Welcome to the blog of Dr. Lisa Burns' Media Studies senior capstone class (2 pm section) at Quinnipiac University. If you're looking for the latest on media industry trends and insightful media analysis, you've come to the right place!
Tuesday, March 20, 2018
News Blog 7, Question 2 (March 27th)
What is the role of journalism in today’s
highly partisan political climate and how is so-called “fake news” impacting
the profession? Also, what, if anything, can news media outlets do to combat
the “fake news” stigma?Limit: 12 responses
It’s hard these days to get any information post Trump Election without hearing the term ‘fake news’ tossed around. It gets a bit tedious sometimes to try to figure out what is seriously being called ‘fake news’ or perhaps what is only being called it as a joke. Nonetheless, there is clearly a fake epidemic in media right now, and perhaps some of it is granted. There is fake news out there and unfortunately some of it can be extremely detrimental, what comes to mind is the now forgotten Pizza-gate scandal. For me it’s the Pizza-gate incident that shows the real dangers of fake news and how even outlandish internet claims can have real world implications. More than that however this fake news epidemic is greatly effecting the journalism industry and the media industry as a whole.
One of the problems with ‘fake news’ is that people are quick to call any news they don’t agree with fake news regardless of its validity or not. However, just because you don’t like something doesn’t mean it’s fake. In fact it’s extremely problematic to do so. However, with that being said, there is also a case for fake news that is explained by Robinson Meyer for The Atlantic article “Why It’s Okay to Call it ‘Fake News’”. In the article they explain that perhaps the phrase should be used sometimes, stating, “’We can’t shy away from phrases because they’re been somehow weaponized. We have to stick to our guns and say there’s a real phenomenon here.’” And that’s true, fake news is certainly a real phenomenon and should be addressed and to address something you have to acknowledge it.
Then there is also the effects of this very real phenomenon on actual news reporting. Looking at the AP News article “Trust in News Media Takes a Hit During Trump Presidency” written by Laurie Kellman and Jonathan Drew. What they said that stuck out the most to me was that, “interviews across the polarized country as well as polling from Trump’s first year suggest people seek out carious outlets of information… and trust none in particular.” The fact that no new sources are particularly trusted says something. Yes sure, people still have sources or sites they trust more than others and there are those people whom are still incredibly loyal to one source over the rest but generally there is a lot of miss trust from the public about the media right now and that is also something that needs addressed.
With that then in mind, it’s clear that there is one massive hurdle in the way of any news site that wants to combat fake news and that is the president. According to an article for The Hill by John Bowden called “Trump Takes credit or exposing fake news as president” President Trump did just that. He stated, “’There is a lot of fake news out there… I’m actually proud of the fact I exposed it to a large extent. It’s an achievement.’” However, despite the fact that yes I do think Trump played a bit role in bringing the light the problem of fake news, I think he is doing nothing to help solve the problem. In fact I would argue that he is doing more of the accusing whatever you don’t agree with of being fake news more than anything else, and that is a big issue as seeing him do that could provide validation for others that partake in that type of behavior as well.
With that all being said, I do think there are something news outlets can do to fight this epidemic. The first being don’t report false information. It’s one of those things that is easier said than done in some respects but the first time you report something false you are going to lose a lot of respect. Take your time to research things the right way instead of rushing to the news desk with potentially faulty information. And when you do have to report on an ongoing event where that facts aren’t clear be upfront about it, make sure audience knows that what you are saying could change with more information coming out.
Bowden, John. “Trump Takes Credit for Exposing Fake News as President.” TheHill, 22 Mar. 2018, thehill.com/homenews/administration/379795-trump-takes-credit-for-exposing-fake-news-as-president.
Kellman, Laurie, and Jonathan Drew. “Correction: Trump-One Year-Media Story.” AP News, Associated Press, 18 Jan. 2018, www.apnews.com/c1d5df2ffe2144c2ab75b3dd052632b3/Trust-in-news-media-takes-a-hit-during-Trump-presidency.
Meyer, Robinson. “Why It's Okay to Call It 'Fake News'.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 9 Mar. 2018, www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/03/why-its-okay-to-say-fake-news/555215/?yptr=yahoo
A journalist`s primary role is to inform the public with facts about recent events that are important on a national, local and global level. In today`s highly partisan political climate, journalism is giving its viewers more reputable opinionates with similar political dispositions. The battle between MSNBC and Fox News creating right wing and left-wing news shows gives less objectivity presented to viewers. The post-Trump era has fostered these extreme partisan divides between news shows based on their Republican or Democratic audiences.
The "fake news" trend is contributing to distrust between political parties and their news sources. The Pew Research Center conducted a study about how Democrats and Republicans political beliefs have divided over double the number of points in the last few years. According to the Pew Research Center`s study, "Nearly nine-in-ten Democrats (89%) feel media criticism keeps leaders from doing the wrong thing - a sense shared by only about four-in-ten Republicans (42%). In contrast, a year ago about three-quarters both Democrats (74%) and Republicans (77%) backed by the news media`s watchdog role" (7). These numbers constitute the partisan gap that is drawing major concern at news organizations. The 47-percentage-gap difference is the largest partisan divide in history. The divide increases low trust between parties, and low trust social media news overall.
