Fake News: What even is ‘real’ anymore?
Let’s Make News Great Again.
Fake News. This is a term that has been brandished about quite a lot recently. Mr Trump has accused many media outlets of being fake news: CNN, The BBC and the list could go on and on. How can we trust anyone anymore? Can you even trust what you’re reading right now??? It seems that at the moment, this is all that is spoken about; the constant questioning about the integrity of our newspapers, our journalists.. anyone with an opinion. It seems that the president of the free world has a festering grudge against the press. But does one of the most orange-faced, I mean powerful men, in the world have any sort of leg to stand on? You see him, in his press conferences, raised up high on the plinth like a tangerine messiah pointing his chipolata fingers at anyone that would dare to call him out on his ideas. But where has this phenomenon come from? Is there a vague truth in what is being said. What even is truth anymore? Is everything a lie? IS MY LIFE A LIE?
Ok so maybe I need to calm down a little bit. I’m pretty certain my life isn’t a lie and if it were.. well that’s for another story. Regardless, there is something going on here that needs to be addressed. Unfortunately, the media bending the truth isn’t something completely revolutionary. You see everywhere the exaggerated headlines, the taking of quotes out of context or gaining information from ‘trusted’ sources that turn out to be someone who has no relevance to the news story whatsoever. I’m not going to name names but I think we know full well what newspapers to be sceptical of. Daily, I am shocked by how overtly ridiculous some of the articles are; I am even confused about how they are allowed to print such genuine garbage. I know I am not alone and I know that there are many people out there too that also hesitant to trust these outlets, and moreover just ignore them altogether. To me it is obvious when the articles are written with undisputed bias and when there is something not quite right. I think also as a university student I personally am always taught to be sceptical of my sources, to evaluate and to argue against them, and this means that without thinking about it I always sort of evaluate the credibility of the news source before reading. I guess this can be said for a lot of people in all different walks of life that have to be quite critical.
There are people that don’t however, and this is what these media outlets feed off of. Now this isn’t necessarily a bashing of those people because sometimes it is done quite subtly. I think that I’m just a genuinely sceptical person anyway but I understand how you could miss the subtleties sometimes. If something is said repeatedly, with enough conviction and playing on a particular fear or subconscious belief, then slowly it becomes a ‘truth’ regardless of it’s sincerity. The power of the masses, which we have witnessed a lot of in the past 6 months or so, is something which cannot be disregarded. For whatever belief, if you are convinced of the fact that there are others that share it, then you are made to feel stronger and made to feel more comfortable in expressing that opinion.
I think that over exaggerations, particularly in headlines, are also a key way in which the media can somewhat bend the truth, and that is how mass panic and hysteria can be created and how what’s going on in the world can sometimes be represented unfairly. For example a headline could read:
“SERIAL KILLER ATTACKS HAVE TRIPLED SINCE LAST YEAR!”
This headline undoubtedly has a stronger effect on the audience than reporting that there were 3 serial killer attacks this year against the 1 that was last year. Again, I’m not saying that 3 serial killer attacks isn’t bad.. that is in fact terrible. But this morphing of the truth, the twisting of what is technically true causes a panic which is sometimes not necessarily warranted. The media, throughout history, has been known for propaganda purposes; the Nazi party being particularly known for their manipulating of the media in order to gain political power. We can all agree that in some respects, the media is something that we should all be sceptical of and it isn’t always the paragon of virtue.
This being said, to brandish most of the media “fake news”, to banish certain outlets from press conferences and to subsequently throw ones toys out of the pram because you don’t get all the love and praise that your Jupiter sized ego requires to survive… now that’s a bit of an overreaction. To claim that all the media is biased, that it is fake, that there is absolutely no integrity left in our journalism? Now that is a pretty bold, and frankly unbelievable statement. What Mr Trump has done, and continues to do, is to play upon the “establishment is against me” ploy, reaching out to those who feel that they have been let down by politics and a bureaucracy that hasn’t paid attention to their needs. His rhetoric about how the media is against him parallels a feeling that many have that the establishment is against them, and his constant berating of the news, blatant disagreement with anything that they say just adds fuel to the flames. He meets accusations with self-assured “It didn’t happen”, “I didn’t say that”, “That’s not true” with such conviction it is difficult to argue back and it is difficult to separate fact from fiction. Regardless of the cleverly constructed points or physical evidence that is produced.. the news according to Trump is still fake.
So to conclude this understanding of ‘Fake News’ we must first admit that the media is not completely innocent. It’s played it’s role in the past of manipulating the masses and even to this day can still, at times, be misleading. That being said, the integrity of some of the most creative and pivotal people in this world, those that keep us informed and entertained, cannot be allowed to be completely disregarded. This, especially because of bullies in positions of power who cannot be allowed to just do whatever they please without answering for it. The right to free speech and free opinion must be preserved, but those who choose to abuse their position of power must also be called-out on.
Edited with thanks to Sam Packer
