"Fake News" Stems From the Pressure to Produce Quantity Over Quality

 Logan Leduc

ll504616@ohio.edu

 

Somewhere along the way, in the world of journalism, there has been an emergence of falsified content that has since been termed, "fake news." There are a plethora of reasons for this trend. It could certainly stem from the constant scrutiny journalists face to create a piece that is both informative but more imperatively, engaging. It could be purely based on a general consensus society has come to, based on a few past occurrences. However, its genesis can most likely be traced back to the hot pressure placed upon journalists to get as many "clicks" or interactions with the content being produced. Because of this, a balance between quantity and quality falters and that can lead to misinformed or weakly-researched "fake news."

In an article by Angele Christin of NiemanLab, it has been suggested that journalists feel the need to keep the traffic of content going and because of that, some content suffers. "As other sites, writers feel pressured by their editors to maximize traffic. One example: Writing a clickbait piece every five articles to 'reset the scale.'" This was a telling quote. The idea of keeping the traffic of any kind of news going is more important than a steady stream of reliable pieces moving out. 

In this digital age, people are active on their phones and they follow their news sources religiously. However, one 'clickbait' story can totally flip someone's opinion and the reputation of that newspaper can plummet. However, editors do seem to be pushing their writers to produce a certain amount of stories a week in order for those digitally-active fingers to click on and scroll through. They do this, despite the work being rushed and riddled with factual errors or too little information.

Picture source: cnbc.com

This image exemplifies exactly the issue we are facing. We type our articles so quick in order to push news out as fast as possible that we don't even realize we are typing out a piece that needs a lot more work.

In an article by AdAge, a very simple yet effective quote is used. "Don't put on airs. Don't try to be something you're not. For starters, it's dishonest -- not to mention embarrassing for everyone concerned." This is in the very first paragraph and while is simple, it tells a great lesson. One should never sell themselves short. Displaying your work, not your corporately-rushed work, is what makes you a good journalist. 

Writing the piece is only half the battle. It is our duty as journalists to conduct the proper research and fact-check the areas that need work. Quantity is rarely ever better than quality. Pressure can make one burst and act out of desperation, but journalism can be better. Yes, the people want news quickly and they want a great deal of it, but it takes one false article for that traffic to come to a screeching halt when those same people turn on your product.