News Literacy
I attribute much of my journalistic success to the extensive journalism education I received my sophomore and junior year before I was qualified to be on staff, and my proficiency in news literacy is no exception. My ability to find, report, and distribute reliable information is what my honor as a journalist relies on, and I do not take this lightly. Below you can see a never-before-seen opinion piece I wrote on the fake news trend during the 2016 presidential election that was not published in the Hi’s Eye, but that articulates my disdain for fraudulent news media as well as the willingness of the public to accept unreliable sources as fact.
Fake news trend spreads nationwide
Greta Frontero, R2 Editor-in-Chief
December 13, 2016
“Obama Signs Executive Order Banning the Pledge of Allegiance in Schools Nationwide” ― well, no he didn’t. Yet, news site abcnews.com.co has reported this lie as truth.
A growing and recent trend of fake news is shaking the world of journalism as people across the world are participating by writing, believing, and spreading fake news stories. And the most frightening thing is that fake news can actually have an impact on American politics.
The world of media is changing as fake news continues to plague modern journalism. Not only is it dangerous and frightening by giving completely false information, but is is entirely possible that this phenomenon has affected the results of the 2016 presidential election and continues to affect the way Americans see their government.
Why is this happening, and who is responsible? The startling fact is that fake news can come from anywhere. In fact, according to BuzzFeed, there are over 100 fake news websites about U.S. politics from the single town of Veles in Macedonia, which is over 4,500 miles away from the American east coast. These Macedonians, many of them teenagers, have been raking in cold hard cash at the expense of gullible Americans who often believe stories that correspond with their ideological views.
These sites feature completely incorrect stories, like one saying Hillary Clinton had years ago told Donald Trump to run for president. While this never actually happened, the story got over 480,000 shares, reactions, and comments on Facebook, according to pri.org.
In fact, Facebook has played an important role in the political conversation of America. An Aug. 24 The New York Times article says that Facebook “hasn’t just become nearly ubiquitous among American internet users; it has centralized online news consumption in an unprecedented way.” Fake news in particular has found a comfortable home in Facebook and other social media networks where its false information, primarily about American politics, can be shared over and over across the nation.
But the 200 million people in the U.S. who visit Facebook each month are not the only ones exposed to fake news. There are American websites, such as those in Macedonia, that are dedicated to giving Americans false information about their government.
For example, 38-year-old Paul Horner has made a living on his fake news site for several years, according to a Nov. 17 article from The Washington Post. Horner told The Post that his more right-winged fake stories were read and shared by Trump supporters quite often, once even by the president-elect’s son, Eric Trump.
Horner told The Post, “I think Trump is in the White House because of me. His followers don’t fact-check anything ― they’ll post anything, believe anything.” In fact, Trump’s campaign manager posted Horner’s story about a protester getting paid $3,500, which Horner completely admitted was untrue.
Even sources believed to be reliable have joined the fake news trend. A BuzzFeed analysis found that 38 percent of posts from three widely read right-wing political web pages feature “false or misleading information,” compared to 20 percent from three large left-wing pages. The fake news phenomenon is growing and spreading across the world with the help of these websites in addition to social media networks.
The idea that this trend could be the reason for President-Elect Donald Trump’s victory is terrifying and threatening to American democracy. The world of journalism is changing as it becomes clear that American readers do not always know the difference between what is real and what is fictional.
Greta Frontero, R2 Editor-in-Chief
December 13, 2016
“Obama Signs Executive Order Banning the Pledge of Allegiance in Schools Nationwide” ― well, no he didn’t. Yet, news site abcnews.com.co has reported this lie as truth.
A growing and recent trend of fake news is shaking the world of journalism as people across the world are participating by writing, believing, and spreading fake news stories. And the most frightening thing is that fake news can actually have an impact on American politics.
The world of media is changing as fake news continues to plague modern journalism. Not only is it dangerous and frightening by giving completely false information, but is is entirely possible that this phenomenon has affected the results of the 2016 presidential election and continues to affect the way Americans see their government.
Why is this happening, and who is responsible? The startling fact is that fake news can come from anywhere. In fact, according to BuzzFeed, there are over 100 fake news websites about U.S. politics from the single town of Veles in Macedonia, which is over 4,500 miles away from the American east coast. These Macedonians, many of them teenagers, have been raking in cold hard cash at the expense of gullible Americans who often believe stories that correspond with their ideological views.
These sites feature completely incorrect stories, like one saying Hillary Clinton had years ago told Donald Trump to run for president. While this never actually happened, the story got over 480,000 shares, reactions, and comments on Facebook, according to pri.org.
In fact, Facebook has played an important role in the political conversation of America. An Aug. 24 The New York Times article says that Facebook “hasn’t just become nearly ubiquitous among American internet users; it has centralized online news consumption in an unprecedented way.” Fake news in particular has found a comfortable home in Facebook and other social media networks where its false information, primarily about American politics, can be shared over and over across the nation.
But the 200 million people in the U.S. who visit Facebook each month are not the only ones exposed to fake news. There are American websites, such as those in Macedonia, that are dedicated to giving Americans false information about their government.
For example, 38-year-old Paul Horner has made a living on his fake news site for several years, according to a Nov. 17 article from The Washington Post. Horner told The Post that his more right-winged fake stories were read and shared by Trump supporters quite often, once even by the president-elect’s son, Eric Trump.
Horner told The Post, “I think Trump is in the White House because of me. His followers don’t fact-check anything ― they’ll post anything, believe anything.” In fact, Trump’s campaign manager posted Horner’s story about a protester getting paid $3,500, which Horner completely admitted was untrue.
Even sources believed to be reliable have joined the fake news trend. A BuzzFeed analysis found that 38 percent of posts from three widely read right-wing political web pages feature “false or misleading information,” compared to 20 percent from three large left-wing pages. The fake news phenomenon is growing and spreading across the world with the help of these websites in addition to social media networks.
The idea that this trend could be the reason for President-Elect Donald Trump’s victory is terrifying and threatening to American democracy. The world of journalism is changing as it becomes clear that American readers do not always know the difference between what is real and what is fictional.
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