Social media news is also giving a bad reputation for news organizations and local news media outlets. Kristen Bialik and Katerina Eva Matsa from Pew Research Center talks about some of the trends regarding news and social media. One of the most controversial trends is how people receive and trust their news sources via social media. The authors state that "Nearly two-thirds of U.S. adults (64%) say fabricated news stories cause a great deal of confusion about the basic facts of current issues and events. About a third of U.S. adults (32%) say they often see made-up political news online, while 39% sometimes see such stories and 26% hardly ever or never do" (Bialik and Matsa p1). However, the demographics of who is following this fake news is nonwhites. Minorities and youth are the core readers and viewers of the fake news that is constantly being circulated and reproduced. Another article on Blackboard even states how the youth are viewing their news via social media sites like Facebook and Google more than their elders. Therefore, a call to action is needed to reveal what fake news is, and how can news organizations regain the trust of their audiences.
Fake news is negatively persuading a decrease in subscriptions and circulation for news media outlets. New York Times Writer Niraj Chokshi who writes "How to Fight 'Fake News' (Warning: It Is`nt Easy)" gave some of his tips on how presenting new information can fight false news confusion and credibility. Chokshi emphasized, "Giving your audience new and credible information is especially effective in thoroughly unseating misinformation, the authors found. That, they said, supports their hypothesis that the new information allows people to update their understanding of events, justifying why they fell for the falsehood in the first place" (Chokshi p 1). Chokshi also included tips of increasing scrutiny, presenting videos, and minimizing arguments in the content. Overall, society needs to clarify the difference between fake and false news, and create more quality trustworthy social media news stories that can go viral without misleading.
Bialik, Kristen, and Katerina Eva Matsa. “Key Trends in Social and Digital News Media.” Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center 2017, 4 Oct. 2017, www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/10/04/key-trends-in-social-and-digital-news-media/.
Chokshi, Niraj. “How to Fight 'Fake News' (Warning: It Isn't Easy).” The New York Times, The New York Times, 18 Sept. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/09/18/business/media/fight-fake-news.html.
No authors. “American` Attitude About the News Media Deeply Divided Along Partisan Lines” Pew Research Center. Pew Research Center 2017. 10 May 2017.
In today’s political climate, journalism is all about getting a story first, not about getting it right. The field that was once about not having bias and just revealing the truth as it is known has not-so subtly become a battle royale amongst the political parties.
Fake news has done two things for the profession of journalism: turning it into a scapegoat and help to reveal issues online. In Robinson Meyer’s article in “The Atlantic,” he quoted a scientist and wrote, “by using the eye-grabbing term (fake news), scholars can reinforce the idea that there is something wrong with the information ecosystem (Meyers, 2018).” There are many articles posted on social media, most notably Facebook, that have been published and distributed from fake news outlets and taken to be true. By defining what it is labeling these articles “fake news,” journalists who work for legitimate news centers can be trusted and have better public perception.
Social media platforms are a medium to release news, not the news itself (Topolsky, 2018). Most media outlets have their own set of followers that will turn into the outlet regardless of platform or medium. To combat the “fake news” stigma, outlets should use social media as a segway to their own sources rather than letting sites like Facebook dictate who sees what and when they are exposed to it.
This newfound use of the term “fake news” was brought in through politics. President Donald Trump has used the term almost 300 times when referring to a news outlet or a reporter (Shafer, 2018). This puts journalists and news outlets at risk of losing all credibility.
The profession has a foundation of and a social responsibility to inform the public. Once credibility, reliability and validity are lost, journalism as a profession will crumble. That is a possibility when media outlets are unjustly labeled “fake news.”
What are the qualifications to be a journalist and what is the threshold between writing fake news and making a gregious error? These are the two main questions that need to be resolved within the industry before fake news and the slander that now comes with it can be addressed.
From what I can find, fake news is only supposed to be intentionally posted as fake and misleading, but still hide the fact that the information has been fabricated or not supported (Meyer, 2018). Honest mistakes or accidently posting an article before all details can be confirmed is not supposed to be labeled as such.
People who are not credible can still have jobs and post fabricated articles, but that only hurts journalists. Ad revenue (the main source of income for news outlets) has dropped to a third of what it was a decade ago (Barthel, 2017). In order to regain ad revenue as their livelihood, news outlets and journalists need to regain the public’s trust.
They need to release information to the public that can be supported. Social media has become important in distribution of the news, but that shouldn’t mean a sacrifice in quality. Data and facts are what journalists need to combat the epidemic that is “fake news.” Being informed is the first step in being able to inform others.
