Fake News Takeover

Irene Kent

ik211817@ohio.edu

Media bias has always been prevalent during election years. However, these last 2 elections, in 2016 and 2020, have had more fake news being read and shared more than any other years. People have lost trust with media that was once viewed as reliable in the past. Now, more and more people are finding that no matter where they read or watch information about the election or politics, they seem to believe only things that they want to believe. 

The Pew Research Center conducted a study about Americans' struggles with truth, accuracy and accountability. 64% of U.S. adults find it hard to tell tell the difference between truth and falsehoods while listening to elected officials. On top of that statistic, Pew also reported that 48% of  adults in the United States are unable to tell the difference between actual news versus fake news while finding it on social media.

When President Trump was running for office in 2016, he and his opponent from the democratic party, Hillary Clinton, seemed to cause a divide in the nation. There were constantly new stories emerging about President Trump sexually assaulting women, and there were also numerous reports about Hillary Clinton's Whitewater Scandal. In the end, it seemed as if the election came down to who would be the lesser of two evils in office. But, how could we figure out who is was when we can't even recognize the difference between fake news and real news?

Art by Rob Rogers

Andrew Guess, Brendan Nyhan and Jason Reifler conducted a survey about how many people have been exposed to fake, untrustworthy news sources. They reported that "people who indicated in the survey that they supported Trump were far more likely to visit untrustworthy websites — especially those that are conservative and thus very likely pro-Trump — than those who indicated they were Clinton supporters." From then on, they reported that among the Trump supporter that were surveyed, 56.7% read information off of an "untrustworthy conservative website," in comparison to the 27.7% of Clinton supporters. 

What I am trying to summarize is that fake news has been circulating immensely since the 2016 election. People were posting fake news about both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Those who wanted President Trump out of office during the 2020 election were continuing this trend. This also goes for those who wanted President Trump to stay in office. 

Fake news is taking over our society faster than we care to realize. Whether it is about a revolutionary diet pill that will make you lose 20 pounds in 2 weeks, or a scandal about a political candidate, we cannot escape. It is time to make sure we are getting information from credible sources instead of Facebook or Twitter.