The spreading of misleading information is a concept so old that it can be dated back to the very dawn of man. For many years false narratives and stories have been spun to achieve a variety of goals, be it political or personal, however, the spreading of fake news has seen drastic changes within the past few decades. In today’s world of buzzwords and short headlines, fake news has been able to embed itself within our free marketplace of ideas, being perpetuated into echo chambers for even more people to see and spread. We as consumers have been told that fake news is not just limited to satirical news pieces anymore, but that it also exists prevalently within the mainstream news cycle as well. This narrative is spouted by members of high authoritative …show more content…
Facebook believes that their users do, allowing them to flag stories and articles that they deem as misleading, whereas entire countries like Germany or Belgium have wholeheartedly taken the responsibility onto themselves. In “The Pitfalls of Censoring Fake News,” author Aleksandra Eriksson details how several countries have gone about fighting fake news at its very source. In the article, Eriksson details Germany’s new legislation that “fines internet platforms up to €50 million if they fail to promptly remove slander or racist content…” (Qtd in Eriksson) Germany’s new law focuses more on punishing websites that did not remove fake news, seemingly challenging Facebook’s worries of being the “arbiter of truth.” However, Eriksson goes on to discuss how Germany’s actions could easily censor not just fake news, but also free speech, stating that “Only in very specific situations are they obliged to limit free speech” (Qtd in Eriksson). We see here our second example of a political figurehead attempting to censor fake news, and by extension raising the debate of free speech, both in Germany’s legislation and in Trump’s
Through manipulation and lies, media manages to modify objective news into biased news in order to convince the public of what the media wants them to believe. The article, “How the Media Twist the News”, by Sheila Gribben Liaugminas discusses the major influence that news has on readers based on their choice of stories and words. “How the Media Twists the News” has borrowed from multiple other texts such as the books like Public Opinion and Liberty and News, news magazine writers such as Ruderman, and news networks like CBS through Bias, A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News and CNN to make her arguments valid and prove that the news is biased and that it does influence readers significantly because of it.
In his essay, “The Good, The Bad, and The Daily Show,” Jason Zinser explores the vices and virtues of so-called “fake” news programs. “Fake” news, as Zinser explains, are those programs that blend newsworthy events with comedy. By examining The Daily Show, Zinser reveals both positive and negative impacts that “fake” news could have on society. As a result, Zinser concludes that there are benefits as well as potential problems with “fake” news programs but insists that the true challenge is determining the net impact on society. The essay, which first appeared in The Daily Show and Philosophy: Moments of Zen and the Art of Fake News in 2007, challenges experts on both sides of the argument who either claim fake news is for entertainment only or that fake news is an acceptable source for information on current events. On one hand, Zinser uses expert testimonies to support his argument that the end result is a better informed public but on the other, he makes logical arguments enhanced by examples to illustrate the potential impacts “fake” news can have on its viewers and mainstream media.
According to James Madison, “nothing could be more irrational than to give the people power and to withhold from them information, without which power is abused,” suggesting that the people have the right to learn popular information and learn both sides of an issue (Paul and Elder 2). However, in modern society, the media often do not present both sides of an issue and are inclined to often mask information for their personal benefits. Therefore, the people often learn and understand only one aspect of an issue and inevitably lean towards the bias present in that news account. Indubitably, the coverage in the mainstream news media influences the majority through its bias and propaganda, especially its partisan audience, which only appreciates one side of the news story. Thus, even though news networks may claim that their news programs and publications are completely factual and credible, their coverage of news events is politically, commercially, and racially biased.
Amarasingam, Amarnath. The Stewart/Colbert Effect: Essays on the Real Impacts of Fake News. Jefferson, NC: McFarland &,, 2011. Print.
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.
Stephen Glass, a writer at The New Republic, sparked widespread knowledge about dishonesty within the news, ultimately causing readers to investigate further about the topics that they came across. Prior to Glass’ insightfully imaginative publications, false stories were rarely challenged and almost never “debunked” (Bissinger). However, Glass masterfully exposed society to this new awareness: fabrications occur quite frequently throughout journalism. Building upon Stephen Glass’s fabricated stories, Buzz Bissinger, author of Vanity Fair’s article “Shattered Glass,” created a piece, which further discussed the escalating topic surrounding false news. Bissinger undoubtedly raised awareness about the detrimental impact that intentional fabricated news stories have on society. In doing so, Bissinger exposed Glass’s writing style and how his infatuation with success, subsequently led to the ultimate demise of his journalism career. Bissinger highlights that Glass was “one of the most sought-after young reporters in the nation’s capital,” he challenges his overall credibility (Bissinger). Through the analysis of Buzz Bissinger’s article about Stephen
Perpetuating Fake News and The Consequences of It: A Textual Analysis of Stephanie Busari’s “How Fake News Does Real Harm”
Social media is a revolutionary way to connect with friends and family through a single app, much like Facebook. Also allowing the public to be more informed on current events, whether that is an issue in today’s society, all the way to a heartwarming story or a funny video. This sounds amazing and the fact that this type of news outlet is practically new. An issue arises that involves “fake news” and with that comes many opinions on what to do about it. I believe that people browsing these platforms should have a little bit of skepticism behind each story and if the topic truly intrigues someone then they should look into the topic on a reliable resource before passing on the authors misinformation.
