Fake news is a real problem
- showmethereality
- Oct 23, 2020
- 2 min read
Only 30 percent of American male population claimed that they could differentiate fake news from the real ones, whilst the percentage at American females was only 14%. The study was conducted in the year 2017. Why are these numbers worrying? And why is it that we hear more and more about fake news?
Fake news are every piece of information that are not true and are transmitted by a media to the general population, changing their perspective on different topics. Lies in the media have grown exponentially in the last few years. A study from 2018 says, that 37 percent of EU citizens encounter fake news on a daily basis, and 31 percent encounter them on a weekly basis. This means that atleast half of the population read fake news frequently. The reasoning behind this is the penetration of the internet and different social media platforms gaining ground, thus people have more platforms, where they can encounter these. One of the biggest fake news scandal in the past new years was the 2016 U.S. presidential election, where the social media outlets have been filled with lies about both sides candidates, Hillary Clinton and Donald J. Trump. These news were read by millions of people, which ended up in them changing their opinion and possibly their vote. One of these fake news stated that the Pope supported Donald Trump in the race for the presidency. The not so true information reached about 960 thousand persons. The article counts as a news that typically is credible and might as well be true.
They state untrue information and can influence the society’s opinion, but it is not the only problem. The other problem is that with the growing amount of fake news, people started doubting even the true, legitimate ones. A great example to this is the Coronavirus situation. People are skeptical about the information coming from the official statements of the government, which leads to them not taking precautionary measures and regulations seriously. In the month September in 2020, in the United Kingdom, 64 percent of adults encountered fake news regarding the new coronavirus. Because of the contradictory information that are brought to us, people start to doubt the legitimacy of them. One of the statements are certainly fake, but which one is it?
What do you think? Is this what you have just read all fake news? Think about how you can make sure that an article you have just read is based on reality! Follow our blog! We will help you see clearly in the misty world of fake news.
If you have a visual memory or you haven’t heard a song about fake news today, watch this:
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