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Fake News – Why we should care about them
Topical event:Everyone is currently talking about fake news. This special propaganda and the disinformations are changing the media langscape – in the US and across the world. Some people even argue that they had a huge impact on the election of Donald Trump. But what are fake news, why we should care about it and what could it mean for our federal election 2017 in Germany?
Problem:
According to a recent Pew Research Center study, 62% of Americans get their news from social media sites and 44% get their news specifically from Facebook. Many people have difficulty analyzing the news as they can´t tell the difference between an ad labeled content and a legitimate news story. So there is a chance that you come across fake sites which is why they are a big deal in people´s live. It affects us because someone may read something that is not true and then pass it on to someone else. Sooner or later, the article will be very popular, and it will get many people to think the false idea.
According to a recent Pew Research Center study, 62% of Americans get their news from social media sites and 44% get their news specifically from Facebook. Many people have difficulty analyzing the news as they can´t tell the difference between an ad labeled content and a legitimate news story. So there is a chance that you come across fake sites which is why they are a big deal in people´s live. It affects us because someone may read something that is not true and then pass it on to someone else. Sooner or later, the article will be very popular, and it will get many people to think the false idea.
Background:
The most famous example of an fake news story that had real world consequences is the so called “pizzagate”. On 4. December a man opened fire at a Washington pizzeria, which an online site claims to be the headquarters of a child ring run by Hillary Clinton.
Another popular example is a quote from Donald Trump: “If I were to run, I´d run as a Republican. They´re the dumbest group of voters in the country. They believe anything on Fox News. I could lie and they´d still eat it up. I bet my numbers would be terrific.” A post said that Donald made the statement in a People Magazine Interview in 1998. Except he didn’t. From that events fake news became a talking point everywhere and people search for solution how to handle them.
Reasons why fake news exist:
- Influence on political decisions. In times of the election, groups have the intension to support their favourite politician by spreading fake news about the rival.
- Money, site operators can gain a lot of money through advertisements on their page.
Actions from Germany:
Angela Merkel lamented the problem of fraudulent news reports in a November 2016 speech, days after announcing her campaign for a fourth term as leader of her country. In the speech, Merkel was critical of such fake sites, saying they harmed political discussion. She called attention to the need of government to deal with internet trolls and fake articles. Germanys foreign intelligence agency chief Burno Kahl, warned of the potential for cyberattacks by Russia in the 2017 German election. He said the cyberattacks would take the form of the intentional spread of disinformation. The goal is to increase chaos in political debates.
Actions against fake news from social media:
For now there were some companies which took action. After rising concerns of fake news, facebook announced steps to clean up its digital space. The changes include:
- Topics will include a headline and attribution to a publishing website.
- New system to determine what´s trending will look at how many are reporting the story.- Everyone in a region will see the same topics. They won´t be personalized anymore.
How to spot fake news:
It can be very hard to spot fake sites. But if you follow some simple rules you can expose them.
- Google the news, get information from a variety or places
- If the story doesn’t appear anywhere else then its probably fake- Stay away from suspicious looking web addresses like .lo & .com.co
- You can check websites on snopes.com or politifact.com
Conclusion:
The definition of fake news can be complicated. You have to make a difference between fake news and misleading ones. They play an influential role in today’s world as we unfortunately live in a “post-truth” era, where we receive updates and news so quickly that people will believe anything before the story is confirmed true or false. People also don´t have enough time to actually research so they turn to things like social media. To make a conclusion, we the users must stay open minded in real life and on platforms to create discussions and solve problems. 