Fake News effects on democracy PDF

Preview

Summary

Download Fake News effects on democracy PDF

Description

Final Essay Fake News effects on democracy Romello Taylor Cs 101 Wilfred Laurier University Dr. J. Nicholson April 1st, 2020

In the rise of a culture that encourages independent climbs to self-sufficiency, we experience an abundance of opinionated headlines on media platforms that have access to shape and alter the perspectives of millions of readers at their fingertips. Elections are closely followed by societies whose members increasingly choose social platforms for daily updates; relevant information, opinions, scandals, and promises produced by the parties involved. Knowing how to find and critically analyze information in this era, where fake news is associated with misinformation, has become more important than ever. Moreover, democracy rests on the publics’ ability to separate facts from fiction and recognize persuasion that is marketed as future promises. The elections process is heavily dependent on delivering information to the public. With the abundance of deliberate and deceptive use of fake news from competing campaigns, parties used this strategy to discredit their competition. Blind faith in the government system is demonstrated as the widespread of opinionated, unreliable information is seen through social media, therefore modifying the results. Consequently, this paper will argue that the expansion of fake news on media platforms had a direct effect on democracy during the 2019 Canadian federal election. The exploitation of mediums is not novel in communication history dating back to the beginning of the 20th century. Oversaturated radio waves led news and media outlets alike to believe that the infamous Titanic ship had sunk, but all the people on board had survived. The radio announcement read, “The Titanic sank at 2.20 yesterday morning after all her passengers and crew had been transferred to another vessel (The Guardian, 1912).” One of the most reliable, credible newspapers of the time, The World News Journal headlined “Titanic sinking; no lives lost (Evans, 2019).” Articles like this assured families and friends that their loved ones were safe.

We now know this not to be true with over one thousand souls lost on that fatal morning (The Guardian, 1912). It is a natural course of human nature to exploit mediums, as we all try to use them for personal gain The internet and social media are no different, however, the accessibility to a viewership that the internet provides is second to none, no longer relying on massive production companies or media outlets such as Sony or AT&T who own the likes of CNN (Seth, 2020). Now anyone with a smartphone that has access to social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram has the capability of obtaining a massive faithful following. Those followers, in turn, trust their personal beliefs. Burton explains how accessible and easy it is for anyone to voice their opinion through social media. “Most research on the political potential of digital media focuses on the benefits conferred by technological affordances of new communications technologies—the lack of gatekeepers, easy dissemination of information, lower barriers to access (Burton, 2019).” The growing status of these individuals is important to the delicate nature of democracy. Burton discusses the significance as, “it is often the culture of digital media spaces that enables them to be mobilized to significant cultural and political effect (Burton, 2019, p. 4).” These findings illustrate how social media platforms have enabled social power. The 20th-century internet subculture is embodied typically by the young, rebellious, opinionated individual, whose emotional tweet or Facebook post can sway thousands of people in the direction that they are feeling before their morning coffee. For this reason, it is vital for candidates running in elections to be conscious of their daily decisions, such as their attire, where they are seen and what they say and how they say it. Empowerment given to the masses through memes were apparent during the 2019 federal elections when pictures surfaced of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wearing brown-face in an Aladdin Halloween costume. The photos spread like a

wildfire through social platforms, blogs, and news outlets in attempts to discredit the Prime Minister and label him as a racist. The reason for this stems from a history of racism rooted in brown/ blackface used by white performers in the United States of America that demeaned and dehumanized African Americans (Clark, 2019). Furthermore, the suspicious resurfacing of the photo during the middle of the election was later deemed foreign interference but not before the damage to Trudeau’s reputation had already done (Burke, 2020). Although Trudeau won the 2019 election with a minority government, he lost the popular vote by 6.5 points and the Liberal party now has to partner with another to pass any sort of bill (Frum, 2019). The ideas surrounding relevancy and the fear of becoming obsolete has forced respectable news sources, public figures, and election candidates to constantly market themselves on social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. U.S. President Donald Trump is a prime example of someone who is constantly building his social media presence by his sporadic, prolific tweets. He created a very distinct reputation for himself on social media when he selfproclaimed coined the phrase “fake news” during his run for the presidency in 2016. The former U.S. President Barack Obama, on the other hand, used his voice to credit others in the field like Prime Minister Justin Trudeau when he said, “I was proud to work with Justin Trudeau as President. He's a hard-working, effective leader who takes on big issues like climate change. The world needs his progressive leadership now, and I hope our neighbours to the north support him for another term (Obama, 2019).” This recognition is typical during elections and displays the use of social media platforms. When looking at Obama’s Twitter account, with over 114 million followers, providing his opinions on Trudeau, the tweet curated 44 thousand retweets and 320 thousand likes (Obama, 2019). The extent of viewership that the tweet created is unknown,

