News Analysis essay ( Final Draft) PDF

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News analysis essay news media: Macquarie University...

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News Analysis Essay News Media

Samantha Rorie: 46457909

Chosen prompt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSUeTEuV2h0

1 Word count: 1485 words

Fake news: The detrimental effect on the public and the future of news media Fake news is defined as “news articles that are intentionally and verifiably false and could mislead readers” [ CITATION All17 \l 3081 ] and “either wholly false or containing deliberately misleading elements incorporated within its content or context” [ CITATION Bak17 \l 3081 ]. Fake news is a phenomenon that has spanned many generations [ CITATION Eds17 \l 3081 ], and may even date back to 13th century BC when Ramses the Great spread fake news claiming a false victory in battle [ CITATION Alj18 \l 3081 ]. Fake news has become even more apparent following the election of Donald Trump as US President in January 2017, where he frequently denounced legacy news media as fake news [ CITATION Alj18 \l 3081 ]. Likewise, fake news is doing great harm [ CITATION Jos18 \l 3081 ]. It has been discovered that fake news spreads uniquely from real news online social networks. The early circulation of fake news sees views increasing five hours after the first re-postings [ CITATION Zil20 \l 3081 ] and individuals who can benefit financially from fake news, whilst growing social media and advertising systems, will do anything even if it is at the expense of others trust [ CITATION Mik18 \l 3081 ]. The impulse to respond to falsehood with facts is not a cure-all. Facts are therefore illequipped to solve the problem on their own—and shining a light on what’s false can even, counterintuitively, make things worse by spreading lies to more people, making those falsehoods seem more plausible to certain audiences, and generally ensuring that the story is more potent after the debunk than before [ CITATION Whi19 \l 3081 ]. In an attempt to address the above issues, it is critical for journalists to be specific and accurate, use firsthand interviews, use a person’s or organization’s real name and quote them directly [ CITATION Whi19 \l 3081 ]. The “RMIT ABC 'Corona check'” is a prime example of where this did not occur. The segment raises and addresses three main points and, in an attempt, to debunk them the journalist attempts to use a fact-based approach but does so generally and with insufficient detail. Particularly, a movie has been produced spreading conspiracy theories about the virus. To debunk this, the journalist states the movie features a discredited anti-vaccination scientist. This would have been more powerful if she had named the scientist and explained why and how they had been discredited. Similarly, Facebook posts claiming reported COVID-19 cases are being “overstated” as having a flu jab causes a positive test to COVID-19. To debunk this the journalist makes a broad statement that doctors have “busted” this claim but failed to specifically quote which doctors and what the detailed medical reasons behind their differing views are. Lastly, within the prompt, it was stated that an Italian politician who claims that many COVID-19 deaths are from other causes and are being manipulated to establish a dictatorship. To debunk this the journalist states that the politician did not understand the medical research, quotes, comments or statistics from the ‘Higher Institute of Health’. It would have been more compelling if the journalist had explained who the ‘Higher Institute of Medicine’ was to establish their level of authority and whether or not they are a legitimate medical institution.

2 Word count: 1485 words

There are numerous challenges a journalist faces when countering fake news. Relative to the chosen prompt, the initial challenge to consider is the complexity surrounding COVID-19 and the difficulty for journalists to know and understand whether information is real or fake news. This requires detailed fact checking and research into the complex and knowledge intensive subject. For example, within the prompt, the journalist was required to investigate and cover the differences between the COVID-19 and influenza vaccine (ABC NEWS, 2020). Investigation and detailed checking would pose difficulty for the journalist due to their lack of medical expertise and in addition to this the journalist had a very short time to present the “facts” which is extremely difficult when presenting medical information to a nonmedical audience. Al Jazeera English reporter said “I think the most important skillset that I have and that I see my colleagues having is fact-checking. It sounds so easy to say it, doesn’t it? […] [But] when you are writing a story, and there are tweets pouring down from a blast zone or something like that, you need to know what is real and what is not – especially these days, now that we’re living in a “fake news era” [ CITATION Alj18 \l 3081 ]. Another challenge the journalist faced was the fact that only 43% of Australians trust news media, thereby, indirectly causing pressure for journalists to report accurate and real news [ CITATION Car16 \l 3081 ]. In direct contrast to this is the 24-hour news cycle, alongside the need to be entertaining. A ‘Sky News Australia’ journalist concurred with the issue of accelerated news cycles: because there are so many competitive news outlets, paired with professional journalists, it’s “get it on the air first at all costs”. Whereas before there’d be a more circumspect and vigorous checking of what was going on [ CITATION Alj18 \l 3081 ]. The trust journalists have in high profile people and reliable media sources such as Facebook, which contain fake news, promoted by high profile anti-vaccine personnel. The combination of this high-profile public and a platform such as Facebook hosting this fake news, creates a great difficulty for journalists in differentiating news which is real and fake. A study by ‘Western Sydney University’ highlights the fact that 44% of young people use Facebook to get news articles and headlines [ CITATION Tan20 \l 3081 ]. Moreover, this difficulty is further shown within the prompt, where the journalist highlighted the fact that an Italian politician who did comprehend the medical research of COVID-19 made claims that 96% of reported COVID-19 deaths were not caused by COVID-19 (ABC NEWS, 2020). Claims as such by these high-profile people cause difficulty for the journalist when constructing a news article as usually Government sources would be a primary or first point of reference when considering reliable and honest news. As well-intentioned as these efforts might be, the impulse to respond to falsehood with facts is not a cure-all. The underlying assumptions—that people won’t share stories they know are false and that the truth is a natural corrective to lies—might seem unassailable in theory. However, in practice our relationship to truth is more complicated. People don’t believe things, or share things, only because of facts. Facts are therefore ill-equipped to solve the problem on their own—and shining a light on what’s false can even, counterintuitively, make things worse by spreading falsehoods to more people, making those falsehoods seem more 3 Word count: 1485 words

