Christopher Riley
Image sourced from South China Morning Post
Fake news has grown rapidly over the past four to five years. Maybe the idea of fake news has grown rather than actual fake news. You can point fingers to many things about where the idea came from. Liberals will always blame Donald Trump for pushing “unfounded” claims of fake news even though most of the claims have merit. Conservatives will always blame liberal media for pushing so called fake stories to fit their own narratives. No matter which side you agree with, or even if you fall somewhere in the middle, the idea of fake news has become more relevant than truthful news. However, we need to think about the way the media and journalists report the news. It’s not about reporting the news and holding political figures accountable like the ways of the past. It’s now about being the first to report the story and shape the public opinion on the subject to fit their idea of the truth. This is the true source of fake news.
A prime example of this is how the media reported the ISIS drone strike in Kabul last month. News and media outlets jumped on the story, gathering a lot of their information from social media rather than real journalism. They were in a race with each other to cover the story and get the public to share their narratives on the subject before more information came to light. The story blew up and it became widely accepted that it was a successful strike. Here is NPR’s original story about the incident:
Only recently was it revealed that the operation was a mistake and civilians were killed in the operation. Now imagine the story if all of the facts were known before the story broke. To be fair to all sides of the news media, not everything was known. However, it does not excuse reporting false information, especially now that the truth has come out and it is hard to find stories about it. Here is one from Reuters:
Original image from SuperLuchas.com, sourced from Meme Monkeys
This is only one example. It is astonishing how often this happens. Media outlets take any bit of information they can get to pass it off as news in order to push their own ideas. Liberal media has been caught doing this a lot in attempt to smear the former President Trump because they did not like him. This is why he pushes them for fake news. The claims are not unfounded. On the other side, conservative media has been caught doing the same thing to their political opponents. It’s a never-ending cycle between conservatives and liberals, but it is definitely real. It all comes down to reporting news with limited information. It is when the gaps get filled in that it becomes fake news. Then it is shared by millions of people on social media. It is a very real epidemic and needs to be stopped somehow or faith in the media will never be restored.
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