Key Take-away:
· Tech corporations should employ fact-checkers to check content shared on their platforms
· Fact-checking is often left to individual journalists which can lead to unintentional mistakes
· Sharing media literacy content with news audiences can help stop the spread of fake news
With so many news outlets and individuals claiming fake news left and right, it can be difficult to know what exactly is fake news, genuine mistakes, or a host of other misleading characteristics news can take on.
Cambridge Dictionary defines fake news as “false stories that appear to be news, spread on the internet or using other media, usually created to influence political views or as a joke.” I personally disagree with the last part of it being a joke because satirical news is slightly different from fake news because it does not intend to do actual harm. Fake news is created with intent to harm and mislead.
Unfortunately, it can be hard to recognize fake news when it appears, even as journalists, which is why it’s important to be vigilant and critical of the news we consume. Outlets like PolitiFact and FactCheck.org are both sites I have personally used for articles I have found while Facebook scrolling. Both sites work to fact check and debunk fake stories as they are found.
However, the amount of news that is constantly being shared is too much for just two, or even one hundred, fact checking sites to catch everything. That is why it is so important for companies like Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and Google to also fact check news that is being shared on their platforms.
This may seem like a lot to ask since these social media sites and web engines are not created with the intent of sharing fake news and misleading information, but as content trends change, so do the duties of the companies hosting the material.
If platforms like Instagram can find inappropriate or disturbing images, blur them in users feed, and give users the option to see them if the user wants, then they can take the same amount of effort to remove or disable harmful and misleading news content. At the very least, they can flag it as potential misinformation, similarly to how Covid-19 content gets flag with a “FAQ” link.
It is irresponsible of big tech and social media corporations to let misinformation and fake news spread on their platforms. While a lot of fact checking and copy editing is on journalists and their editors, news companies have had to continue downsizing staff. This often means fact checkers get cut because journalists should check their own work. This is a fair assumption, but mistakes can slip through. This is not intentional misinformation, but it is sometimes called fake news because of human error.
Social media corporations are often incredibly large with enough funds to pay extra staff to fact check and corroborate stories, but many choose not to. This is irresponsible on their part because they could make a positive difference by filling a gap the news media companies can often have due to funding issues.
Back to human error, it happens. Every journalist is guilty of it at least once, but that does not mean they are perpetrators of fake news. It is quite the opposite. As a young professional journalist, I have learned a lot about media analysis, media literacy, and the journalism industry. The plethora of learning opportunities, from the 2016 election to Covid-19, Black Lives Matter, LGBT Rights, the War on Terror, and the 2020 election, have given journalists the opportunity to show how important they are in stopping the spread of fake news and educating their audiences in the process.
Posting a comment on a Facebook post about how a story is not factual with a link to PolitiFact has not been the best way to go about stopping fake news from spreading in my personal experience. However, sharing what I have learned about news analysis and how to be critical of what we read with my family has been a small way to help.
Another approach journalists can take is sharing their process with their audience. I know it can be hard to spend a lot of time engaging with audiences and social media in general, but it can be such an important tool for educating our audiences on media literacy. If more professionals started doing this I genuinely believe that in the coming years it could help shift the public perception of journalism in a positive direction.
Cover Photo Credit: "Fake News - Computer Screen Reading Fake News" by mikemacmarketing is marked with CC BY 2.0.