plausible to certain audiences, and generally ensuring that the story is more potent after the debunk than before [ CITATION Whi19 \l 3081 ]. Another issue is the psychological response that undermines fact-checking called the illusory-truth effect which was first identified by a team of psychologists led by Lynn Hasher in 1977. It shows that when people are repeatedly exposed to false statements, those statements start to feel true, even when they are countered with evidence. In short, a fact check is no match for a repeated lie[ CITATION Whi19 \l 3081 ]. Effective fact checking may provide an effective way of challenging fake news, however, given the views above and the growing amplification of fake news, it appears as though a more systematic approach is required. Although there are various fact-checking websites, one method that could be used is for technology companies to invest in a high-class technology/program that finds fake news and identifies it as such. This would make it more difficult for the people who make money from promulgating fake news to do so. In addition to this, once the fake news is identified, rather than deleting the story, it could rather be surrounded by related accurate articles that would give the reader different viewpoints and more perspective. Facebook are doing this with the “Related Article” feature being added directly below a disputed story [ CITATION Whi19 \l 3081 ]. Another method that could be introduced is government regulation to strengthen online accountability and that holds individuals and organisations accountable for what they post by applying fines or even imprisonment. There is speculation surrounding this implementation currently being tested, however, it needs to be executed quickly [ CITATION Dan211 \l 3081 ]. An example of such legislation is the German Network Enforcement Act which was introduced in October 2017. In summation, fake news is a complex issue and symptomatic of societal issues. It threatens the legacy of the traditional media sources and competes for views and exposure. Countering it is equally complex and is made more difficult by the fact that large tech companies such as Facebook and Google have monopolised the online market. Likewise, fact-checking was discovered to be ineffective when counteracting fake news, with concerns for a future saturated by a highly technological society. Punishments must be implemented to those caught spreading fake news. This will allow for an honest flow of news in years to come, and hopefully build trust within the public and news media channels.

4 Word count: 1485 words

References Baker, V., & McStay, A. (2017). Fake News and The Economy of Emotions: Problems, causes, solutions. Digtal Journalism, 1-22. Fisher, C. (2016). The trouble with ‘trust’ in news media. Communication Research and Practice. Funke, D., & Flamini, D. (2021). A guide to anti-misinformation actions around the world. Retrieved from Poynter: https://www.poynter.org/ifcn/anti-misinformation-actions/ Graves, L., & Cherubini, F. (2016). The rise of fact-checking sites in Europe. Oxford University Research Archive . Habgood-Coote, J. (2018, July 27). The term ‘fake news’ is doing great harm. Retrieved from The Conversation: https://theconversation.com/the-term-fake-news-is-doing-greatharm-100406 Hunt, A., & Gentzkow, M. (2017). Social Media and Fake News in The 2016 Election. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 211-236. News, A. (2020, June 1). RMIT ABC 'Corona check' is here to sort reality from the fake news. Retrieved from Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSUeTEuV2h0 Notley, T., Dezuanni, M., Zhong, H. F., & Chambers, S. (2020). News and Young Australians in 2020. Sydney: Western Sydney University and Queensland University of Technology. Phillips, W. (2019, September/December). The Toxins We Carry. Retrieved from Columbian Journalism Review: https://www.cjr.org/special_report/truth-pollutiondisinformation.php Schapals, A. K. (2018). Fake News. Journalism Practise, 976-985. Tandoc, E., Lim, Z., & Ling, R. (2017). Defining “Fake News”. Digital Journalism, 137-153. Warzel, C. (2018, February 11). Believable: The Terrifying Future Of Fake News. Retrieved from Buzz Feed News: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/charliewarzel/theterrifying-future-of-fake-news Wendling, M. (2018, Janruary 22). The (almost) complete history of 'fake news'. Retrieved from BBC News: https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-42724320 West, D. (2018, December 18). How to combat fake news and disinformation. Retrieved from Brookings: https://www.brookings.edu/research/how-to-combat-fake-news-anddisinformation/

5 Word count: 1485 words

Zhao, Z., Zhao, J., Sano, Y., Levy, O., Takayasu, H., Takayasu, M., . . . Havlin, S. (2020). Fake news propagates differently from real news even at early stages of spreading. Data Science, 2-14.

6 Word count: 1485 words...