Barthel, M. (2017, June 01). Despite subscription surges for largest U.S. newspapers, circulation and revenue fall for industry overall. Retrieved March 27, 2018, from http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/06/01/circulation-and-revenue-fall-for-newspaper-industry/
Meyer, R. (2018, March 09). Why It's Okay to Call It 'Fake News'. Retrieved March 27, 2018, from https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/03/why-its-okay-to-say-fake-news/555215/?yptr=yahoo
Shafer, J., Weiss, J., Hasen, R. L., & Robillard, K. (2018, January 18). Donald Trump's Fake News Mistake. Retrieved March 27, 2018, from https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/01/18/donald-trumps-fake-news-mistake-216480
Topolsky, J. (2018, January 15). Facebook killing news is the best thing that ever happened to news. Retrieved March 27, 2018, from https://theoutline.com/post/2936/facebook-news-feed-changes-are-actually-good-for-news?zd=8
In today’s highly partisan political climate, it is necessary to examine “fake news”, it’s impact on the consumers and the profession and what can be done to fight back. This is important because of some of the controversies that have risen from fake news. Afterall, consumers’ perspectives on the reality of any situation are formed, or at least shaped, by the way it is presented to them. Just last year, when a North Carolina man’s perspective on a pizza parlor was shaped by fake news suggesting that it was connected to a child prostitution ring, he decided to address the issue through using a gun. Luckily he was stopped but the point was that fake news, while it may sound trivial, can lead to life and death situations. Politically there is a divide between parties on the importance of journalism and its value to our society. Michael Barthel and Amy Mitchell write in American Attitudes About the News Media Deeply Divided Along Partisan Lines, that “Democrats and Republicans...now disagree more than ever on a fundamental issue of the news media’s role in society.” This illustrates how far the political divide has gone, that the two main parties won’t even agree with each other on the importance of news media and journalism. The divide and disagreement between parties on journalism, Barthel writes stems for a couple different factors. One is that Democrats feel criticism on leaders keeps them in line (watchdog function). The second is that journalism and news organizations do not maintain neutrality. A third is the reliability of news organizations and lastly the informative nature of news organizations. During this period of partisanship consumption of news via mobile devices has also increased more for Democrats than Republicans. While this is true of all Americans the rate of growth is much higher for amongst Democrats, signalling that while one party is in power, the opposite is most likely to be keeping up to date with the news (Barthel). As journalism grapples with the political climate, it also has to adjust to “fake news” impacting the profession. Fake news are false stories written to purposely mislead the public, yet this phrase has become sensationalized by a few in power. Lauria Kellman and Jonathan Drew state in their Associated Press article CorrectionL Trump-One Year-Media Story, people have become much less trusting abot the news coming out of the journalism profession. This hurts not only the journalism profession but stregnthens partisanship divide, as those people will not be more likely to turn to news outlets that will only solidfy their beliefs. While some people are seeing news as less of a tool used to inform the public and more of a fight between the media and the president (Kellman). Fake news is an issue that needs to be combated from all sides including the news organizations, writes, editors, and readers. Reporters need to be aware of the accuracy in the facts of the stories they are writing and editorial teams need to re-check the work done by their journalists. Readers also need to be aware of fake news and look for certain signals that what an article is reporting might not be true. In an article written for Fortune Magazine, Jonathan Vanian writes, that Facebook and Twitter have laid out plans to help combat fake news. Facebook’s message to its users was to rate stories the users had read and to rate them based on whether they believed the story to be true or not. This would allow Facebook to feature more news articles from sourcers had more confidence in (Vanian). Using teamwork between companies and readers might be one of the best solutions to combating fake news.
Barthel, Michael and Amy Mitchell. "Americans' Attitudes About the News Media Deeply Divided Along Partisan Lines," Pew Research Center. 10 May 2017. Web.
Kellman, Laurie and Jonathan Drew. "Trust in News Media Takes a Hit During Trump Presidency," Associated Press 15 Jan. 2018. Web.
Vanian, Jonathan. “Facebook, Twitter Take New Steps to Combat Fake News and Manipulation.” Fortune, 20 Jan. 2018, fortune.com/2018/01/19/facebook-twitter-news-feed-russia-ads/.
