Irene Kent
ik211817@ohio.edu
How does one tell the difference between facts and opinions? It may seem like a simple answer, but it is way more complicated that you may care to believe. Many people throughout America, and throughout the entire world for that matter, fail to tell the difference between the two. Is it because there is a lack of recognition for the reader? Or maybe it can be chalked up to the person who is writing the articles for failing to write in a way that can easily distinguish whether what is being written about is fact or opinion.
You may be thinking, why does all of this matter? It's simple. When people fail to recognize the distinction between a fact and an opinion in news, advertisements or politics, it leads to misinformation and fake news. It essentially causes a huge ripple effect throughout society. One person misinterprets an article, then tells their friends and family about it, then they tell there friends and coworkers, furthering the spread of fake news.
Back when President Trump was inaugurated, his Press Secretary, Sean Spicer, was speaking to the press when he was providing the public with misinformation. He claimed that President Trump's inauguration had "the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period, both in person and around the globe." This information spread throughout the world, causing many people to question Spicer, and they were left to decide whether this was a fact or opinion. Many people found this "fact" hard to believe, but at the same time, they struggled with this situation because someone is Spicer's position is supposed to be trustworthy and truthful in all aspects of his work. In an interview that Chuck Todd, NBC's Meet the Press, held with President Trump's counselor Kellyanne Conway, Conway stated the falsehoods that Spicer said as "alternative facts," leaving the people to chose on their own.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSrEEDQgFc8
https://time.com/4642689/kellyanne-conway-sean-spicer-donald-trump-alternative-facts/
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