From the beginning days of the printing press to the always evolving internet of present day, the media has greatly evolved and changed over the years. No one can possibly overstate the influential power of the new media of television on the rest of the industry. Television continues to influence the media, which recently an era of comedic television shows that specialize in providing “fake news” has captivated. The groundbreaking The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and its spin-off The Colbert Report have successfully attracted the youth demographic and have become the new era’s leading political news source. By parodying news companies and satirizing the government, “fake news” has affected the media, the government, and its audience in such a way that Bill Moyers has claimed “you simply can’t understand American politics in the new millennium without The Daily Show,” that started it all (PBS).
Since the foundation of the United States after a harsh split from Britain, almost 200 years later, an issue that could claim the founding grounds for the country is now being challenged by educators, high-ranking officials, and other countries. Though it is being challenged, many libertarians, democrats, and free-speech thinkers hold the claim that censorship violates our so-called unalienable rights, as it has been proven throughout many court cases. Censorship in the United States is detrimental because it has drastically and negatively altered many significant events.
After doing my annotated bibliography I learned that fake news can either be spotted quickly or be difficult to spot. The articles I read really persuades the audience that autism is associated with vaccinations in children. Which is false and it has been proven that there is no link between autism and vaccinations, but there are still articles persuading readers that they are linked together. It is spreading very quickly and it is misleading people. Fake news can really change a person decision and beliefs after reading false information that seems real to
The introduction of the internet to modern society has brought about a new age of information relation. Since there is no longer a need to wait until the next print day, news from all over the world is available at a person’s fingertips within hours or even minutes of the event. With this advent of such easily accessible information, new problems for the news media have also arisen. Aside from potentially losing good economic standing because newspapers are no longer being purchased in the quantities they used to be, the credibility of the information itself is also put into question. No one would argue that credibility of news sources is unimportant, but there is a discrepancy in what takes precedence; economy and speed or getting the information out correctly at the first publishing by taking the time to make sure all facts are checked. The importance of having a system of checks on all information submitted is paramount. People trust what they read and believe it to be so without always questioning. If all information were to not be checked thoroughly, there would be instances where people read an article only for information included to be wrong and they go on believing such information. This can be very dangerous as misinformed people make misinformed decisions. With an increase in errors being made by citizen bloggers and even major publications, many are worried that journalistic ethics and credibility in the news media are being sacrificed in order to maintain swiftness in the news circuit and to retain personal profits. Though getting information to the masses quickly is a major part of the media’s importance, this should not mean that the credibility of that information being presented should be sacrificed for it...
Fake News is constantly being written, permeating through television broadcasts, internet sites, and magazine articles. It seems that the amount of false news in the world is starting to overtake the amount of genuine information. This is indeed a problem, but not as much as people make it out to be. This is for a few reasons. Fake news is much like bacteria, there are both beneficial and harmful types of fake news. Beneficial fake news is usually
...stence depends upon continued success in furnishing readers and listeners with a wide range of facts,” said reporter Julian Adams. By the public depending on media for information, they are making the media money. Buying newspapers and magazines are compensating those companies. Listening to your local radio station and watching your local news channel is compensating those companies. “Staging (fabrication) or deliberate distortion of news is against public interest,” said writer William B. Ray. Society believes in media and the media believes in the society. So let the society know the real data and what’s important. Knowing what’s important captures the public’s interest rather than knowing what’s fake. Falsifying News is legal meaning the media is allowed to lie to the public. Everyone has their own views on this topic but either way lying to the society is wrong.
Many social media sites use actual censors in order to remove content deemed inappropriate (Sandvig 2015, p. 2). This raises important questions about power and power relations on social media, however what is perhaps a less obvious concern is the impact of the algorithms that determines which users see what content. Eli Pariser (2011) introduced the concept of “filter bubbles”, where platforms like Facebook shows only what it is believed the user wants to see. Consequently the user may not be shown anything oppositional or challenging to their world view. Presumably, this filtering is done with the aim of improving user experience in mind, rather than coming from a place of ill intentions, as seeing only what one wants to see should hypothetically create a more pleasant time on a social media platform. However, the filtering becomes especially problematic considering that social media is more and more becoming a primary source of news (Pariser 2011, p. 66 cited in Willson 2013, p. 218). The inextricability of the freedom of press and democracy (Karlekar & Becker 2014, p. 32) demonstrates that it is important for an individual to be privy to a range of perspectives. This matter is further complicated by the matter of user knowledge and consent. Often users are unaware that this filtering is happening, and in