Fake News
Entry from Issues & Controversies: Overviews and Pro/Con Arguments
Fake news is misinformation created and shared strategically to confuse or misinform usually to political ends. Of course, Fake News can come in many different forms. For examples and definitions of the many different forms of Fake News, go to the Types of Misinformation section of this LibGuide.
In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the Internet enabled news organizations—and individuals—to publish stories that could reach millions of readers in seconds. It also led to the rise of many news sites that posted and re-posted articles quickly, sometimes without verifying them, paving the way for the proliferation of fake news.
Such news may have affected voter attitudes during the 2016 presidential election. According to an analysis by the website Buzzfeed in November 2016, online engagement with fake news stories exploded in the three months before Election Day. "[T]he top-performing fake election news stories on Facebook," the site reported in November, "generated more engagement than the top stories from major news outlets such as the New York Times, Washington Post, Huffington Post, NBC News, and others." A study by Buzzfeed and Ipsos, a global market research firm, surveyed more than 3,000 Americans about their response to fake news headlines—including stories claiming that Pope Francis had endorsed Trump for president and that Trump had sent his personal plane to rescue stranded U.S. Marines. About 75 percent of respondents who recalled having seen or heard about such stories judged them as "somewhat" or "very" accurate.
Various investigations have discovered that many purveyors of fake news write fictional articles to earn income through advertising revenue. Several teenagers and young adults in a town in Macedonia, for example, were found to have made money posting a variety of fake news stories. "[T]hey learned the best way to generate traffic is to get their politics stories to spread on Facebook," Buzzfeed editor Craig Silverman and journalist Lawrence Alexander reported in November 2016, "and the best way to generate shares on Facebook is to publish sensationalist and often false content that caters to Trump supporters." Many of the posts emanating from that town were plagiarized or based on stories previously published on ultra-conservative or conspiracy theory websites based in the United States.
Books & eBooks
Fake News and Alternative Facts by Call Number: ZA3075 .C675 2018ISBN: 9780838916360Publication Date: 2018-05-14In this Special Report, she demonstrates how. Readers will learn more about the rise of fake news, particularly those information behaviors that have perpetuated its spread; discover techniques to identify fake news, especially online; and explore methods to help library patrons of all ages think critically about information, teaching them ways to separate fact from fiction. Information literacy is a key skill for all news consumers, and this Special Report shows how librarians can make a difference by helping patrons identify misinformation.
The Stewart/Colbert Effect by Call Number: PN1992.77.D28 S74 2011ISBN: 9780786458868Publication Date: 2011-05-04The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report have attracted much interest in recent years from popular audiences as well as scholars in various disciplines. Both Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert have been named on Time magazine's list of the most influential people in the world. The ten essays in this interdisciplinary collection explore the issues engendered by the popularity of entertainment news, including the role of satire in politics, the declining level of trust in traditional sources of media, the shows' cathartic or informational function, and the ways in which these shows influence public opinion.
All That's Not Fit to Print by ISBN: 9781789733648Publication Date: 2019-05-21"Dewey Defeats Truman." "Hillary Clinton Adopts Alien Baby." Fake news may have reached new notoriety since the 2016 US election, but it has been around a long time. Whether it was an error in judgment in a rush to publish election results in November, 1948, or a tabloid cover designed to incite an eye roll and a chuckle in June, 1993, fake news has permeated and influenced culture since the inception of the printed press. But now, when almost every press conference at the White House contains a declaration of the evils of "fake news", evaluating information integrity and quality is more important than ever. In All That's Not Fit to Print, Amy Affelt offers tools and techniques for spotting fake news and discusses best practices for finding high quality sources, information, and data. Including an analysis of the relationship between fake news and social media, and potential remedies for viral fake news, Affelt explores the future of the press and the skills that librarians will need, not only to navigate these murky waters, but also to lead information consumers in to that future. For any librarian or information professional, or anyone who has ever felt overwhelmed by the struggle of determining the true from the false, this book is a fundamental guide to facing the tides of fake news.
Social Media and the Public Interest by ISBN: 9780231184540Publication Date: 2019-08-27Facebook, a platform created by undergraduates in a Harvard dorm room, has transformed the ways millions of people consume news, understand the world, and participate in the political process. Despite taking on many of journalism's traditional roles, Facebook and other platforms, such as Twitter and Google, have presented themselves as tech companies--and therefore not subject to the same regulations and ethical codes as conventional media organizations. Challenging such superficial distinctions, Philip M. Napoli offers a timely and persuasive case for understanding and governing social media as news media, with a fundamental obligation to serve the public interest. Social Media and the Public Interest explores how and why social media platforms became so central to news consumption and distribution as they met many of the challenges of finding information--and audiences--online. Napoli illustrates the implications of a system in which coders and engineers drive out journalists and editors as the gatekeepers who determine media content. He argues that a social media-driven news ecosystem represents a case of market failure in what he calls the algorithmic marketplace of ideas. To respond, we need to rethink fundamental elements of media governance based on a revitalized concept of the public interest. A compelling examination of the intersection of social media and journalism, Social Media and the Public Interest offers valuable insights for the democratic governance of today's most influential shapers of news.
