How To Avoid Fake News

How To Avoid Fake News (Baptista & Gradim, 2020; Bakir & McStay, 2018)

Amy Chen Student ID: 301391245

Prof: Suzanne Norman TUT: D101 Micky Harris

(Pub 101 Spring 2023 Essay)

Social media has always been a popular source for journalism, journalists, and viewers to keep up with the world and entertainment (Eadie, 2009). I usually go on social media to view news rather than on tv, because it is more interesting and I can also comment on it. The online world is a place where people create identity and cyberinfrastructures, it can be on social media, where people come together to communicate and share content with others (Campbell, 2009). Journalists can gather all sorts of information, and most news shown are confirmed true or ongoing events (Eadie, 2009). Although there can be a few news or reports that are not entirely true, which would be called fake news or false reports (Eadie, 2009; Baptista & Gradim, 2020). Fake news can either be partially fake or entirely fake and can be found anywhere, especially on social media or in newspapers (Baptista & Gradim, 2020, pp.3-4). There are many ways to spot and avoid fake news, they are to stay objective, stop the spread, always fact-check, and put in filters (Eadie, 2009; Lesage & Hackett, 2014; Bakir & McStay, 2018; Baptista & Gradim, 2020).

One way to avoid starting fake news is to perhaps stay objective rather than subjective when making or sharing a report (Lesage & Hacket, 2014). The news in this case is reported from a neutral perspective and the journalists use an objective perspective when making their reports (Lesage & Hackett, 2014, p.43). Objectivity is the idea of allowing different interests to come in but at the same time having this neutral perspective, (Lesage & Hackett, 2014, p.43). News seen online specifically on social media can be either objective or subjective, although because social media is where people usually go on, it can appear subjective in some cases (Lesage & Hackett, 2014, p.43). Both objectivity and subjectivity often affect the news content and what the journalists are reporting because it concerns the views each person has and also the information itself (Lesage & Hackett, 2014, pp.43-44). Objectivity allows many different views, and even if the news was not quite accurate, it would be more of a false report, rather than fake news, which would also lessen the blame on the journalists or those who posted about the news (Baptista & Gradim, 2020, pp.4-5). Fake news is different from false reports because false reports are usually mistakes found in news and can be an error on the journalist’s behalf (Baptista & Gradim, 2020, p.4). Fake news can be a possible result of when journalists or the media run out of things to report or information, they in turn create disinformation (Baptista & Gradim, 2020; Lesage & Hackett, 2014). Fake news would be a report that was intentionally created to be fake, whether it was for entertainment purposes or for revenge (Baptista, & Gradim, 2020, p.4). Fake news can stem from many subjects, such as politics or real-life events, mainly about people in general (Baptista and Gradim, 2020, p.4). An example of this was when Trump was elected as president back in 2016, there was a lot of news, fake and real surrounding him on social media (Mosendz, 2017; Baptista & Gradim, 2020). Baptista and Gradim (2020) argue that viewers can differentiate fake news and false reports just by looking at the content and also where it came from (p.4).

As to how to handle fake news, Baptista and Gradim (2020) suggested that viewers should always fact-check and also stop spreading fake news content entirely by placing filters or stop sharing the content (p.4). Fake news can become viral if people continue to view and share it online, which seems to suggest that it won’t become viral if people stop sharing it online (Baptista & Gradim, 2020, pp.6-7).

Fact-checking is simple, users should check the website, news outlet, or where it was posted first, and trace back the source where it was originally from (Baptista & Gradim, pp.6-7). Another is to check who posted the news, whether are they actual journalists or influencers and are they well known (Bakir & McStay, 2018, pp.162-163). Bakir and McStay (2018) cite Mark Zuckerberg, who suggested Facebook and other social media can flag fake news and also have the site itself able to detect fake news (Bakir & McStay, 2018, p.162). Fake news can be limited by placing in filters, where fact-checking tools can detect and let the user avoid misinformation (Bakir & McStay, 2018, p.162). Also, another helpful way is to tell others the news is fake through labeling, by placing warning labels or tagging it as false (Bakir & Mcstay, 2018, p.164). This can let the user avoid fake news if they ever see it on their page and also warn others to not click on that page (Bakir & Mcstay, 2018, p.164).

News can come in many forms, and it’s the fake news users should look out for and avoid (Baptista & Gradim, 2020). Baptista and Gradim (2020), and Bakir and McStay (2018) have argued many ways for users to spot fake news and avoid sharing the content and confusion. By staying objective, stopping the fake news from being spread, and filtering out the content can help journalists and viewers avoid fake news (Baptista & Gradim, 2020; Bakir & Mcstay, 2018).

References

Bakir, V., & McStay, A. (2018). Fake news and the economy of emotions: Problems, causes,

solutions. Digital Journalism. 6(2), (pp. 154-175).

Baptista, J. P., & Gradim, A. (2020). Understanding fake news consumption: A review. Social

Sciences, 9(10), 185. Retrieved from SFU Canvas:

https://canvas.sfu.ca/courses/74871/files/20881495?wrap=1

Campbell, G. (2009). A Personal Cyberinfrastructure. Retrieved from:

https://er.educause.edu/articles/2009/9/a-personal-cyberinfrastructure

Eadie, W. F. (2009). 21st-century communication: a reference handbook (Vol. 1). (Ed.). Sage. R

The idea of journalism. Retrieved from SFU Canvas: https://canvas.sfu.ca/courses/74871/files/20596104/preview

Lesage, F., & Hackett, R. A. (2014). Between objectivity and openness-the mediality of data for

journalism. Media and Communication, 2(2), 42.

Mosendz, Polly. (2017, April). The Seven Types of People Who Tweet at Trump. The Seven

Types of People Who Tweet at Trump (bloomberg.com). Bloomberg. Retrieved from: https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2017-who-replies-to-trumps-tweets/