Fake News: Pedalling Lies, Creating Sensationalism
admin August 10, 2020
We are living in the time of a rare Pandemic. However, worse is endemic called fake news and sensationalism, which is affecting and influencing the masses in today’s media-dominated world, during this time or otherwise? What is alarming is that the false information so circulated attracts a lot of attention and thus becomes the root cause of sensationalism.
It is said that a lie told a 100 times becomes the truth. In the same way, the spiralling of fake news gets credibility, and the majority believe it to be true while the fact is something else altogether. This then creates a habit in media and people to create false narratives and soon leads to insensitivity resulting in pure sensationalism. Don’t think that the circulation of fake news is trivial because even if it fades, the damage is done. The flip side of sensationalism is that not only the media as a profession compromises its integrity, but the society as a whole becomes the carrier that sustains misrepresentation, which in turn weakens facts and helps lies thrive.
The above scenario might seem profitable with more audiences lapping it up, keeping in mind the rapid commercialisation of the media. However, with the peddling of lies soon, the same audiences based on the effect the information has on them may slowly come to a point where they would not trust the media anymore. This would hamper the whole communication and information chain as today; the world is heavily dependent on the media for the said purposes.
How to Fight Fake News, Stop Sensationalism
Having shared this information, remember that social media exerts a huge influence on the public and its thinking. It is up to you to use it wisely apart from the journalists whose primary role is to uphold true journalism and use appropriate language. In this era of sensationalism, it is now time to bring back the age-old news and personal ethics so that both, your audience and the media, act responsibly to lessen or eliminate the menace of fake news and its sensationalism.
- The first thing a user of social media can do is verify the source of the news circulated. Check its credibility and determine whether the source is accurate and truthful. Weaker the credibility, higher the likelihood of news is fake.
- Check the datedness of the news that currently, you received if you feel that it lacks authenticity. Doing your part of research helps in stopping the spread of lies and resulting sensationalism.
- Once as a user, you determine that it is fake news become proactive and stop its circulation. Don’t be part of sensationalising the information with further sharing of the same.
- Also, once you know the news is fake, then you can stop others from circulating it, too, by stating the accurate information as against the same. Though we may not be able to put a complete halt to fake news, we can stop its sensationalism by not recirculating or reposting the erroneous news.
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