Fake News: What is it and what role do journalists play in fighting it?

As social media plays a prominent role in our life, so does the spread of disinformation/Source: Wix Media

I would define fake news as information that is factually incorrect and misleading, something that is said and/or created in order to stir up a commotion and influence an audience to have strong emotions one way or another.

In “Mobile and Social Media Journalism: A Practical Guide for Multimedia Journalism,” fake news is defined as “the deliberate fabrication of information with the intent to deceive.” Other definitions include aspects like “usually created to include political views or as a joke.”

I would say that my definition aligns pretty closely with the definitions in “Mobile and Social Media Journalism,” as both are focused on the intent behind this spread of incorrect information.

The idea of fake news has become increasingly popular over the last few years, as has the spread of disinformation and misinformation, primarily on social media. Social media makes it easy for this type of information to spread and spread quickly, as people can post basically anything they want to with the click of a button. This begs the question, what responsibilities should these technology companies have in fighting the spread of misinformation?

“Mobile and Social Media Journalism” provides a few options that companies could take, which include content moderation, cutting off the financial incentives that people may have to share fakes news, as it is profitable to selling online ads, and similarity, lessing political ads, which the books explains “could help to squash the spread of disinformation contained in them.”

Journalists play a crucial role in educating the public about media literacy/Source: Wix Media

With the increase in mis- and disinformation, it’s also up to journalists to help continue to seek and spread the truth. Journalists can help combat this issue by educating the public on media literacy and the role that journalists play in spreading accurate and factual information. This also includes internally to newsrooms themselves, which could educate their own staffers on guidelines for fact-checking information found online and social media.

As the presence that social media has in our lives twists and turns every day, it’s important that people continue to be diligent about educating themselves and others on media literacy, as well as fact-checking the information they read.