Misinformation, disinformation and fake news: What readers should know – Media Update

It is vital to know what fake news, mis- and disinformation are, what influence it has on the reader and how to spot it. This is because what you read in the media has a huge effect on how you look at the world around you. If you are being fed false information that you believe to be true, it can truly cause a lot of damage.

That is why media updates Talisa Carlson digs deeper to see exactly what, how and why this is found within the news.

Ready to take a closer look? Then take out your magnifying glass and lets get to it:

Misinformation is easily shared amongst people, even though they are not 100% sure if it is indeed factual. This is because the reader might not be aware that it is actually incorrect.

This type of information is misleading and contains false information, but it is spread without the intention of causing damage or harm.

For example, a blogger might have only read an articles headline on social media and then wrote an opinion piece on that. In the blog they are writing, there could be a lot of 'information' and the blogger may not mean any harm when writing the piece. But in this same piece, there is a clear lack of facts and research.

This type of information can be found in blogs that might be run by political parties (without the public being aware of it) to push out content that contains disinformation to push a certain agenda.

As readers consume a lot of news daily, one would think that it will be easy for people to spot disinformation; so why does it continue to thrive? The simple answer: People believe what they want to believe.

That is why there is so much disinformation surrounding politics, the pandemic and even when it comes to racial issues. Readers need to be extremely cautious of this type of news because it can cause a lot of damage.

For example, in 1946, the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company began making a bold claim in its advertisements, saying, More doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette!

The company made claims that Camels cigarettes assist with a wide range of health issues, and this was published in the mainstream media. A lot of people soon after started smoking, not knowing that they had been disinformed.

When it comes to fake news, the intention is all about pushing an agenda and purposefully crafted, sensational, emotionally charged, misleading or totally fabricated information that mimics the form of mainstream news.

Fake news is also referred to as false information by industry professionals and its main focus is to damage a persons reputation or evoke a specific emotion within the reader.

This is very evident in the political setting, for example, because politicians want to create hype surrounding themselves or their opposers.

Here are four questions to ask yourself to spot false content:

1. Does the message seem emotionally charged?

Remember, when a journalist is reporting back on happenings that took place, they wont be emotionally invested. They will focus on reporting the facts.

2. Does the content seem biased?

In ethical journalism, you wont find content that is biased. This means that the journalist will just talk about the facts and not provide their own personal opinion.

3. Did big news outlets cover the same story? If you come across news that seems a bit far-fetched, its best to head over to Google and do research. Have big publications talked about the issue? If not, it might be a clear indication that its fake information.

4. Does the person who posted this have other social media accounts? Ever wanted to be an FBI agent? Because now is your chance! Doing research on the person or account who posted a story is a great way to debunk any false content.

For example, if it is posted on a blog, does the blog have social media accounts? Do these accounts link back to reliable sources? Did the person who posted it have an active social media account? If you answered no to most of the questions, accept it to be fake.

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Misinformation, disinformation and fake news: What readers should know - Media Update