Post-Fact, Post-Truth Society: The Ethical Consumption of Media
Thesis: News media corporations should be regulated on their content because it is deliberately misleading, causes mass hysteria, and pollutes the internet.
First, the regulation of news media corporations should be implemented because many news articles deliberately spread misinformation. In a desperate attempt to get the browser's attention, they use headlines and hype-words to sensationalize their content. David Mikkelson, the founder of the anti-misinformation website Snopes.com, says that we are living in a "bad news phenomenon" which "encompasses many forms of shoddy, unresearched, error-filled, and deliberately misleading reporting that do a disservice to everyone" (Kiely/Robertson). Allowing misleading information is unethical and sets a bad example for Americans and the rest of the world.
Next, news media corporations should be regulated because they cause mass hysteria. Jack Shafer, an economist and senior media writer claim that fake news causes people to get overly involved in politics with solid biases towards misinformation. Because of this, fake news will always be a problem as long as human nature exists (Shafer). Professor Timothy Caulfield of the University of Alberta, Canada, claims that the "hype" is causing people to deny science. He says, "The scientific community faces unprecedented pressure to justify research in practical terms, whether for clinical benefit or commercial gain" (Caulfield). It is unfair to society's health professionals, scientists, and truth-seekers for misinformation to turn the public against them. For this reason, media companies should face censorship before publishing content.
Image Credit: https://towardsdatascience.com/fake-news-classifier-to-tackle-covid-19-disinformation-7a31e4296b83
Finally, news media corporations should be censored because their content pollutes the internet. Because the internet is still a relatively new medium of communication, we are faced with the challenge of editing low-quality content every time we open any device. Professor Luciano Florida of the University of Oxford says the problems of low-quality internet content:
Include breaches of privacy, of security and safety, of ownership and intellectual property rights, of trust, of fundamental human rights, as well as the possibility of exploitation, discrimination, inequality, manipulation, propaganda, populism, racism, violence, and hate speech. How should we even begin to weigh the human cost of these problems? (Floridi)
Fifty-one percent of the experts conducting a study for the Pew Research Center believe that because the human brain can not keep up with the speed at which technology is evolving, "information scams and mass manipulation cause broad swathes of public to simply give up on being informed participants in civic life" (Anderson/Rainie). If we want to preserve the use of the internet for future generations and for good causes, media must be sanctioned. For this reason, media corporations should face regulation of their content for the sake of our society.
-Annika V.
Sources:
Anderson, Janna and Rainie, Lee. "The Future of Truth and Misinformation Online." Pew Research Center. 19 Oct 2017, https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2017/10/19/the-future-of-truth-and-misinformation-online/.
Floridi, Luciano. "Fake News and a 400-Year-Old Problem: We Need to Resolve the 'Post-Truth' Crisis." The Guardian. 29 Nov 2016.
Kiely, Eugene, and Robertson, Lori. "How to Spot Fake News." FackCheck.org. 08 Nov 2016.
Shafer, Jack. "The Cure for Fake News is Worse than the Disease." Politico. 22 Nov 2016.
Varudandi, Shaunak. "Fake News Classifier to Tackle Covid-19 Disinformation." Medium, Towards Data Science, 27 May 2021, towardsdatascience.com/fake-news-classifier-to-tackle-covid-19-disinformation-7a31e4296b83.
This VIDEO is an excellent discussion with Youtuber Hank Green, Former Reddit CEO Ellen Pao, author, activist Eli Pariser, and ACLU attorney Mohammad Tasjar. They discuss whether social media can technically violate the First Amendment and to what extent censorship would benefit the "public square."
Thesis: Fake news has become increasingly popular in the last decade because the spread of misinformation has primarily taken place on social media, where the ability to quickly send, receive, and spread information has changed how people receive news.
My post aims to examine one aspect of fake news and describe how its most recent rise has been so successful while briefly explaining the implications it has carried. When discussing fake news in 2022, it is essential to examine the political relevance found in our daily lives. Former President Donald Trump is a perfect entryway into the discussion of fake news. Trump is notorious for his Twitter account and the nearly sixty thousand tweets he had (23,858 since taking office, Madaminov 2020) before being suspended for a series of tweets discussing the legitimacy of the 2020 Presidential Election. The former president was undeniably one of the biggest proponents for eliminating fake news. I use Trump as a talking point because part of his presidential agenda included both naming news sources who take messages out of context for views (i.e., fake news) and ranting on social media whenever a story he disagreed with came out (even if the story was true), an example that demonstrates both sides in the battle against fake news. A recurring theme that circulates around the topic of fake news and politics is social media which I further discuss to examine the depth that fake news reaches.
The importance of fake news on social media goes beyond ranting; there is a massive influx of misinformation spread when news is delivered through social media. A study done by the Pew Research Center revealed that almost half (48%) of U.S. adults get their news from social media; this is down from a staggering 53% just in 2020. A 2018 study by MIT Sloan professor, Sinan Aral, revealed that "falsehoods are 70% more likely to be retweeted on Twitter than the truth, and reach their first 1500 people six times faster." The significance of nearly half of American adults receiving their updates from social media is plainly apparent. The ability for fake news to spread via Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, or Instagram is heightened exponentially due to people's dependency on these sites as their news providers. This "news" could include tweets from the president or any person capable of creating a "news" website for that matter - the danger presented in this is that when a statement goes from the mouth of a person in power or is spread through a tweet, post, or update millions of people could potentially be reached showing how easy it is for information to be misconstrued. This idea is furthered by the article How to Spot Fake News" by Eugene Kiely and Lori Robertson. An opening point in the report states, "Concern about the phenomenon led Facebook and Google to announce that they'll crack down on fake news sites, restricting their ability to garner ad revenue." The new factor in the recent rise of fake news is the medium by which people receive it: social media. As the article states, "Fake news is nothing new." Social media has undoubtedly altered the way people receive news and spreads faster than any other outlet.
The main goal of Kiely and Robertson's article on spotting fake news could be achieved through a straightforward solution: do not look to social media for information. Although this is much easier said than done if you are like me and inadvertently come across news through shared posts from friends, the best course of action is to follow the guidelines given in the article. When faced with an unknown source, look for clues such as an anonymous author, excessive exclamation points, misspellings, and other references posted by the outlet that might shed light on the accuracy or truthfulness of the post. A good practice to maintain is, when unsure of a news article's validity, do not share it; this prevents the unnecessary spread of sources that are not credible.
- Bryson Guillen
Sources:
Brown, S. (2020, October 5). MIT Sloan Research about social media, misinformation, and elections. MIT Sloan. Retrieved February 10, 2022, from https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/mit-sloan-research-about-social-media-misinformation-and-elections
Kiely, Eugene, and Robertson, Lori. "How to Spot Fake News." FackCheck.org. 08 Nov 2016.
Madaminov, A. (2020, November 29). All the president's tweets. Medium. Retrieved February 10, 2022, from https://medium.com/swlh/all-the-presidents-tweets-e7d31fd1dbc6
Walker, M., & Matsa, K. E. (2021, September 20). News consumption across social media in 2021. Pew Research Center's Journalism Project. Retrieved February 10, 2022, from https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2021/09/20/news-consumption-across-social-media-in-2021/#fn-88343-1
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