Whether the public should believe the news

Yichen Wei

yw130215@ohio.edu

 

The phenomenon of astroturfing nowadays is growing by a considerable number and whether it is conceived by the public is hard to say. 

 

Picture Source: https://rdi.org/democracy-examined/2020/12/1/the-bizarre-world-of-astroturfing-and-no-not-the-kind-on-the-football-field/

For a series of purposes, the media outlets intend to make use of the commerce, governments,  etcetera to leave the reader an impression of widespread support they have from the grassroots. Social media and other media platforms are commonly used by the public every day and they could be displayed everywhere. Depending on this situation the companies or other backstage stakeholders are trying to utilize various approaches to exhibit tons of information in front of the public. We all understand the natural way of how human brains function, in other words, a kind of content that keeps repeating itself and may use some disguises, and leave the reader with a deep memory.

 

Some approaches would be used as the way of astroturfing such as the personal software, the fake accounts, and the human astroturfers. It is an internet era so that the information of everything could be found by the seamless connection of everything. Also, information security is becoming a serious issue as personal records could be easily gained in different ways. So the companies and outlets could find out the data resources they want anytime for creating astroturfing. Along with the fast development of high technologies, these ways become easier to initiate and apply. And of course, the skills are gradually becoming more mature and hard to be recognized by the public. So whether people should still believe the information concluded in the news it is hard to give a judgment.

 

However, these phenomenons are already becoming a trend and latent rule in this industry since they have to achieve the commercial or political aims most of the time. The breaking of the rules is inevitable if this situation tends to be improved. The system of censorship on these operations needed to be improved and authoritarian governments hopefully would interfere to give it more pressure. The creation and maintenance of an ethical and regulated media environment are critical to society and it is also a way to improve the credibility of the news outlets. it is the mutual function to each side whatever to the public or to the news companies either. For the news media companies, they are required to hold their ethical codes and principles to set an example inside the whole industry and create a good environment. For the audience the information they received from the news is the content they could give one hundred trusts and obviously they would give its support and bring companies the profit they want. Doing your own research is important when people receive various information and consult different media platforms and confirm the messages. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bYAQ-ZZtEU