Fake News: Harmless or Hurtful?
Fake news has become more prevalent with the increased use of social media as a way of staying current on all sorts of topics. Those who depend on social media for the latest news have given far too much clout to a medium that is unreliable and unsupported. One can post or pass on any information without any responsibility to verify the information or make sure it is accurate and correct. Fake news is social media’s gossip columnist of today. And gossip can be quite harmful to those who fall victim to it.
According to the New Oxford American Dictionary, gossip is defined as “casual or unconstrained conversation or reports about other people, typically involving details that are not confirmed as being true.” Gossip is often shared from person to person, with the titillating question, “Did you hear about so-and-so?” All too frequently, this occurs in the workplace when one employee shares some news with another employee that was either never true in the first place, or has been misunderstood or misinterpreted and simply passed on as fact. These casual conversations may seem harmless, but if someone’s reputation is at stake, the consequences can be devastating.
The same may be said of fake news. The biggest difference between gossip and fake news is the size of the offense. Gossip generally involves one person being spoken of by another person; then, the information is passed along to others verbally. Fake news is posted on social media sites by outlets that appear to be authentic, trustworthy news outlets, then potentially seen by hundreds, if not thousands, of people. These people share the fake news on their sites, their friends read it and share it on their sites, and the news can travel very quickly in a very short amount of time.
By the time someone may bother to check on the fake news, thousands may have seen it, shared it, and believed it. Anyone posting the counterpart to the fake news is already starting from a position behind the sensationalism of the story. Those who have bought into the story already are not going to bother to read the truth. The damage has already been done, either to someone’s reputation or the government’s integrity or to the reality of the event in question. The fake news has spread as truth and opinions are weighed in, whether or not they are based on reality.
So, if fake news is so prevalent, and gossip so enticing, how is it possible to learn the truth about something on social media? What guides the fact checkers who are supposed to work hard to uncover the facts about the latest headlines? According to Paul Glader at Forbes.com, it is important to evaluate the news source itself for reliability, ethical standards, and professional journalism. Newspapers continue to be trustworthy sources of information, according to Glader, especially those that cover national news from trusted wire services, such as the Associated Press, Reuters, and Bloomberg News. If the story is not being covered by these sources, it is highly probable to be fake news.
Another surprising source of trusted information is the Bible. The Word of God carries great authority, both historically and faithfully, because it is based on the authority of God, working through human authors, to reveal his character to them. These men were used in their various cultures and time periods to produce timeless principles. The principles do not change although the culture has changed. And although the culture has changed, human nature has not changed all that much. There are still people bent on evil, with envy and murder in their hearts, and there are still good people, who love and help others. Their stories are recorded in the Bible as examples of what behaviors to avoid and what behaviors to emulate. The written language, passed down through the centuries and translated for the modern reader, is the prescribed method of learning to know Biblical principles, individually and collectively.
Stephen Grunlan writes, “One of the most important behaviors a person learns, and one that makes possible most other learning, is language (50). The written language is the tool most commonly used to pass learning along to the next generation once formal learning has begun. This form of language learning continues throughout one’s entire life, therefore, knowing what constitutes accuracy in language becomes very important. If someone wants to be thought of as intelligent, speaking properly and knowing the facts are essential. Passing misinformation or partially correct information, such as fake news, is not the way to enhance one’s social standing or intelligence level.
Social media has made it simple and fast to give opinions based on half-truths, falsehoods, and malicious gossip. There is little intelligence and learning utilized. Recently, for example, a premature death report about singer Tom Petty circulated on social media. Later, the true death report was released. Now, imagine this scenario a bit differently. A loved one is reported on social media as having died and family members react with shock and sadness. Then, the report comes from the hospital that the family member is critical, but still alive. The family still has time to gather and say their final good-byes, perhaps lessening the shock, at least for the moment. The premature death report was unnecessarily hurtful to those loved ones, who still had time to see the family member alive one last time.
Although this example was about someone who died anyway, what about the fake news stories that are created to inspire shock and outrage? What if one of those stories circulating on social media encourages someone to react with violence toward those in authority? What if one of those stories ruins the reputation of an innocent person? Or what about the fake news that causes a business to fail? People are hurt, lives are ruined, and livelihoods are destroyed. These are not the outcomes that responsible journalists strive for, unless the truth is being told.
Responsible journalists verify sources, check, and sometimes, double check, the facts of the stories being reported. Journalists have a priority to relay the truth about the news, and they are taught to write about the stories with an unbiased reporting style. Although many journalists may have some preconceived notions about an issue, at the very least, an attempt is made to report the news objectively. Readers can check for bias in a story in one news outlet by reading the story in another news outlet. If the facts are basically presented in the same way, the story is most likely unbiased.
Fake news does not rely on the wire services as sources for news. Fake news stories are sometimes the product of the imagination of the person writing the story, and sometimes, the product of misinformation, half-truths, and outright lies. These stories are written to have the appearance of truth, loosely based on some recent event, famous person, or something that sounds familiar. This is not a new concept, either. Fake news stories began more than a century ago as a way to sell certain newspapers, and, according to Alexandra Samuel, the reporting was so “disreputable that it coined the term, ‘yellow journalism’” because making money, not truth in reporting, was the goal. The headlines were generated to grab readers’ attention, draw them in, and cause them to buy a newspaper.
Fake news on the Internet is not that different. The pictures and headlines are used to grab the attention of the user who is searching for a particular story, news in general, or the latest headlines. Parceling out hints of truth, stirring in bits of gossip, and giving it all an exciting headline are a few of the ways that Internet users are drawn in. The question remains: how does one avoid fake news, especially the mistake of sharing it on social media sites? A few guidelines may be helpful.
First, become familiar with the news outlets that are reputable. These include news from the wire services, such as, “The Associated Press,” “Reuters,” “BBC,” “NPR,” and others. There are many trustworthy newspapers that have an Internet presence, whether a person is a conservative or a liberal in politics. Second, be on guard against news sites that end in “lo,” “com.co,” and many others as compiled by Melissa Zimdars, a communications and media professor from Merrimack College (qtd by Madison Malone Kircher at nymag.com.). Third, other sites to be leery of include those with blog names, those with numerous spelling and grammar errors, and those that create highly reactive emotions in readers according to Zimdars.
Finally, be wise in choosing what to read and watch, no matter what kind of information is being sought. As the wisest man who ever lived, Solomon, wrote, “Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse . . . who delight in doing wrong . . . and who are devious in their ways (Proverbs 2:12–14, NIV). If one is wise and discerning, making informed decisions about what is read, what should or should not be shared, and how to graciously express differences in opinion with others, perhaps fake news sites would fade away, and truth in journalism would return to the Internet.
Works Cited
Glader, Paul. “10 Journalism Brands Where You Find Real Facts Rather Than Alternative Facts.” Published in Forbes.com on 2/1/17. Web accessed 10/5/17.
Grunlan, Stephen A. “Biblical Authority and Cultural Relativity.” Christian Perspective on Sociology, edited by Grunlan, Stephen A. and Reimer, Milton, Zondervan, 1982, pp. 47–65.
Kircher, Madison Malone. “An Extremely Helpful List of Fake and Misleading News Sites to Watch Out For” published 11/15/16. Web accessed on 10/05/17. http://nymag.com/selectall/2016/11/fake-facebook-news-sites-to-avoid.html
Samuel, Alexandra. “To Fix Fake News, Look to Yellow Journalism” published 11/29/16 in JStor Daily. Web accessed 10/5/17. https://daily.jstor.org/to-fix-fake-news-look-to-yellow-journalism/
