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The term ‘fake news’ has become popular in our culture today but what does it really mean? Does it mean that all news is fake, as in all reporting by the media is false, or does it mean just some of the news (or part of the news) is fake?
The biggest problem I have with the term ‘fake news’ is that it used by people with agendas to dismiss reporting that paints a picture they don’t want to see. It allows for manipulation of the media to serve an individual or group of individual’s purpose, which actually goes against the role of the media.
Let’s explore that topic for a moment. What is the role of media and why is it important? Well the first role is an easy one, which is to keep us informed of local and global news. Information that is of interest to us, as we are part of local and global communities. The second role (I’m sure there are others) is to report and make public information that is not readily available to us.
Investigative reporting, where the media exposes issues that would otherwise go unnoticed is a critical part of a democracy. The media becomes an important watchdog that keeps power in check by exposing corruption, which in turn allows us to make informed decisions when voting or even in supporting an individual or company. Hopefully we all agree that a free media (i.e. not Government owned) is an important element to a successful democracy.
So where does the media go wrong? Unfortunately the media are also businesses, which need to be profitable in order to exist. The way a media business makes money is by having subscribers and/or readers that allow it to generate income from subscription fees and/or advertising. The need for the media to make money can lead to inaccurate, misleading and sensationalised reporting in order to increase readership / subscription. There is also the problem of bias (either perceived or real) that can be introduced into the media’s reporting by the individuals that do the reporting or even by the owners of the business.
We have all probably read or seen news articles that contain false or misleading information. I think we can all agree that some news has inaccuracies but can we go as far as to say it is ‘fake’? Fake would entail that the information is completely fabricated or without truth rather than parts of it are exaggerated or contain inaccuracies.
This brings us back to the term ‘fake news’ and how or why it is used to create uncertainty in the information being reported. In fact the term ‘fake news’ goes beyond saying that the information is inaccurate or misleading. It can be used to imply that the news was actually fabricated in order to purposefully mislead the recipients.
What makes ‘fake news’ even more difficult is that it exists as a form of corporate or government espionage. For example, some governments will release ‘fake news’ on social media to try and bias the outcome of an election in another country.
Let’s say that I am someone of influence and have people who follow or trust me and a news report comes out that damages my reputation. Being able to label it as ‘fake’ becomes an important tool in my arsenal to defend myself. For example, imagine that I am a politician and news comes out that I had been accepting bribes, which would be very harmful to my position! It would be in my best interest to label this news as ‘fake news’, which attempts to discredit the information source and actually suggest that the media itself was purposefully making up facts to hurt me.
‘Fake news’ can be used by people in power to ensure that nothing bad can be said about them. If the news supports them then it is real but if doesn’t then its fake. Generally, those that follow/support a person in power are more likely to believe that person rather than the media, so ‘fake news’ becomes a very important tool to a person in power to manipulate the media in their favour.
So how do we as the public actually know what is fake and what is not? I wish I had an easy answer but what I do know is that we all need to keep an open mind and be able to accept that some of what we see in the media is real and some of it is fake. We need to be open minded and not accept that news is fake simply because someone in power brands it that way. We need to be diligent and think critically about what we see or read in the media and try and seek the truth, which is often easier said than done.
