Source: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism
Technology is changing the way we consume “news”. “News” is spreading faster than ever due to increased use of social media platform. But how much of those “news” is authentic and reliable?
In this digital era, information is obtained easily online as there are many search engine available on the Web. Anyone is able to create content on the Web. An example of a fake news will be “Headline: The World Ending In 5 Hours”. If the information is made to believe, it would create chaos.
Living in the 21st century, we need to have good judgement towards the information that we receive. To protect ourselves, we need to learn how to determine real to fake.
Source: Self-produced using information from NPR.org
The future of fake news accrescent. Solon (2017) suggested that there is a new manipulation tool which allows the creation of realistic looking footage of public figures appearing to say anything. We were told not to believe everything that we read. But soon, even questioning what we see and hear as well.
In conclusion, having good judgement may not be enough. Fake news has become a global issue. Media organisations would have to strive to meet the needs of readers for reliable and credible information to make sense of the changes taking place. Government around the world have to educate every individual on the Web to learn how to spot fake news as well as being a responsible user. The individual will need to evaluate and analyse to find out the truth.
If we do nothing, trolls could rip apart countries and threaten values that we hold dearly.
(276 Words)
Reference:
Wynne Davis (2016). Fake Or Real? How To Self-Check The News And Get The Facts. [online] Available: https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2016/12/05/503581220/fake-or-real-how-to-self-check-the-news-and-get-the-facts
Olivia Solon (2017). The Future Of Fake News. [online] Available: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jul/26/fake-news-obama-video-trump-face2face-doctored-content
Julian Seah 
Hi Julian,
Interesting and insightful read you have there! In your post, you concluded that having a good judgment may not be enough since fake news have unfortunately became a global issue. Yes, I agree with your statement and I also feel that despite having good judgment, we might not be able to filter out what’s true and what’s false. Ultimately, it’s difficult to avoid the ones that are out to deliberately trick us right?
You also mentioned that Government around the world have to educate every individual on the Web to learn how to spot fake news as well as being a responsible user. I have read online that the Singapore government will soon be implementing a new law to punish the maker or fake news. ( http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/new-laws-tackle-fake-news-be-introduced-next-year-shanmugam ) What do you think of this decision by our government? Will they really be able to stop this widespread trend of fake news or worsen the situation? Hope to hear from you soon!
Cheers mate
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Hi Jennifer,
Thanks for taking yr time to read and comment on my post.
In Singapore, the law is very strict and resulting in everyone being very careful in what they do as well as what they say on the internet. I agree to a small extent to punish the maker of fake news. The maker of fake news must have a motive for every action they do. For example, if the motive is to cause chaos, the culprit should be punished. Another example would be propaganda. Fake news origin from government and power individuals. They use it to gain support as well as quash those disagreeing with them. Government and power individuals will not be creating fake news by themselves. Most of the time, they will get someone to do the dirty work. Therefore, by punishing the maker will not stop the spreading of fake news. To fully stop the situation, the mastermind must be caught.
To summarise, punishing the maker of fake news will give everyone an example of what happens when they break the law. But in every fake news, there will be some truth to it. I feel that the most effective way to stop the widespread of fake news will be educating the people. As without the people, there is no country.
Hope I manage to answer your question! Do let me know if you have any more questions! Once again, thank you and look out for my next post!
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Hello Julian, thank you for your prompt reply! Firstly, thank you for agreeing with me that the maker of fake news should be punished to send a message to those intending to create chaos via fake news. However, you claimed that fake news origin from the government and power individuals and they do not create the fake news themselves. I suppose from this sentence, you mean that people are being used as scapegoats by these powerful individuals. Hence, despite the upcoming new law about punishing maker of fake news, we are still unable to punish the real mastermind and let them off scot-free, is this really fair? and is this new law effective? How else can we stop or at least reduce this ‘fake news’ trend? Hope to hear your thoughts once again!
Cheers buddy!
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Hi Julian! Nice info-graphics you got there! 🙂
I definitely agree with you that fake news can lead to chaos but sadly, people don’t seem to really understand the situation and impact it can bring about. I believe that indeed, we need to protect ourselves from all these fake news going on, if not who else?
As much as the Government should have the responsibility to educate people out there on how to surf smart, do you think that they could also be the reason behind fake news, just so they can also protect themselves from criticism and opposing views?
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/daniellekeetonolsen/2017/10/30/like-trump-these-southeast-asian-countries-are-using-fake-news-to-devastating-effect/#bab20263d40a
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Hi Rebecca,
Thanks for taking your time to read and commenting on my blog.
Fake news is origin from government and powerful individual. The main goal behind it is to use information as a weapon to gain support as well as deter those that disagree with them. Propaganda is something that may be happening. But at a small scale, we as an individual will not be able to do much. Therefore, educating the people is the most important as for now. Once that is done, communities can be formed to counter such propaganda. There is a saying, “We are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided.”
Hope I manage to answer your question! Do let me know if you have any more questions! Once again, thank you and look out for my next post!
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