Not So Good News

Maria Meece
mm162214@ohio.edu

In the most recent election, Buzz Feed's studies show that Fake News "out performed" real news on Facebook. How is is that Americans who look at the news every day, are unable to decipher what is real, and what isn't?

Information is being consumer ever minute of every day. Whether that be online, in person, in an advertisement; the list goes on. It is our jobs as American citizens to be able to handle this information correctly and effectively. Things can get out of hand when one is unable to understand what they are reading, as America has seen in the past.

Americans seek information, news, in many shapes and forms: Newspaper, TV News, Advertisements, Social Media and Online News Websites are just a few. These mediums are a healthy way to consume news till this most recent election. Sure, there was probably fake news in the past elections but not this drastic! This election was decided by fake news; something that no one had heard of till this year, took over something that we thought was so regulated

It is found that Republican were more likely to believe the fake news about their candidate, or the other party's candidate than Democrats. Democrats were said to think analytically about each news article one saw and effectively decide if it was real or fake. Now, what is that Democrats are being taught, that Republicans aren't? Americans need to stay informed. Americans need to dive into what this Nation means. Americans need to be able to talk about what is happening, in a calm way.

One thing that needs to change is the way producing News is made. A random person, shouldn't be able to post something that is false and spread fake news. Obviously, they have their own agenda and America needs to be all "on the same page." America can't be divided. We need to unite at this time. This is important because fake news has pulled us apart. People will believe what they want to believe so if they find a post that disses what they don't like, people will believe it.

In one of NPR's most recent podcast, "Ukraine vs. Fake News," it says  "Do not ignore this problem because it allowed Russian media to influence local people to kill each other." This is outrageous! Obviously, America has had problems in the past with Russia too. What if it gets to this point? Will we take the appropriate actions to fight?

Fake news has taken over the American people and it needs to end. What will the future elections look like if Fake News isn't taken care of? We can't count on the American people to make the appropriate decision if what they are consuming is false.

First, America needs a more regulated post rule. This could violate the First Amendment but could also lead to a less hectic election that is actually fair. Another thing that could help with this problem is how news is posted on various social media sites. Have the URL posted in the ad to see how credible it actually is. More than often, you can tell a news ad is fake just by looking at the URL.

Fake news needs to be ended so that we can start deciding what we actually want for our country. Not have outside influences decide our fate.