Fake News Blog Post

Since the conclusion of the 2016 presidential election the debate of what is fake news has been raging both in daily life and in the media. What started out as a way to label false or misleading information in the news, has morphed into a label for news stories that we might not like or agree with. The trouble now is to redefine fake news to separate it from what it has now become.

The term “fake news” did not exist in American society until the 2016 presidential election. President Trump was fond of using the term to describe mainstream news networks such as CNN or MSNBC. Fast forward to the present day, after the 2020 election and the trust in the media is at an all time low.

Fake news should mean news that is misleading or gives false information in their story. This is bad because the most important part about a news story is the first impression on readers. If this is a breaking story and you publish false information in the story to sensationalize or push a narrative, you are damaging the quality of information.

When media outlets continue to do this, just because its easier to fit a narrative that has been created about an organization or a person, it brings down public trust in the media. As a consequence organizations or blogs like QAnon or Info Wars are created or they start to gain a major following. When mainstream media outlets start lying to the public and disseminating false information, people are more likely to believe conspiracy theories that are usually blatantly false.

Early in my high school days I shared info about conspiracy theories and such with my friends all the time. We all thought it was a joke but after a while I started wondering if the things I was seeing were true, simply because of the amount of different places I was seeing it published.

Back then, fake news was just starting to become popular as a label for false/misleading information so I had no idea of the implications of spreading that information. The important thing now for consumers though is to be able to understand the effects of fake news and how to discern when you see it.

To be able to decide what “fake news” is you must be able to discern what is accurate information or what is false/misleading information. A good way to do this is to cross-reference news stories that you read with other sites that may have posted the same or similar story.

Another good way to fact-check per say is to check the sources that they use, if any are listed. Stories with sources that are actually available for you to view are going to have the most reliable information for your consumption.

With trust so low in the media, it is essential for the average consumer to be able to decide for themselves whether or not to trust a story. An easy way for media outlets to do this it to post all their sources used in a story with easy access to them for their readers to find and read for themselves.

When the public is able to see accurate sources and information in everyday news, then fake news will not be a major issue anymore because media outlets are no longer able to publish fake news without the general public know thar it is.