"Restoring trust in the era of “fake news”

"People on systems like Facebook are increasingly forming into ‘echo chambers’ of those who think alike. They will keep unpretentious those who don’t, and passing on rumors and fake news that agrees with their point of view"

This representation of the lack of critical thinking skills is quite worrying and in order to prevent the spread of fake news and control this serious problem, root cause concerning human mind has to be understood. The unprecedented rapid growth in technology leading to a widespread increase in fake news, understanding the inherent nature of human cognition, loopholes in the media and ways to control the spread of fake news has to be understood. In order to be a discerning news consumer, it is important for oneself to be a critical thinker with the ability to differentiate fake news from real news.There were various forms of media such as television, newspapers, magazines, and radio to spread and disseminate information before internet came into existence. Ancient media methods allowed advertisements and supplements which paved way to mask the real news. Television was a phenomena in the 1960's which glued people to sit in front of their media box. Advertisements, seen as ways to mask real news was telecasted during prime time with an opportunity to reach millions of homes every day. Later, fantasy based reality shows closed the gap between real and staged events. In today's world, professional looking websites can be published and search engines and social media platforms can be programmed to create influential news. Even a technological savvy computer science or information technology graduate student can create such websites.The news media doesn't tailor its content to specific individuals, hence its varied content and far reaching impact. Information shared with the media will spread at a faster pace and to a greater extent compared to the one without media coverage. Media targets a set of people whom the message needs to be communicate. Online media provides unlimited free access to information through websites, blogs, and various applications. Internet coverage and smart devices allow easy access to news media with a finger touch. Due to the volatile nature of politics, economy, and safety environment in the world, news media plays an important role. The news media do play a significant role on the negative side as well spreading fake news through various tabloids. There were lots of fake news involving gossips, scandals and manipulated information. The news media is a profit making organization with an ulterior goal of multiplying profits. Hence advertisements and sponsored content may contain unapproved content causing huge impact to the society.Fake news doesn't mean its outright lie, rather news that are more likely to be biased or misleading in a gentle way. It is the information that is clearly fabricated and that has been customized to look like genuine news. Its content is specifically created to appeal to an audience's pre-existing preferences. The spread of fake news with the evolution of technology has been widespread causing a huge impact. According to a historian, dating back to 18th and 19th centuries, fake news was a commonly accepted practice and newspapers were more opinionated and agenda driven. Later with the introduction of penny press in 1830s, sensational news and gossip started proliferating. Though readers didn't believe everything they read is true as many newspapers published short stories and poetry and satire was mainly used by entertainers and not journalists.Most of the fake news that's viral online consists of written pieces and recorded segments that promotes false information through means of factual reporting. For example, several reports were published by news organizations highlighting examples of hoaxes, fake news and misinformation on Election Day 2016. Fake news is created intentionally by entrepreneurs who seek to make money from advertising, and false information can also arise from misinformed social media posts by normal people who posts regularly, which spreads through a biased blogosphere.One such example was the recent post on social media by a businessman regarding protests where he connected seeing several buses lined up in downtown and the protests reports which he heard in the news media. He assumed the two were connected and posted his thoughts on social media which were soon followed by many of his followers, then taken to reddit community, blogs and were shared among the internet world causing a huge stir and confusion. Initial content of the message got manipulated in several ways leading to incorrect information sharing driven by incorrect assumptions. This is one typical example how fake news originates and propagates with the help of social media and blogs in the internet world.Fake news is a phenomena whose spread could be controlled through collective responsible actions by the means of governmental regulations, education policy, literate society, technology and applications. At this stage, determining the legitimacy and utility of information is ultimately the responsibility of the people.

RICHA MISHRA STUDY MBBS COLLEGE GUJARAT

 

 

Social media is bold.

Social media is young.

Social media raises questions.

 Social media is not satisfied with an answer.

Social media looks at the big picture.

 Social media is interested in every detail.

social media is curious.

 Social media is free.

Social media is irreplaceable.

But never irrelevant.

Social media is you.

(With input from news agency language)

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