The Spread of Fake News: How Do We Tackle Misinformation in Media?

With fake news, the same questions seems to pop up time and time again: What is it and how can I recognize it?

Mobile Social Journalism: Second Edition uses these three definitions for fake news:

• "fake stories that appear to be news, spread on the internet or using other media, usually created to influence political views or as a joke" (Cambridge Dictionary)

• "a story that is presented as being a genuine item of news but is in fact not true and is intended to deceive people" (Macmillan Dictionary)

• "made-up stuff, masterfully manipulated to look like credible journalistic reports that are easily spread online to large audiences willing to believe the fictions and spread the word" (PolitiFact)

I would mostly agree with any of these individual definitions, and more so all three together because fake news is a massive issue. I do think an important thing to remember is how all three note the intentions of fake news. Generating fake news seems almost always purposeful, whether it's for entertainment, attention or a political advantage.

I feel for tech companies in that the amount of misinformation that circulates on their sites is overwhelmingly massive. That said, it has become clear that something has to be done about it, and I agree that that starts with the tech companies. I think they need a system where people can fact-check content being shared, maybe with prioritization going to things that are being shared the most. That way, things could be disproved early on, rather than something going viral and then getting taken down later when people have already moved on. I think there's a big problem with the timing of fact-checking. If tech companies don't promptly take a post down, it ends up reaching millions of eyes who might never see a delayed notification about the post being false.

Because of this, I certainly agree that the responsibility of fighting fake news is a shared one, especially between tech companies, journalists, educators and, of course, the public. I do think it's important to emphasize the shared aspect; it would be quite difficult for one person to sort through all the information out there by themselves.

I do think that the general blame on tech companies can be justified. If they want to use the power of the internet to make money, I think they also need to accept that with that power comes the responsibility of stopping misinformation.

The question of how to combat fake news is a tough one. Fake news cannot be ended by just on person alone; it requires the participation of many. Additionally though, I think people have to want to know the truth. I often hear friends and family mention the echo chamber that is social media today. In order to differentiate the fake news from the real news, people have to be ready to move away from the comfort of that.

Journalists can certainly play a big role in stopping misinformation. When I hear the terms fact-checking or fake news, I think about big publications, like the NYT or NPR, and how they go through and fact-check statements made by presidents. Or how there are news websites directly devoted to uncovering fake news.

When I think of journalists and fake news, I also think of a conversation I've had a million times. Many people I know assume that the leading person on their favorite political show is a journalist, therefore everything they say is true. In reality, on any political side, many of these talking heads are not really doing journalistic work -- they're reporting out stories but frequently infusing their opinion. I wish there was more transparency with this because I think calling those TV show hosts "real journalists" is a disservice to other hard-working journalists out there whose work isn't opinion or entertainment-based.