however, that one tweet could alter the perspective of over 114 million people. In addition, with the rise of technology came the fall of credible journalism constantly being questioned. Reliable media outlets such as CBC News turned to local platforms creating a reliable channel based on credible, factual content for their articles and posts, rather than opinions and fictional stories. Obtaining fact-based stories during the elections is how the public deliberates who is fit to lead their country’s cities and regions. Dieleman and Widjaja highlight how information is obtained by stating that, “organizations commonly seek to create linkages with external parties to access key resources and opportunities (Dieleman and Widjaja).” While the presence is needed, being able to separate credible media outlets apart from the noncredible ones is becoming increasingly difficult. Media outlets such as CBC News, are in a constant battle for their reputation as “social media and political websites [begin to] mimic journalism” (Bennett & Livingston, 2018, p.122). Consistent fear of being truly reliable has put intensive pressure on outlets to prove the stories that they share are true, which birthed a new type of journalism with fewer filters. This type of journalism has made journalists in constant search of the biggest stories by using the connections they have made to obtain an inside look onto ongoing issues. In an article titled “Propaganda in Times of Social Media Warfare” the use of what author Tomas Dodds calls “confusion tactics [that] are processes designed to disorient and deceive opponents regarding what is real and not real. In many ways, this is a classic propaganda method that is meant to instill fear, uncertainty, and doubt” has shifted to social media platforms (Dobbs, 2018). This can be seen when fabricated stories of people like Prime Minister Trudeau and his “sex scandal” broke out through an unreliable source (McIntosh, Syed, Watson, Livesey, 2019). It spread rapidly through media, once again discrediting Trudeau's character, and affecting the public opinions.

Being able to distinguish the difference between fake and reliable information in this digital era has become increasingly difficult. The use of clickbait headlines lures readers and consumers to their sites. Monther Aldwiri explains, “some scholars have posited that there is a group of content publishers that is increasingly using clickbait as a technique to facilitate their phishing objectives. Once an individual of the target audience clicks on the link and accesses the web page’s contents, he or she is led into providing sensitive information, albeit in an indirect manner (Aldwairi, Alwahedi, 2018, p, 217).” Clickbait based links among other tactics have become increasingly difficult to detect because the fake site mimics credible news outlets like CBC News. When they share eye dropping news, consumers will tend to believe it. On the other hand, a study done by Bonnet, J. L., & Rosenbaum, J. E. found that consumers like “students [can] often identify issues such as authorship, a publication’s point of view and audience, and supporting evidence as key criteria for determining a source’s reliability (Bonnet, Rosenbaum, 2019).” Seemingly the only way to detect fake news is to do further research on the stories shared. Thus, the democracy of Canada runs on the populations' ability to elect reliant candidates. In some cases, when misinformation has a larger reach than credible news, the balance of democracy holds the toll. Kyle Heim says, “some of the research findings portray social media as a powerful force in shaping political attitudes and behaviour. Citizens’ attention to informational graphics and photos (but not videos) posted on social media had a significant, positive influence on their evaluations of the candidates (Heim 2019).” These findings indicate that social media posts are making it increasingly difficult

on whom voters should vote for. This, in turn, impacts democracy as the ill-informed individual on the topic of fake news lies in harm's way of being persuaded by such content. Solutions to the spread and creation of fake news have been attempted however, freedom of speech allows people to voice their opinions freely. Aldwairi says other resolutions have been suggested like, “involve[ing] the use of a tool that is designed with the specific aim of detecting and eliminating web pages that contain misinformation intended to mislead readers. For purposes of attaining this goal, the approach will utilize some factors as a guide to deciding as to whether to categorize a web page as fake news. The user will, however, need to have the tool downloaded and installed on a personal computer before making use of its services (Aldwairi, Alwahedi, 2018, p, 218).” Services like the one mentioned above have been put in place to try and forewarn readers about the reliability of the content that they are going to read. The tool will come into operation and run through the sites that have been retrieved by the search engine before they are delivered to the user (Aldwairi, Alwahedi, 2018, p, 218). In doing so, the extension will identify sites whose links contain words or phrases that are misleading to the reader, including but not limited to those that are characterized by a lot of hyperbole and slang phrases (Aldwairi, Alwahedi, 2018, p, 218). Such web pages will be flagged as being potential sources of fake news, and the user will be notified before electing to click on either one of them (Aldwairi, Alwahedi, 2018, p, 218). This solution aids in bringing awareness to the public of the dangers that fake news provides, along with rules and regulations that have been put forth by the Canadian government to try and

control harmful articles during election years. Section 91 of Canada’s Election Act “threatens prison terms of up to five years and fines up to $50,000 for disseminating false information about a candidate, a prospective candidate, the leader of a political party or a public figure associated with a political party (Dyer 2019).” This is a strong step forward, however, trying to control millions of people with threats of fines and jail time will be difficult to enforce when the law can be broken by the simple push of a button. As a result, the solution for fake news from a consumer’s point of view is by educating the public about such content while also trying to control the spread of fake news from a systemic point of view (i.e. Sec 91 of Canada’s Election Act). In conclusion, the reliable media outlets of the past have been overpowered by the digital landscape of modern societies. As social mediums become the dominant place for daily reliable information, respected journalists and powerful media outlets are in a constant battle with the internet subculture filled with opinionated, emotional beliefs. Individuals that have instant access to the internet at their fingertips are determined to build their brand and a massive following by sharing eye-catching headlines with little to no truth to back them up. With the introduction of government software and rules during election years, the attempt to prevent the spread of fake news to the masses, prove to be extremely difficult to enforce. It seems as though social media platforms remain in control. Understanding how to find and critically analyze information remains an issue, therefore Canada's democratic stability is in question. The inability to control or prevent the spread of fake news through social media shows how false information can persuade the likes of millions of people's opinions in the direction of one’s beliefs within

minutes. Therefore, the impact this has on democracy is that voters are more likely to reelect poorly performing governments.

