Fake news is an issue that is happening all over the world.(source: Georgetown University's School of Continuing Studies.)
Fake News is something that has been a part so much that it can be difficult to recognize if you don’t have media literacy like a journalist. However, sometimes journalists contribute to the issue of misinformation and disinformation. With many news outlets transitioning to a more mobile friendly layout, fake news is spreading faster than the speed of light, as millions of people have access to news at the push of a button.
In “Mobile and Social Media Journalism: A Practical Guide for Multimedia Journalism by Anthony Adornato,” he discusses that journalists are focusing too much on posting articles quickly instead of taking time and double checking everything. Most of the time, the spread of misinformation isn’t always intentional, but is a result of lack of effort to follow up and fact check before publishing a story. While I do agree that journalists should move with a purpose and get stories out there as soon as possible, the quality should still be at a certain level.
The other side of this issue is combating the already existing fake news that is out there. When people spread fake news, it's mainly so that they garner more clicks. In his book, Adornato mentions that journalists should try to use external sources like Google Reverse Image Search or double check the geo-locations by using Google Earth for photos. Additionally, he encourages the use of social media by reaching out to people to see if they can help with fact checking.
With people getting more and more tech savvy, I think tech companies should try some of the tactics Adornato mentions in his book, but also try to be at the forefront of some of these issues because most of the time journalist go to tech companies for information, but if it isn’t correct, then there will a never ending chain of shared misinformation.
Overall, there's no single person or group to blame for the spread of misinformation because everyone has done it whether it was intentional or not. But the most important thing to do is to equip journalists, tech companies and anyone with the right tools to prevent the dissemination of misinformation.
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