Essay Sample on Fake News: The Biggest Problem With The Media

Fake News is defined as information that is supposed to mislead the reader. This is not a new concept and has been around for a long time. One of the most notable times in the history of fake news would be the Nazi's propaganda against the Jewish people. Even things as simple as newspaper headlines could be considered fake news (A brief history of fake news). People who know about this issue should pick non-biased sources. News outlets often give misleading information to make a profit, but this often can damage your reputation or harm others.

History of false information

In 1835 there was a hoax about living things on the moon, this claim was made by the newspaper company “The New York Sun” Another instance of false news is when in 1917 News outlets were claiming that Germans were extracting fat from soldiers that were killed in the first world war (A brief history of fake news). In the Nazi era, there were all kinds of false information commonly known as propaganda as mentioned in the opening of the article. One of the most interesting ways in which the Nazis produced propaganda against the Jews was in Movie form. This was an easy way of generating propaganda because movies were simple and easy to understand (United States holocaust memorial museum). In the 2016 US election, more than 140 fake news stories came from Macedonia in a town called Veles (Wendling The (almost) complete history of 'fake news').

Why fake news is a problem

News sources often make false claims in the titles and general information that isn’t true throughout articles. Entertainment magazines generate false stories about celebrities for this is to create a sense of excitement and intrigue to create revenue. People that know about this issue have to take precautions. This makes it hard for the typical person to be well informed. “A Pew Research Center study found that those on the right and the left of the political spectrum have different ideas about the definition of ‘fake news’... ”. “People of different political sides become more socially divided due to information from what they perceive to be true.” (Fake news and alternative facts: Finding accurate news: Why is fake news harmful?).

How the problem has gotten worse

Throughout the years' false information has been an obstacle, but in the 21st century, people have numerous resources to share knowledge. As the amount of information increases so does the amount of invalid and deceiving news (Wendling The (almost) complete history of 'fake news'). About 28% of adults say that they use social media to determine politics and recent events (“1. Users Say They Regularly Encounter False and Misleading Content on Social Media – but Also New Ideas”). With so many people relying on social media there are room for mistakes due to mainly amatures giving  the information. The first thing is that this problem normalizes professionals to get paid to tell us information that's wrong. This also makes it so people distrust media sources. False information can create hate speech. Noted in the paragraph before it creates a progressively worse divide among people. And at the least, it could just be humiliating.

The Best Way to stop fake news

The best solution is to be more selective about our news sources. This will work because if people stopped going onto sites with fake information and politically biased sources they would have to adapt and prove to the public that their information is trustworthy. Then people would be only getting information from ethical sources (Fake news: Consequences of fake news). Some other solutions could be the following… News outlets before releasing the information could make sure that everything in it has come from a credible source. Another solution could be social media to take down more information that they deem false. One of the easiest and the most obvious solution is to use critical thinking.

Conclusion

News outlets often give misleading information to make a profit, but this often can damage your reputation or harm others. Misleading is on lots of different media sources including the internet, television, radio, newspapers, etc... The best solution to stopping false information is to stop giving your attention to those outlets that you recognize to do it. The spread of false information has progressively gotten worse over the years and in the future, it could be worse in ways that couldn’t be imaginable. As a reader you should always question what you read and if you are unsure about something determine if it is the truth.

Work Cited

“A Brief History of Fake News.” BBC Bitesize, BBC, 4 Dec. 2020, www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zwcgn9q.  Accessed 31 Mar. 2022.

“A Brief History of Fake News | Center for Information Technology and Society - UC Santa Barbara.” Ucsb.edu, 2017, www.cits.ucsb.edu/fake-news/brief-history.  Accessed 31 Mar. 2022.

Allen, Jennifer, et al. “Evaluating the Fake News Problem at the Scale of the Information Ecosystem.” Science Advances, vol. 6, no. 14, 3 Apr. 2020, www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aay3539,  10.1126/sciadv.aay3539. Accessed 31 Mar. 2022.

“LibGuides: Fake News and Alternative Facts: Finding Accurate News: Why Is Fake News Harmful?” Austincc.edu, 2022, researchguides.austincc.edu/c.php?g=612891&p=4258046 Accessed 7 Apr. 2022.

‌‌“Nazi Propaganda — United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.” Ushmm.org, 2021, www.ushmm.org/collections/bibliography/nazi-propaganda-1.  Accessed 31 Mar. 2022.

“1. Users Say They Regularly Encounter False and Misleading Content on Social Media – but Also New Ideas.” Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech, Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech, 13 May 2019, www.pewresearch.org/internet/2019/05/13/users-say-they-regularly-encounter-false-and-misleading-content-on-social-media-but-also-new-ideas/. Accessed 7 Apr. 2022.

‌Wendling, Mike. “The (Almost) Complete History of “Fake News.”” BBC News, BBC News, 22 Jan. 2018, www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-42724320.  Accessed 31 Mar. 2022.