References Aldwairi, M., & Alwahedi, A. (2018). Detecting Fake News in Social Media Networks. Procedia Computer Science, 141, 215–222. doi: 10.1016/j.procs.2018.10.171 Bonnet, J. L., & Rosenbaum, J. E. (2019). “Fake news,” misinformation, and political bias: Teaching news literacy in the 21st century. Communication Teacher, 34(2), 103–108. doi: 10.1080/17404622.2019.1625938 Burke, A. (2020, January 30). Elections Canada tracked online misinformation during the federal election - here's what it found | CBC News. Retrieved from https://www.cbc.ca/news/ politics/elections-canada-social-media-monitoring-findings-1.5444268 Burton, J. (2019). Look at us, we have anxiety: Youth, memes, and the power of online cultural politics. Journal of Childhood Studies, 44(3), 3-17. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.18357/ jcs00019171 Clark, A. (2019, February 13). How the History of Blackface Is Rooted in Racism. Retrieved

from https://www.history.com/news/blackface-history-racism-origins Dieleman, M., & Widjaja, H. (2018). How powerful political ties appropriate resources and how weaker organizations protect themselves: A case study from Indonesia. Asia-Pacific Journal of Management Research and Innovation, 36(4), 61–86. doi: https://doi.org/ 10.1007/s10490-018-9563-2 Dodds, T. (2018). Propaganda in times of social media warfare. Canadian Journal of Communication, 43(4), 647-652. doi:http://dx.doi.org.libproxy.wlu.ca/10.22230/ cjc.2018v43n4a3398 Dubois, E., & McKelvey, F. (2019). Political bots: Disrupting Canada’s democracy. Canadian Journal of Communication, 44(2), PP27-PP33. doi:http://dx.doi.org.libproxy.wlu.ca/ 10.22230/cjc.2019v42n2a3511 Dyer, E. (2019, November 3). Watch what you tweet: New election law 'chills speech,' say critics. CBC. Retrieved from: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/elections-canadasection-912019election-1.5345250 Evans, R. (2019, June 5). Top Five Life Lessons From Newspapers.com. Retrieved from https://www.nypl.org/blog/2018/12/10/five-life-lessons-newspaperscom Frum, D. (2019, October 24). This Election Brought Out Canada's Worst. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/10/election-brought-out-canadas-worsttendencies/600511/

Heim, K. (2019), The Presidency and Social Media: Discourse, Disruption, and Digital Democracy in the 2016 Presidential Election. Edited by Schill, Dan and Hendricks, John Allen. New York: Routledge, 2018. 355 pp. Presidential Studies Quarterly, 49: 249-250. doi:10.1111/psq.12520 McIntosh, E., Syed, F., Watson, H. G., & Livesey, B. (2019, October 11). A fake Justin Trudeau sex scandal went viral. Canada's election-integrity law can't stop it. Retrieved from https://www.nationalobserver.com/2019/10/10/news/fake-justin-trudeau-sex-scandalwent-viral-canadas-election-integrity-law-cant-stop Milne, C., Greiss, J., & Boswell, D. (2016, Winter). Symposium summary: The state of Canada's constitutional democracy. Constitutional Forum, 25(3 SI), 1+. Retrieved from https:// link-galecom.libproxy.wlu.ca/apps/doc/A486643129/AONE?u=wate18005&sid= AONE&xid=9bfcd62e Obama, B. (2019, October 16). I was proud to work with Justin Trudeau as President. He's a hard-working, effective leader who takes on big issues like climate change. The world needs his progressive leadership now, and I hope our neighbours to the north support him for another term. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/BarackObama/status/ 1184528998669389824 Pennycook, G., & Rand, D. G. (2019). Fighting misinformation on social media using crowdsourced judgments of news source quality. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(7), 2521–2526. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1806781116

Schimpf, C. H. (2019). Anticipated Election Result and Protest Voting: Why and When Canadian Voters Signal Discontent. Canadian Journal of Political Science, 52(4), 847– 863. doi: 10.1017/s0008423919000325 Seth, S. (2020, January 29). The World's Top Ten Media Companies. Retrieved from https:// www.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/021815/worlds-top-ten-media-companies-discmcsa-fox.aspx The Guardian. (1912, April 16). From the archive: The Titanic is sunk, with great loss of life. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/news/1912/apr/16/leadersandreply. mainsection...