Facing Fake News

Introduction

The term, "yellow journalism," came from the style of journalism used in the 1890's, led by newspaper owners William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer. This style of journalism consisted of many gross exaggerations and wild stories used to attract the attention of the public, and there is speculation that these false news stories contributed to the Spanish-American war, which became the United States' first press driven war. I believe that the media was definitely a huge factor. Even though the relationship the U.S had with Spain was clearly not at it's strongest at the time, these false claims against Spain were believed by the public, causing great turmoil within their own country as the general public demanded retaliation against the "crimes" Spain had committed against them.

Satire News versus Fake News

Satire news refers to media directed at entertaining the public, not informing or claiming to inform through false news. I thoroughly enjoy satire news, both through news sites online like The Onion to television shows like This Hour Has 22 Minutes. It is almost needed, especially in this day and age, to make fun of serious issues or fabricate a story in order to poke fun of a topic that is relevant to the world around us. Unlike fake news, these "claims" do not disrupt the public's views on certain issues, or they at least should not if the person exposed to this kind of media knows that it is not meant to be taken seriously.

The Dangers of (and reasons for) Fake News

Before the months, maybe years, leading up to the 2016 election, and definitely before reading this article by politifact.com, I believed that click-bait was a tool used mainly by celebrity news sites. However, click-bait has evidently grown much more popular, even with news sites that are deemed unbiased and reliable.

I had missed out entirely on the Pizzagate scandal when it was happening in November-December of last year. Coming from an outside, unbiased perspective, this story would be laughable in the absence of the violence that became involved. The conspiracy of a Comet Ping Pong pizzeria in Washington D.C being a human trafficking centre and pedophilia ring for young children run by the Clinton's is completely absurd, but to have a large crowd of the population believe this and actually start to take actions against this is borderline disturbing. Ignorance is the seed to all extremism, and the fact that an extremist open-fired in a restaurant that hosts children's parties proves that fake news is not just Donald Trump's catchphrase. If written as even a well-structured sentence on Twitter, a fabrication on display as a fact will evidently be taken hold by the public, and and can sometimes gain the power to spiral way out of control.

Fake or Real?

Speaking of a well-structured sentence on Twitter, it has become incessantly harder to differentiate between what is fake news and what is actual fact. Especially growing up in an age where the internet is easily accessible and fake news is on the rise, youth and elderly are easily susceptible to taking a "fact," Facebook post or tweet, and considering it as something that is true.  Without fact-checks, or the desire to research something that has been brought to your attention through media sources that you are not familiar with or may not trust, it is easy to believe anything that people are hoping you will believe in.

Spotting Fake News

When going through life, especially in adolescence and childhood, one learns some reputable life skills. The ability to spot fake news has become one of them. With the information overload that the internet and social media now provides, it is important to know what is pure fact meant to educate, and what is the garbage which purpose is to only pollute your thoughts and judgement on certain topics. Websites like politifact.com and snopes.com are assets to society today, as they do the job of debunking claims for the public, and they do this job well. 

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On March 11, 2011, there was a large nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan. An image was later posted in July of 2015 of daisies growing near the power plant. The publisher of the photo claimed the mutations were part of the aftermath of the disaster, soon becoming a viral thread on Twitter. 

I do not think a photo alone is evidence enough to believe a claim before further researching it. Photos can be misleading under the wrong or absence of context, or they can be altered. One way of deciphering the facts from the claim, or seeing if this photo is a true one, it is a wise idea to visit a fact-checking website.

According to snopes.com, this claim is false. The mutations are caused by a biological condition called "Fasciation." Fasciation has occurred in many other species of plants around the globe, and although it does not occur often, it is more common than mutations caused by nuclear pollution. 

This false story that circled on social media is another example of how fake news can be taken serious and, in important cases, spiral out of control.