The role of what must be done by journalists is perfectly written out Robinson Meyer’s article for The Atlantic, ‘Why Its Okay to Call It Fake News’. The blueprint Robinson lays out states, “The fight against misinformation is two-fold, he told me. First, powerful individuals and popular Twitter users have to lead the fight against fake news and bad information. […] ‘Research has found that people who are important nodes in the network play an important role in dissemination,’ especially on Twitter, Nyhan told me. ‘Stories are being refracted through these big hubs. And I’m not a big hub, but I think it’s important to practice what I preach.’” Brendan Nyhan, the Dartmouth College professor that Robinson was interviewing was justifies this statement arguing that, “People are not going to fact-check every sort of information they come across online. […] So we have to help them make better decisions and more accurately evaluate the information they encounter.” Fake news and the claims made by the president that every unflattering news story is fake news is clearly impacting the media’s ability to do this. Laurie Kellman and Jonathan Drew from the Associated Press point out in their article ‘Trust in News Media Takes a Hit During Trump Presidency’ that nearly 2 in 3 Americans believe that fabricated news stories confuse the public about current affairs. For the sake of this blog we will use the definition of fake news given by David Lazer, an author on a Science’s article about the fake news phenomenon. Lazer tells Robinson that; “We define it in a very particular way. It’s content that is being put out there that has all the dressings of something that looks legitimate. It’s not just something that is false—it’s something that is manufactured to hide the fact that it is false.” This definition provides us with clarity as to why news outlets and other social media influencers need to be better at facilitating news. The best way for people to get accurate information, although there is seemingly no perfect way of disseminating information in the digital era, is for online news disseminators to take integrity and accuracy incredibly seriously. These disseminators of information should build their brand up as being a trustworthy source of information that is based on hard work, research, and transparency. To build a strong relationship with of understanding with audiences the disseminators should own up to any mistakes made or accidental misinformation and to put a premium on serving the audience’s desire for accurate information. This means they should present all sides to a story, talk about where they get their information from, and be open to new arguments as they come. As more strong brands such as this grow then hopefully bit by there can be a restored faith in the media and that the restoration is built upon strong ground. Otherwise the statistical trend presented by Business Wire that, “When it comes to social media, 54% of Americans say that “fake news” has eroded their trust in those sources,” will only trend upward. "Correction: Trump-One Year-Media Story." AP News. N.p., 2018. Web. 27 Mar. 2018.
"'Fake News' Reinforces Trust In Mainstream News Brands: Hits Reputation Of Social Media Sources." Businesswire.com. N.p., 2018. Web. 27 Mar. 2018.
Meyer, Robinson. "Why It’S Okay To Call It ‘Fake News’." The Atlantic. N.p., 2018. Web. 27 Mar. 2018.
The desire for a culprit to pin the loss of the election is perhaps the most powerful desire for readers of mainstream media. The tried and true narrative of shadowy, nefarious Russian manipulations is the most effective answer for the public – for with no other nation did the USA fight a Cold War with. The story that mainstream journalists of the elite media are selling to the public today is not just a good story, let alone it being truthful – it is THE story, backed by ‘evidence’ provided by faceless sources who may have their own political motivations. This is how mainstream media can be held to no account, coercing the public into literally subscribing to a narrative that is making many claims about foreign political conduct without providing evidence – mainstream US media is financially motivated to accept any claim about Russian interference and misdeeds as fact, and those who question this evidence are portrayed as inauthentic Russian sympathizers. These false stories are endowed with evidential credibility due to the organizations and institutions broadcasting them, creating one of the unhealthiest climates for true, verifiable, evidence-based journalism in years, which is signified in the popularization of the term “fake news”, a phrase Trump himself has used multiple times. As Laurie Kellman and Jonathan Drew write for the AP, ““I think part of the problem is that now people are getting too much information and it confuses them and they don’t know how to decipher the true and the fake,” said Trent Lott, a former Senate Republican… He isn’t fond of Trump’s Twitter habit, but also says he sees bias in the coverage of Washington by the mainstream media.”(Kellman, Drew) So, what is the central motivation behind the riveting tales and fables that are packaged as honest, substantive news? The answer of course, is the bottom line. It is ironic that since Donald Trump assumed office, he has made relentless attacks on mainstream media reporting about him, and frequently remarks on the failing status on The New York Times; one of the most influential newspapers in the United States and a frequent propagator of Trump and Russia related content – The New York Times has an entire subsection of their webpage entitled “What Is the ‘Russia Story’?” However, The Times has experienced an unprecedented surge of growth, gaining hundreds of thousands of new subscribers since the beginning of the Trump campaign and election coverage, reaching an all-time high of 3 million subscribers, as noted by their own quarterly earning reports. CEO of NYT Mark Thompson spoke on the quarterly report earlier this year, stating “We added an astonishing 308,000 net digital news subscriptions, making Q1 the single best quarter for subscriber growth in our history.” The Washington Post (whose foreign policy writer Adam Entous was caught on camera admitting that the entire Russia story is a “f*cking crap shoot” and remarked that it “maybe doesn’t exist at all... there’s no evidence that I’ve seen so far”) has experienced substantial growth this year as well, with “doubled digital subscription revenue in the past 12 months, with a 75% increase in new subscribers. Of course, the central tenet of this election controversy has been the spread of fake news. As Robinson Meyer writes for the Atlantic, “None of the political scientists endorsed President Trump’s tack of calling almost any news coverage he dislikes fake news. “We see that usage getting picked up by authoritarian types around the world,” Lazer said. But he does hope that by using the eye-grabbing term, scholars can reinforce the idea that there is something wrong with the information ecosystem…”(Meyer)
Meyer, Robinson. "Why It’s Okay to Call It ‘Fake News,’" The Atlantic 9 March 2018. Web.
Kellman, Laurie and Jonathan Drew. "Trust in News Media Takes a Hit During Trump Presidency," Associated Press 15 Jan. 2018. Web.
