sr448016@ohio.edu
In a time where politics and fake news seem to go hand in hand, it is not uncommon to feel overwhelmed or lose interest completely in the world around us. Now, with President Trump under investigation for impeachment, fake news has continued to be the topic of conversation for many. Whether it be a Republican or Democrat arguing the truth behind that day's news, many citizens are fed up. In a study by two Yale Professors, it was found that those who supported Trump had a lower capacity to differentiate real from fake news compared to those who supported Clinton. In an article by Boston University, it was made clear that Republicans have a strong level of mistrust for the media at 14 percent in 2016, down from 32 percent the year prior. Democrats have a higher level of trust at 51 percent but it is evident that in the recent years, especially with President Trump in office, the media is continuing to get a bad reputation, sometimes for no other reason than the president speaking poorly about them.
The victims of fake news are not only the people or companies attacked by the stories and the lies, they are oftentimes the unsuspecting citizens and consumers of the news that blindly follow what they are told, trusting that if it is coming from the White House, it must be true. With this blind trust, people are believing and following the words of President Trump with complete disregard for the media and their work to uncover the real truth. This has put our country at a crossroads and in a place of turmoil that hasn't been seen in years if not decades. According to the Columbia Journalism Review, Americans are just as prone now to fear and manipulation as they were in 1938 when Americans were living through The Great Depression.
President Trump is largely to blame for this fake news world we are currently living in. After making it a key point during his election campaign, he has continued to target the media, whether it be with claims of them spreading fake news or spreading fake news himself. PBS shared a great article about Trump's influence on the mistrust of the media, explaining that many of his supporters have come around to the idea of fake news after listening to his countless attacks on the media for over two years. In recent years, the way we consume media has also changed. The PBS article also added to this point by interviewing a man who said he first would read his Facebook feed for news on the Trump rally he had just attended and then watch CNN and FOX to see how each network described the event.
Living in a world of social media has largely impacted the fake news business and has given President Trump a platform to share his own fake news, oftentimes instilling fear in the citizens who question the validity of his words. He has continued to take to Twitter to voice his opinions on anything and everything, not stopping even now when he is under investigation for impeachment due to his involvement with Ukraine and asking them to investigate the Bidens, arguably his greatest Democratic competitor for the 2020 election. Rather than wanting what is best for the country and trying to work with both parties, President Trump has made the divide between the two greater than ever. Fake news along with the mistrust of both politicians and the media has put Americans in a corner, stuck between fear and the unknown.
Photo retrieved from The Washtonian and AP Photo/ Evan Vucci
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