Frontlining against fake news

There has been so much buzz about misinformation and disinformation that even the words “fake news” have become so widely used to justify the claims made by people who are actually trying to get a hold of the truth.

Other times, the same words are used to make a statement in defense of a lie or at least, in defense of any news that is unfavorable to people. But, if we were to carefully define fake news, or what is also known as information disorder, it simply points to any misleading information that claims legitimacy of news.

The sad reality of fake news is that often aims at damaging the reputation of a person or group and although fake news goes far into history, the term “fake news” was first used in the 1890s when sensational stories placed on broadsheets were common. “Disinformation” involves the spreading of fake information with dangerous intent and has many times been used by hostile actors, especially during election season.

The prevalence of fake news, especially on social media, has been rapidly increasing and somehow is finding its way into mainstream media, making it more difficult to find truth as it impacts real news. The sad thing about fake news is that it’s deliberate manipulation of facts meant to deceive and influence people’s views, cause confusion while often being a profitable source of income for online publishers. Fake news not only misinforms; it disinforms and creates an environment of mistrust and manipulation.

False information has been a subject of public interest since 2017 when the internet became a platform to publish, share and consume information and news with very little editorial standards or regulation. Most of us get news from social media sites where it can be difficult to tell whether stories are credible or not, combined with the general lack of understanding of how the internet works, not to mention the economics of social media which favor sensationalism adding to the share-ability of such news.

Yet the fact remains that people still need to be educated on how to identify false information and when it comes to content found online, there are many variables that we need to be aware of, such as clickbait stories, propaganda used to mislead audiences, misleading headings, biased news, manipulated stories or photos that create a false narrative about someone and, last but not least, careless unprofessional stories made by reporters or journalists.

To put things into proper perspective, all of us have at one point or another been exposed to misinformation; however, as I have said before, we must also understand the difference between misinformation and disinformation – the former may be corrected and does not have the intention to deceive, while the latter is purposely left to outright manipulate and mislead people.

Social media has made it easy for all of us to publish content on platforms such as Facebook, which has the potential to reach large audiences. Sorting out content online is a challenge – even for experts. Fake news is purposely crafted and worse, it is emotionally charged and just so everyone knows, this is just the icing on the cake. We have barely touched the surface of deepfakes that can rapidly spread false words and actions to a worldwide audience.

Learning how to combat the problem of fake news is a huge undertaking and journalism is in a state of considerable flux, and fake news has substantially affected the way people view daily events and developments. It seems that high-quality journalism is much needed in order to build credibility and public trust as well as correct fake news and disinformation with a goal of improving accountabilities and, to a great degree, online content and communication.

Our education sector should also partner with the appropriate agencies to help combat fake news through media literacy and make this a top priority. Cutting the false information loop requires everyone’s attention and news professionals in the industry must be part of the solution, where journalists become the frontliners, protecting communities against false and misleading information on all platforms.