Curtailing The Impact Of Fake News On Journalism, Youths And The Society -By Sandra Ijeoma Okoye

There is no denying the fact that gossipmongers prey on the defenselessness or bigoted potential of recipients whom they hope to enlist as amplifiers and multipliers. In this way, they seek to tacitly recruit them into becoming channels of their messages by exploiting their susceptibilities to share information for a variety of reasons. A particular danger is that ‘fake news’ in this sense is usually free, meaning that people who cannot afford to pay for quality Journalism, or who lack access to independent public service news media, are especially vulnerable to both disinformation and misinformation.

Without resort to embellishment in this context, the internet makes it easy for people to access information with a click of the button; either on phone keypad or computer keyboard. However, it also makes it easy to spread false information, which can have calamitous effects on both individuals and society as a whole. For this reason, it is important to fact-check sources of information.

Fact-checking is important because misinformation can sway anyone’s opinion. In turn, such person’s opinion can largely inform his or her actions. Implicatively, if actions are carried out based on false information, wrong decisions can easily be made. These decisions can lead to unintended consequences. For example, when fake news about a personality is shared on a social media platform, such information is capable of tarnishing his or her image thus bringing such persons to disrepute, and in turn could negatively impact people’s opinion on the credibility and integrity of the maligned person.

It is not unfounded to opine that fake news has the potential of doing damages that can impinge on the economy as well since it can greatly demoralize any leader whose personality was maligned through fake news. At this juncture, it is expedient to advise the young ones, particularly the youths to always make effort towards countering fake news. It is therefore expedient to inform the youths that the best way they can counter fake news is to conduct their own research; individually or collectively.

As the tentacles of fake news is by each passing day becoming far reaching, it cannot be a misnomer to ask, “How do we keep them from getting a chokehold on every segments of the economy?

The obvious place to start is by understanding what fake news is. As opposed to satire, opinion or sloppy reporting, all of which can contain degrees of untruth, or at least bias, false news is purely fictional and created with intent to deceive, often for political gain.

It is not erroneous to say that fake news has been around since the printing press was invented. But in recent years, particularly since the advent of the Internet with its ancillary, which is the social media and a steadily creeping distrust of journalism have caused it to explode.

Against the foregoing backdrop, it is salient to recall an African proverb that says “It is unfair and scapegoating for the head to take the knock as punishment for the fart that was expelled by the anus”. Interpretatively put, journalists are more often than not wrongly accused for peddling fake news they know nothing about. Given the foregoing anomaly, and which no doubt impinges on the integrity and credibility of journalism as a profession and body of knowledge, it will not be out of place to ask, “What are the things journalists need to curtail the spread of fake news, and if not for anything to exculpate the profession from the blame of disseminating fake news?

Answering the foregoing question in this context, it is high time for news media to tacked more closely to professional standards and ethics, to eschew the publishing of unchecked information, and to take a distance from information which may interest some of the public but which is not in the public interest.

In a similar vein, all news institutions, and journalists; whatever their political leanings, should avoid inadvertently and uncritically spreading disinformation and misinformation. In fact, there is an urgent need for Journalists to intensify efforts toward the provision of internal fact checking before publication.

The reason for the foregoing is that Journalists and writers have control over the content they create, and they have an obligation to ensure the information they report is as accurate and true as possible. This is as the Poynter Institute, in a study revealed that 80% of journalists have fallen for misinformation online. Despite the fact that the research was carried out elsewhere, one can say that the Findings is universal as it also finds expression in this part of the world.

Also, media experts are of the view that journalists and media outlets help amplify misinformation when they cover it. This is why Google released tools to help journalists fact-check stories. By only reporting information they know to be true, journalists and writers can stop misinformation before it has a chance to spread.

In fact, it is also expedient to protect the young ones from the negative impact of fake news as they suffer from lack of confidence when it comes to challenging the truthfulness of a piece of information. Rather than telling them something they read online is false, they need to be encouraged to check the piece for accuracy themselves.

Social media has created a new kind of ‘digital literacy’. Digital literacy is not just reading content online, but sharing, discussing, and posting content yourself. This ‘participatory culture’ is something we as parents can embrace to manage the impact of disinformation.

Instead of trying to stop young ones from being online altogether, rather encourage them to be good digital citizens, calling out fake news, being positive in their online communities and creating great content themselves.