Does Fake News Exist?

By Gissel Quechol-Raya September 22, 2021

Fake news to many could mean something that is reported on and is false or a lie. During the Covid-19 pandemic, it has been a major issue of trying to keep up with what news reports are credible or reliable. Mr. George Papagiannis from UNESCO, fake news is not to be considered fake news, it is considered news but there are new terms that are used to replace fake news. The pandemic is a clear example of what the struggle with “fake news” is and how it harms a lot of people. Salman Naeem studied the importance of the so-called infodemic, meaning false claims, conspiracy theories, origin, and spread of the virus (Naeem et al. 2020). The pandemic went on to make people question what exactly was going on and the rapidness of the vaccination being available.

Social media during the pandemic was a huge tool being used by everyday citizens. Social media is a tool that because it is easily accessible it can influence greatly what people see, what they like, and what their news sources are, social media usage had increased 87% during the pandemic (Naeem et al. 2020). Wyss agrees that social media can be a good thing as it is a form of communication with many people through different platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram (Wyss 2008, 200). One of the concepts that Wyss touches base with is that the information could be misleading or not reliable. Due to the pandemic and the issues with non-reliable stories most social media platforms have a fact check section now, Facebook in 2017 launched its program to help users identify if the news sources could be trusted (Wyss 2008, 200). Nowadays if one takes a look at Instagram and a Covid-19 news-related post is up, there will be a notification leading to a link where it has facts on Covid-19.

One conspiracy that was published by a theorist named David Icke was that the virus was spreading through 5G towers (Naeem et al. 2020). While it is useful to have a smartphone nowadays because it is a tool, a camera that can take pictures and record to which can be uploaded instantly too is what allows many to communicate. A lot of information is released and sometimes it is unknown how they were started or where did the idea come from, but it is important to always fact check any source because it can be easy to just read a post and accept that knowledge without knowing if it’s true. There are instances where information is out on the internet and it can be classified as disinformation, misinformation, or mal-information. As was mentioned in the UNESCO video, the intent behind the news is a crucial point because it then becomes easier to classify what exactly the news/report is.

Sources

Naeem, S. B., Bhatti, R., & Khan, A. (2021). An exploration of how fake news is taking over social media and putting public health at risk. Health Information and Libraries Journal, 38(2), 143–149.

Wyss, Bob. Covering the environment: How journalists work the green beat. New York: Routledge, 2008. Print.