one topic that users of social media can not stay away from. Networks such as Twitter and Facebook have been mediums for the discussion of politics for years.
Humans desire the truth and nothing but the complete truth. Humans buy into anything if they want to believe it. Fake news and false information is nothing new, but with social media it has become more common and more dangerous. Before the 2016 presidential elections Russia began creating ‘troll farms’ intending to sway americans opinions and create havoc. Troll farming is affecting our society without people even realizing it and social media apps need to improve their efforts on banning these accounts.
When it comes to presidential elections, many don’t take into consideration how much a simple factor can make a huge impact on the candidates votes. Simple things from the attire the candidates are sporting effect the voters’ opinion. Social media has changed the elections in a drastic way. Its has made it easier for anyone in America to be up to date on politics and any other important information. Social media linked Obama and his voters in 2012 election, which allow him to promote his campaign to his supporters and entice young voters and minorities . In the 2012 Presidential election there was a large increase in minorities voters. During the 2012 presidential
News organizations also play an important role in “propagating hoaxes, false claims, questionable rumours and dubious viral content, thereby polluting the digital information stream. ”6 With the multitude of social media platforms and the various applications to share personal views and opinions, all the power is in the user’s hands. It is not comprehensible to remove said power and “gate keep” the information that is being shared. Thus, the survival of a society with the distribution of fake news in the media is
Much of what we know today of current events comes from online sources on social media or as eye-catching links on the side of a website. These articles, though there could potentially be truth to them, almost always rely on captivating simple statements and stories that connect with the reader on an emotional level, rather than a logical one. This affects students’ education for the simple reason of our nearly inseparable connection with our cell phones and social media. This has become our go-to source for anything we want to know, and since fake news is so readily available to us, it is what we easily believe is true. The availability of fake news makes it’s presence known in the classroom, where students are distracted from the lesson by groundbreaking stories being shared across every media platform in existence, which a vast majority have access to. Even in politics, where our reliance for leadership lies, is tainted with post-truth information. Facts given to us by the presidential office, cleverly titled “alternative facts” by our highest elected official, show the true effect of how post truth can ruin credibility and trust. It even affects the education given by teachers, those who are paid to educate the next generation of children. History teachers can be swayed one way or another by news channels, constantly pushing out breaking news about
The purpose of this essay is to develop a further understanding of the impacts of social media in regards to the political debate. By looking at the topic of social media and the use rhetoric in response to politics in the 21st century, a deeper understanding of the issue can be established. Social media has become a primary source for the discussion of politics by the average citizen; whether through the sharing of articles, “memes”, advertisements or personal expository statements. As a result, large sums of information and ideas are spread rapidly to a wide variety of subjects. However, much of this information may not be accurate and could be misinterpreted. Consequently potentially misinformed citizens may not be able to make a properly