Barthel, Michael. "Despite Subscription Surges for Largest U.S. Newspapers, Circulation and Revenue Fall for Industry Overall," Pew Research Center 1 June 2017.
It’s hard these days to get any information post Trump Election without hearing the term ‘fake news’ tossed around. It gets a bit tedious sometimes to try to figure out what is seriously being called ‘fake news’ or perhaps what is only being called it as a joke. Nonetheless, there is clearly a fake epidemic in media right now, and perhaps some of it is granted. There is fake news out there and unfortunately some of it can be extremely detrimental, what comes to mind is the now forgotten Pizza-gate scandal. For me it’s the Pizza-gate incident that shows the real dangers of fake news and how even outlandish internet claims can have real world implications. More than that however this fake news epidemic is greatly effecting the journalism industry and the media industry as a whole.
ReplyDeleteOne of the problems with ‘fake news’ is that people are quick to call any news they don’t agree with fake news regardless of its validity or not. However, just because you don’t like something doesn’t mean it’s fake. In fact it’s extremely problematic to do so. However, with that being said, there is also a case for fake news that is explained by Robinson Meyer for The Atlantic article “Why It’s Okay to Call it ‘Fake News’”. In the article they explain that perhaps the phrase should be used sometimes, stating, “’We can’t shy away from phrases because they’re been somehow weaponized. We have to stick to our guns and say there’s a real phenomenon here.’” And that’s true, fake news is certainly a real phenomenon and should be addressed and to address something you have to acknowledge it.
Then there is also the effects of this very real phenomenon on actual news reporting. Looking at the AP News article “Trust in News Media Takes a Hit During Trump Presidency” written by Laurie Kellman and Jonathan Drew. What they said that stuck out the most to me was that, “interviews across the polarized country as well as polling from Trump’s first year suggest people seek out carious outlets of information… and trust none in particular.” The fact that no new sources are particularly trusted says something. Yes sure, people still have sources or sites they trust more than others and there are those people whom are still incredibly loyal to one source over the rest but generally there is a lot of miss trust from the public about the media right now and that is also something that needs addressed.
With that then in mind, it’s clear that there is one massive hurdle in the way of any news site that wants to combat fake news and that is the president. According to an article for The Hill by John Bowden called “Trump Takes credit or exposing fake news as president” President Trump did just that. He stated, “’There is a lot of fake news out there… I’m actually proud of the fact I exposed it to a large extent. It’s an achievement.’” However, despite the fact that yes I do think Trump played a bit role in bringing the light the problem of fake news, I think he is doing nothing to help solve the problem. In fact I would argue that he is doing more of the accusing whatever you don’t agree with of being fake news more than anything else, and that is a big issue as seeing him do that could provide validation for others that partake in that type of behavior as well.
With that all being said, I do think there are something news outlets can do to fight this epidemic. The first being don’t report false information. It’s one of those things that is easier said than done in some respects but the first time you report something false you are going to lose a lot of respect. Take your time to research things the right way instead of rushing to the news desk with potentially faulty information. And when you do have to report on an ongoing event where that facts aren’t clear be upfront about it, make sure audience knows that what you are saying could change with more information coming out.
Works Cited:
DeleteBowden, John. “Trump Takes Credit for Exposing Fake News as President.” TheHill, 22 Mar. 2018, thehill.com/homenews/administration/379795-trump-takes-credit-for-exposing-fake-news-as-president.
Kellman, Laurie, and Jonathan Drew. “Correction: Trump-One Year-Media Story.” AP News, Associated Press, 18 Jan. 2018, www.apnews.com/c1d5df2ffe2144c2ab75b3dd052632b3/Trust-in-news-media-takes-a-hit-during-Trump-presidency.
Meyer, Robinson. “Why It's Okay to Call It 'Fake News'.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 9 Mar. 2018, www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/03/why-its-okay-to-say-fake-news/555215/?yptr=yahoo
A journalist`s primary role is to inform the public with facts about recent events that are important on a national, local and global level. In today`s highly partisan political climate, journalism is giving its viewers more reputable opinionates with similar political dispositions. The battle between MSNBC and Fox News creating right wing and left-wing news shows gives less objectivity presented to viewers. The post-Trump era has fostered these extreme partisan divides between news shows based on their Republican or Democratic audiences.
ReplyDeleteThe "fake news" trend is contributing to distrust between political parties and their news sources. The Pew Research Center conducted a study about how Democrats and Republicans political beliefs have divided over double the number of points in the last few years. According to the Pew Research Center`s study, "Nearly nine-in-ten Democrats (89%) feel media criticism keeps leaders from doing the wrong thing - a sense shared by only about four-in-ten Republicans (42%). In contrast, a year ago about three-quarters both Democrats (74%) and Republicans (77%) backed by the news media`s watchdog role" (7). These numbers constitute the partisan gap that is drawing major concern at news organizations. The 47-percentage-gap difference is the largest partisan divide in history. The divide increases low trust between parties, and low trust social media news overall.
