The Risks of Fake News in the Media

By: Cassidy Voase
cv770715@ohio.edu

Fake news: what is it?

In today's society and in the media in particular, the idea of "fake news" is constantly prevalent and ever controversial. Fake news is defined as the conscious misrepresentation of information, specifically by the media or online outlets. But what makes content fake news, and who deems it so? It's oftentimes difficult to distinguish between personal and/or party bias and merely false claims or reporting. Was the story actually fake news, or did the media outlet covering it just not agree with the portrayal of the subject matter? This idea is especially apparent in today's political climate, which is often inundated with claims from those in power deeming certain networks "fake news" for simply reporting a story that may not align with that individual's own party values. The below photo captures a tweet in which President Trump publicly deems NBC as fake news and attempts to discredit the network as a whole following its reporting of him in a negative light.

We see this everyday in news outlets such as FOX versus CNN, in which FOX is typically republican and conservative in its coverage and CNN is seen as more democratic and left-leaning. This is why it's important to choose a variety of networks to receive news from on a daily basis in avoiding potentially biased reporting that only feeds into one way of thinking and fuels that.

What effects does fake news have? 

While fake news has many immediate effects - such as false information that leads to misconceptions and biased views - the long-term consequences of believing such news is also important to consider. For example, fake news has the potential to skew an election based on voters having inaccurate facts to base their votes on. The opinions those in society form based off of the news they engage with can directly impact the future of media and news reporting as a whole. This article further examines the idea of fake news and the risks it poses for the future as well as tying this into the past; contrary to popular belief, fake news - while more commonly seen since the semi-recent 2016 presidential election - has always been around in society, and probably always will be.

Humorous fake news 

While the traditional connotation behind the idea of fake news is negative, certain types of fake news content can be seen in a more casual light, though still destructive in its own way. For example, photoshopped images following a news-worthy event may be tweeted out and cause further engagement among social media. In fact, this type of fake content often generates more engagement within a social community simply due to the fact that these images are often unbelievable and therefore interesting to the consumer should he/she choose to believe it is real. This article highlights a number of photos that went viral despite their being photoshopped and therefore fake news. This type of fake news can be detrimental in understanding real facts of events or history, but can also be comical in its simple outrageousness if the person consuming the content does recognize the fact that it's merely curated for comedy.