1. Fake news refers to any material that is presented by the publisher as news, but they know that it is untrue at the time of publication.
2. Publication of fake news is regarded as the most dangerous thing because it results in misleading the readers or viewers (Miller-Still, 2017).
3. The misperceptions that the readers or viewers are left with may create many social problems.
II. Description of Fake News
A. Definition
1. This term, fake news, refers to any material that is presented by a publisher as news while they had prior knowledge that such news was untrue at the time the news was being published (Miller-Still, 2017).
2. Some of the most frequently used sources of fake news by publishers include bad reporting and propaganda.
B. Bad Reporting
1. Many elements constitute bad reporting but usually involves the failure of verifying facts before publication.
2. Bad reporting has some signals, which may include using unnamed sources, presentation of allegations as the truth and the lack of giving accurate dates or time for an occurrence (Miller-Still, 2017).
3. One of the riskiest signs of bad reporting is that it is hard to distinguish from fake news and truth
4. For instance, many publications claim that celebrity couples are at the peak of their divorce while citing unnamed sources related to the couple (Miller-Still, 2017)
5. In such publications, the public will be unable to tell whether the writer used a real unnamed source but failed to verify or fabricated the story, which would otherwise be considered as fake news.
C. Propaganda
1. The third kind of media that is also placed in the category of fake news is propaganda.
2. Many experts say that propaganda utilizes media to persuade and suggest people of a specific point of view while hiding its sources or bias (Jowett " O'Donnell, 2014).
3. People term political campaigns that utilize third parties to misinform the people about a competitor as using propaganda, but there are challenges in determining the actual source of the story and the truth in it.
4. However, people do not understand a political campaign using a third party to explain positive and accurate accounts of a particular candidate since they also term it as the use of propaganda.
5. The main thing to note is that propaganda is taken for the word lie.
6. However, people should be aware that not all fake news might be considered as propaganda (Jowett " O'Donnell, 2014).
III. Recognizing Fake News Sources
1. There are various ways one may identify false news.
2. The first step is checking the source behind the news (Stierwalt, 2016).
3. It is important to examine whether material reported by the reference in the past is verified as authentic.
4. Another way of identifying fake news is looking for any potentially false information or mistakes in a story.
5. Some stories may have mistakes, but this does not mean that the news is fake.
6. Another crucial method is verifying the information contained in a story (Stierwalt, 2016).
7. Verification of fake stories may be done using neutral websites. For instance, politifact.com or Factcheck.org that have a non-biased way of testing the fake stories (Ellis, 2018).
8. The verification process involves checking the citations to see whether the material referenced coincides and support the conclusion drawn from the article by the author.
9. Identifying fake news also entail examining any opinions or bias in a quality published story.
10. A quality published story entails material that is fact-based and objective, but this does not mean that the news should leave the reader with a negative or positive feeling after reading the story.
11. Good news should trigger some emotional response from the reader.
12. News that seems to drag someone to a conclusion is biased.
IV. The Role Played by Fake News in the 2016 Elections
1. Many people believe that fake news played a significant role in the US 2016 general election, which resulted in Donald Trump's victory (Allcott " Gentzkow, 2017).
2. For example, 73% of the Trump supporters believed that protesters were paid by George Soros, the billionaire financier to disrupt the rallies of the Republican candidates (Allcott " Gentzkow, 2017).
V. The Media and Donald Trump
A. The dirty dossier and CNN
1. Currently, the president of the United States of America, Donald Trump is claiming that the media is peddling fake stories and lies about him (Stoffers, 2017).
2. Buzzfeed and CNN released some dossier’s contents that had several damaging claims against Donald Trump (Birnbaum, 2018).
3. Trump denounced these stories circulated by CNN and Buzzfeed defining them as fake news (Birnbaum, 2018).
4. The facts about the story reported by CNN is that both Obama's and Trump's administration were given briefs of the “dirty dossier” (Birnbaum, 2018)
5. The contents of the ‘dossier’ could not be verified, and Obama's administration did not use them nor did Trump opponents who came up with it release them.
6. There were claims that Russia could use these contents in blackmailing Trump; thus he was updated on them.
7. The intelligence communities regarded the news source to be reliable, but the materials did not go through the verification process.
8. However, Trump is currently refusing to associate with CNN and accuses it of reporting fake news.
9. Trumps administration is complicating the matter since it seems to have a big problem with fake news (Abramson, 2018).
10. Such complications could be perceived when the White House spokesperson was confronted with proof of being dishonest about an insignificant matter.
11. The dishonesty was categorized by another spokesperson as "alternative facts" (Abramson, 2018).
VI. Conclusion
1. Fake news refers to the material presented by a publisher as factual stories but in an actual sense are falsified.
2. The most common sources of fake news include bad reporting and propaganda.
3. Recognizing fake news involves using various techniques such as looking for potential mistakes as well as verifying the sources used by an author.
4. Many people believe that fake news played a significant role in the 2016 general elections, which led to Donald Trump’s victory.
5. Donald Trump's administration is also fighting allegations leveled against it, for instance, the news released by CNN and Buzzfeed regarding a ‘dossier'.
6. Donald Trump has refuted such claims and defined such stories as fake news.
References
Abramson, S. (2018). Trump-Russia is too complex to report. We must turn to curatorial journalism | Seth Abramson. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/22/trump-russia-too-complex-to-report-we-must-turn-curatorial-journalism
Allcott, H., " Gentzkow, M. (2017). Social Media and Fake News in the 2016 Election. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 31(2), 211-36. doi:10.3386/w23089
Birnbaum, E. (2018). Trump rips 'Fake Dirty Dossier? Retrieved from https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/398308-trump-rips-fake-dirty-dossier
Ellis, M. (2018). The 5 Best Unbiased Fact-Checking Sites for Finding the Truth. Retrieved from https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/true-5-factchecking-websites/
Jowett, G., " O'Donnell, V. (2014). Propaganda " persuasion.
Miller-Still, R. (2017). Fake news or bad reporting? | Courier-Herald. Retrieved from http://www.courierherald.com/opinion/fake-news-or-bad-reporting/
Stierwalt, E. S. (2016). 6 Tips for Identifying Fake News. Scientificamerican. Retrieved from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/6-tips-for-identifying-fake-news/
Stoffers, C. (2017). Fake News Fooling Millions! Retrieved from https://upfront.scholastic.com/issues/2016-17/010917/fake-news-fooling-millions-.html#1300L
Swift, J. (2004). A modest proposal and other prose. New York, NY: Barnes " Noble.