Social media news is also giving a bad reputation for news organizations and local news media outlets. Kristen Bialik and Katerina Eva Matsa from Pew Research Center talks about some of the trends regarding news and social media. One of the most controversial trends is how people receive and trust their news sources via social media. The authors state that "Nearly two-thirds of U.S. adults (64%) say fabricated news stories cause a great deal of confusion about the basic facts of current issues and events. About a third of U.S. adults (32%) say they often see made-up political news online, while 39% sometimes see such stories and 26% hardly ever or never do" (Bialik and Matsa p1). However, the demographics of who is following this fake news is nonwhites. Minorities and youth are the core readers and viewers of the fake news that is constantly being circulated and reproduced. Another article on Blackboard even states how the youth are viewing their news via social media sites like Facebook and Google more than their elders. Therefore, a call to action is needed to reveal what fake news is, and how can news organizations regain the trust of their audiences.
Fake news is negatively persuading a decrease in subscriptions and circulation for news media outlets. New York Times Writer Niraj Chokshi who writes "How to Fight 'Fake News' (Warning: It Is`nt Easy)" gave some of his tips on how presenting new information can fight false news confusion and credibility. Chokshi emphasized, "Giving your audience new and credible information is especially effective in thoroughly unseating misinformation, the authors found. That, they said, supports their hypothesis that the new information allows people to update their understanding of events, justifying why they fell for the falsehood in the first place" (Chokshi p 1). Chokshi also included tips of increasing scrutiny, presenting videos, and minimizing arguments in the content. Overall, society needs to clarify the difference between fake and false news, and create more quality trustworthy social media news stories that can go viral without misleading.
Works Cited
ReplyDeleteBialik, Kristen, and Katerina Eva Matsa. “Key Trends in Social and Digital News Media.” Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center 2017, 4 Oct. 2017, www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/10/04/key-trends-in-social-and-digital-news-media/.
Chokshi, Niraj. “How to Fight 'Fake News' (Warning: It Isn't Easy).” The New York Times, The New York Times, 18 Sept. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/09/18/business/media/fight-fake-news.html.
No authors. “American` Attitude About the News Media Deeply Divided Along Partisan Lines” Pew Research Center. Pew Research Center 2017. 10 May 2017.
In today’s political climate, journalism is all about getting a story first, not about getting it right. The field that was once about not having bias and just revealing the truth as it is known has not-so subtly become a battle royale amongst the political parties.
ReplyDeleteFake news has done two things for the profession of journalism: turning it into a scapegoat and help to reveal issues online. In Robinson Meyer’s article in “The Atlantic,” he quoted a scientist and wrote, “by using the eye-grabbing term (fake news), scholars can reinforce the idea that there is something wrong with the information ecosystem (Meyers, 2018).” There are many articles posted on social media, most notably Facebook, that have been published and distributed from fake news outlets and taken to be true. By defining what it is labeling these articles “fake news,” journalists who work for legitimate news centers can be trusted and have better public perception.
Social media platforms are a medium to release news, not the news itself (Topolsky, 2018). Most media outlets have their own set of followers that will turn into the outlet regardless of platform or medium. To combat the “fake news” stigma, outlets should use social media as a segway to their own sources rather than letting sites like Facebook dictate who sees what and when they are exposed to it.
This newfound use of the term “fake news” was brought in through politics. President Donald Trump has used the term almost 300 times when referring to a news outlet or a reporter (Shafer, 2018). This puts journalists and news outlets at risk of losing all credibility.
The profession has a foundation of and a social responsibility to inform the public. Once credibility, reliability and validity are lost, journalism as a profession will crumble. That is a possibility when media outlets are unjustly labeled “fake news.”
What are the qualifications to be a journalist and what is the threshold between writing fake news and making a gregious error? These are the two main questions that need to be resolved within the industry before fake news and the slander that now comes with it can be addressed.
From what I can find, fake news is only supposed to be intentionally posted as fake and misleading, but still hide the fact that the information has been fabricated or not supported (Meyer, 2018). Honest mistakes or accidently posting an article before all details can be confirmed is not supposed to be labeled as such.
People who are not credible can still have jobs and post fabricated articles, but that only hurts journalists. Ad revenue (the main source of income for news outlets) has dropped to a third of what it was a decade ago (Barthel, 2017). In order to regain ad revenue as their livelihood, news outlets and journalists need to regain the public’s trust.
They need to release information to the public that can be supported. Social media has become important in distribution of the news, but that shouldn’t mean a sacrifice in quality. Data and facts are what journalists need to combat the epidemic that is “fake news.” Being informed is the first step in being able to inform others.
