Fake News: The Impacts and Measures to Curb Spread

FAKE NEWS
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Introduction
Fake news refers to a form of communication or stories created consisting of misleading information made to deceive the readers and listeners intentionally. This communication and stories can be spread through newspapers, magazines, articles, journals, radios, televisions, and even in online social media. Journalism has so often been affected by fake news, since it constitutes one of the main ways through which information flows from one point to another. There will always be false stories about personalities, corporations or events, whose aim is to persuade the general public, or a specific portion of the public towards certain beliefs. The major problem about fake news is that it is increasingly difficult to identify it. Nowadays, the line differentiating fake and genuine news is increasingly fine. It is the reason why propaganda has always been doing so well, especially in American politics. There is however, the need to address the challenge, however difficult and complex it might be.
Why has fake news become such a global media issue?
Fake news has become such a global issue because it is usually the genesis of information that influences things. What can start as a small occurrence, quickly becomes a set of beliefs for millions. Such a number of people with wrong information, results in swaying opinion, even to the wrong direction. When such information is taken up by the media houses and disseminated even further, there is a serious possibility that some might also announce or share it to the general population as factual. What follows is a series of lawsuits against these companies, while the general public is misled into making poor decisions, especially politically. Fake news has therefore become such a global issue because of the delicate nature of it. It is like the Pandora’s Box, which can easily result in the radicalisation of the masses and influence of policies on a geopolitical scale.
There are several examples of fake news to take from, but one example is right within the American political arena. There has been news saying that the son of Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, was serving as a top executive in Ukraine at a Gas company (Fichera, 2019). This aimed at discrediting her, while also tainting her name and making her look like a traitor. Other fake news was that Joe Biden, former vice president of the United States, referred President Trump’s supporters and followers as Dregs of the Society (Quinn, 2018). Such news aims at creating discord between the leadership and the people.
Also, in another propaganda, some people said that Tim Allen, an American actor, quoted that President Trump’s wall was of lesser worth than the Obamacare Website (Palma, 2019). Such information is usually aimed at simply getting clout and publicity as well as reactions. Last, there has also been fake news saying that President Trump has been trying to impeach Mike Pence, The vice president of the United States (Gilbert, 2019). The aim of such fake news is either to test the waters or simply cause ripples within the government and the Republican Party.
Impact of Fake News
Fake news is a tool that can be used and has ...