Today I want to talk about fake news and the spread of misinformation. Broadly I will refer to both as “fake news” however I personally believe there to be a distinction between fake news and misinformation. Fake news to me is the intentional spreading of news that is purposefully fabricated while misinformation is ignorantly reported news that isn’t always made to be fake, rather it was made with ignorance of certain biases, facts, or other viewpoints. In Mobile and Social Media Journalism by Anthony Adornato, Adornato defines fake news as, “the deliberate fabrication of information with the intent to deceive.”. Adornato goes on to explain that fake news is masterfully crafted to look like it has been created by credible journalists. This manipulation is done with precise precision to mislead large audiences. Fake news has become incredibly efficient today as most if not all fake news is spread online in echo chambers and Facebook groups alike.
Adornato goes on in the book to talk about the responsibility that technologies have to prevent the spread of fake news. Adornato even points to one study that found Facebook to be a top suspect in generating fake news stories about the 2016 election, garnering more attention than credible news outlets such as the New York Times and the Washington Post. Adornato goes on to explain that content regulation of fake news has real problems, citing that fabricated news stories are made to work with algorithms that tech companies use. This system favors clickable news stories that are most commonly shared. This leaves us with the issue of filtering out these fake news stories so they do not corrupt real news. So this begs to question what can these tech companies do to prevent the abuse of their algorithm to spread fake news? Well, in my opinion, I believe that there is a golden rule of responsibility for these tech companies. They surely can afford to form a team of people to regulate which news stories are fabricated or not. If computer algorithms cannot make the distinction, maybe it’s time for human intervention. However, it’s hard to make a company do something without a little financial intervention. Cutting off revenue streams like ad space or sponsorships may incentivize companies to help stop the spread of fake news on their respective platforms.
But what can we as journalists do? There are a couple of solutions proposed by Adornato that can help us find an end to the spread of fake news, but one I find most important is creating transparency. We should emphasize an initiative to educate the public on who we are and the purpose we serve to the public. Letting the public get an understanding of our processes and fundamentals can help create a level of trust between journalists and the public.
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