Works Cited:
DeleteBarthel, M. (2017, June 01). Despite subscription surges for largest U.S. newspapers, circulation and revenue fall for industry overall. Retrieved March 27, 2018, from http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/06/01/circulation-and-revenue-fall-for-newspaper-industry/
Meyer, R. (2018, March 09). Why It's Okay to Call It 'Fake News'. Retrieved March 27, 2018, from https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/03/why-its-okay-to-say-fake-news/555215/?yptr=yahoo
Shafer, J., Weiss, J., Hasen, R. L., & Robillard, K. (2018, January 18). Donald Trump's Fake News Mistake. Retrieved March 27, 2018, from https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/01/18/donald-trumps-fake-news-mistake-216480
Topolsky, J. (2018, January 15). Facebook killing news is the best thing that ever happened to news. Retrieved March 27, 2018, from https://theoutline.com/post/2936/facebook-news-feed-changes-are-actually-good-for-news?zd=8
David Purkert
ReplyDeleteIn today’s highly partisan political climate, it is necessary to examine “fake news”, it’s impact on the consumers and the profession and what can be done to fight back. This is important because of some of the controversies that have risen from fake news. Afterall, consumers’ perspectives on the reality of any situation are formed, or at least shaped, by the way it is presented to them. Just last year, when a North Carolina man’s perspective on a pizza parlor was shaped by fake news suggesting that it was connected to a child prostitution ring, he decided to address the issue through using a gun. Luckily he was stopped but the point was that fake news, while it may sound trivial, can lead to life and death situations.
Politically there is a divide between parties on the importance of journalism and its value to our society. Michael Barthel and Amy Mitchell write in American Attitudes About the News Media Deeply Divided Along Partisan Lines, that “Democrats and Republicans...now disagree more than ever on a fundamental issue of the news media’s role in society.” This illustrates how far the political divide has gone, that the two main parties won’t even agree with each other on the importance of news media and journalism. The divide and disagreement between parties on journalism, Barthel writes stems for a couple different factors. One is that Democrats feel criticism on leaders keeps them in line (watchdog function). The second is that journalism and news organizations do not maintain neutrality. A third is the reliability of news organizations and lastly the informative nature of news organizations. During this period of partisanship consumption of news via mobile devices has also increased more for Democrats than Republicans. While this is true of all Americans the rate of growth is much higher for amongst Democrats, signalling that while one party is in power, the opposite is most likely to be keeping up to date with the news (Barthel).
As journalism grapples with the political climate, it also has to adjust to “fake news” impacting the profession. Fake news are false stories written to purposely mislead the public, yet this phrase has become sensationalized by a few in power. Lauria Kellman and Jonathan Drew state in their Associated Press article CorrectionL Trump-One Year-Media Story, people have become much less trusting abot the news coming out of the journalism profession. This hurts not only the journalism profession but stregnthens partisanship divide, as those people will not be more likely to turn to news outlets that will only solidfy their beliefs. While some people are seeing news as less of a tool used to inform the public and more of a fight between the media and the president (Kellman).
Fake news is an issue that needs to be combated from all sides including the news organizations, writes, editors, and readers. Reporters need to be aware of the accuracy in the facts of the stories they are writing and editorial teams need to re-check the work done by their journalists. Readers also need to be aware of fake news and look for certain signals that what an article is reporting might not be true. In an article written for Fortune Magazine, Jonathan Vanian writes, that Facebook and Twitter have laid out plans to help combat fake news. Facebook’s message to its users was to rate stories the users had read and to rate them based on whether they believed the story to be true or not. This would allow Facebook to feature more news articles from sourcers had more confidence in (Vanian). Using teamwork between companies and readers might be one of the best solutions to combating fake news.
Works Cited
DeleteBarthel, Michael and Amy Mitchell. "Americans' Attitudes About the News Media Deeply Divided Along Partisan Lines," Pew Research Center. 10 May 2017. Web.
Kellman, Laurie and Jonathan Drew. "Trust in News Media Takes a Hit During Trump Presidency," Associated Press 15 Jan. 2018. Web.
Vanian, Jonathan. “Facebook, Twitter Take New Steps to Combat Fake News and Manipulation.” Fortune, 20 Jan. 2018, fortune.com/2018/01/19/facebook-twitter-news-feed-russia-ads/.
The role of what must be done by journalists is perfectly written out Robinson Meyer’s article for The Atlantic, ‘Why Its Okay to Call It Fake News’. The blueprint Robinson lays out states, “The fight against misinformation is two-fold, he told me. First, powerful individuals and popular Twitter users have to lead the fight against fake news and bad information. […] ‘Research has found that people who are important nodes in the network play an important role in dissemination,’ especially on Twitter, Nyhan told me. ‘Stories are being refracted through these big hubs. And I’m not a big hub, but I think it’s important to practice what I preach.’” Brendan Nyhan, the Dartmouth College professor that Robinson was interviewing was justifies this statement arguing that, “People are not going to fact-check every sort of information they come across online. […] So we have to help them make better decisions and more accurately evaluate the information they encounter.”
ReplyDeleteFake news and the claims made by the president that every unflattering news story is fake news is clearly impacting the media’s ability to do this. Laurie Kellman and Jonathan Drew from the Associated Press point out in their article ‘Trust in News Media Takes a Hit During Trump Presidency’ that nearly 2 in 3 Americans believe that fabricated news stories confuse the public about current affairs. For the sake of this blog we will use the definition of fake news given by David Lazer, an author on a Science’s article about the fake news phenomenon. Lazer tells Robinson that; “We define it in a very particular way. It’s content that is being put out there that has all the dressings of something that looks legitimate. It’s not just something that is false—it’s something that is manufactured to hide the fact that it is false.” This definition provides us with clarity as to why news outlets and other social media influencers need to be better at facilitating news.
The best way for people to get accurate information, although there is seemingly no perfect way of disseminating information in the digital era, is for online news disseminators to take integrity and accuracy incredibly seriously. These disseminators of information should build their brand up as being a trustworthy source of information that is based on hard work, research, and transparency. To build a strong relationship with of understanding with audiences the disseminators should own up to any mistakes made or accidental misinformation and to put a premium on serving the audience’s desire for accurate information. This means they should present all sides to a story, talk about where they get their information from, and be open to new arguments as they come. As more strong brands such as this grow then hopefully bit by there can be a restored faith in the media and that the restoration is built upon strong ground. Otherwise the statistical trend presented by Business Wire that, “When it comes to social media, 54% of Americans say that “fake news” has eroded their trust in those sources,” will only trend upward.
"Correction: Trump-One Year-Media Story." AP News. N.p., 2018. Web. 27 Mar. 2018.
"'Fake News' Reinforces Trust In Mainstream News Brands: Hits Reputation Of Social Media Sources." Businesswire.com. N.p., 2018. Web. 27 Mar. 2018.
Meyer, Robinson. "Why It’S Okay To Call It ‘Fake News’." The Atlantic. N.p., 2018. Web. 27 Mar. 2018.
The desire for a culprit to pin the loss of the election is perhaps the most powerful desire for readers of mainstream media. The tried and true narrative of shadowy, nefarious Russian manipulations is the most effective answer for the public – for with no other nation did the USA fight a Cold War with. The story that mainstream journalists of the elite media are selling to the public today is not just a good story, let alone it being truthful – it is THE story, backed by ‘evidence’ provided by faceless sources who may have their own political motivations. This is how mainstream media can be held to no account, coercing the public into literally subscribing to a narrative that is making many claims about foreign political conduct without providing evidence – mainstream US media is financially motivated to accept any claim about Russian interference and misdeeds as fact, and those who question this evidence are portrayed as inauthentic Russian sympathizers. These false stories are endowed with evidential credibility due to the organizations and institutions broadcasting them, creating one of the unhealthiest climates for true, verifiable, evidence-based journalism in years, which is signified in the popularization of the term “fake news”, a phrase Trump himself has used multiple times. As Laurie Kellman and Jonathan Drew write for the AP, ““I think part of the problem is that now people are getting too much information and it confuses them and they don’t know how to decipher the true and the fake,” said Trent Lott, a former Senate Republican… He isn’t fond of Trump’s Twitter habit, but also says he sees bias in the coverage of Washington by the mainstream media.”(Kellman, Drew)
ReplyDeleteSo, what is the central motivation behind the riveting tales and fables that are packaged as honest, substantive news? The answer of course, is the bottom line. It is ironic that since Donald Trump assumed office, he has made relentless attacks on mainstream media reporting about him, and frequently remarks on the failing status on The New York Times; one of the most influential newspapers in the United States and a frequent propagator of Trump and Russia related content – The New York Times has an entire subsection of their webpage entitled “What Is the ‘Russia Story’?” However, The Times has experienced an unprecedented surge of growth, gaining hundreds of thousands of new subscribers since the beginning of the Trump campaign and election coverage, reaching an all-time high of 3 million subscribers, as noted by their own quarterly earning reports. CEO of NYT Mark Thompson spoke on the quarterly report earlier this year, stating “We added an astonishing 308,000 net digital news subscriptions, making Q1 the single best quarter for subscriber growth in our history.” The Washington Post (whose foreign policy writer Adam Entous was caught on camera admitting that the entire Russia story is a “f*cking crap shoot” and remarked that it “maybe doesn’t exist at all... there’s no evidence that I’ve seen so far”) has experienced substantial growth this year as well, with “doubled digital subscription revenue in the past 12 months, with a 75% increase in new subscribers. Of course, the central tenet of this election controversy has been the spread of fake news. As Robinson Meyer writes for the Atlantic, “None of the political scientists endorsed President Trump’s tack of calling almost any news coverage he dislikes fake news. “We see that usage getting picked up by authoritarian types around the world,” Lazer said. But he does hope that by using the eye-grabbing term, scholars can reinforce the idea that there is something wrong with the information ecosystem…”(Meyer)
DeleteMeyer, Robinson. "Why It’s Okay to Call It ‘Fake News,’" The Atlantic 9 March 2018. Web.
Kellman, Laurie and Jonathan Drew. "Trust in News Media Takes a Hit During Trump Presidency," Associated Press 15 Jan. 2018. Web.
Barthel, Michael. "Despite Subscription Surges for Largest U.S. Newspapers, Circulation and Revenue Fall for Industry Overall," Pew Research Center 1 June 2017.