Fake news has become a common problem in society these days. It has become a problem for people to differentiate between fake news and real news. Fake news is usually fabricated stories. The sources that disseminate fake news do so intentionally to deceive the masses and sometimes grossly distort actual news reports.
Fake news is the biggest concern in most countries since it has the ability to influence the way society makes its decision. In a society where people are mainly informed through media, and they use the media sources also to make political decisions; hence, fake news often threatens fair decision making. Fake news is poisonous to the minds and hearts of people because sometimes they make the audience to lose trust in the state (Shao, et al., 101). However, when the audience realizes that the news was fake they lose the trust of the media source where they got the news.
When the audience is no longer certain of what is true or false information from the media, they lose their confidence in a particular media. The information from such media sources are also treated with a pinch of salt, the audience develops mistrust towards Medias that spread fake news. When the audience does not trust a particular media or news website, restoring their trust might be one of the most difficult challenges (Allcott and Gentzkow, 214). The trust is also distorted since the audience perspective of the media with fake news is changed.
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The audience may find it difficult to believe news from certain media houses since they have published fake news before, the public image of such media sources are at risk. The dissemination of unreliable and misleading information is the driving force behind mistrust that is increasing towards the media on a daily basis. The audience is, therefore, forced to critically analyze information and work from journalists. When they realize that the information that was delivered by the journalists is fake and unauthenticated, they develop mistrust towards those journalists and the media where they are employed (Balmas, 440).
The media must think of ways that can help them to restore trust from the audience. The first step that the media can take is to correct the mistakes that they have committed. Instead of trying to cover up the fake stories, the media outlet that has disseminated a fake story must fess up (Shao, et al., 101). Media must explain to the public that their report was fake and give reasons why the mistakes occurred, then promise the audience that such an act will not be repeated.
Another thing that the media houses must do is to verify facts before they report on matters. The media must ensure that the information that they are going to give to the public is correct. The media must dedicate itself in reporting the truth, with facts that can be proven. Once the audience and the general public is convinced that the media is reporting the truth, they can trust the media once again (Shao, et al., 103).
One of the most popular false or fake news was the one that portrayed Merkel as mentally ill. The information was delivered at a very crucial political moment. The fake news which was reported in Germany was spread worldwide. The audience watched the news on social media and YouTube were the news was spread. The electoral campaigner’s response team immediately took a stand to defend Merkel and inform the public that Merkel was sane. Most politicians have come up with teams that are frequently checking on the news that is being spread on the social media. Fake news was also experienced during the last moments of the US election where over 20 successful false declarations were shared.
Due to the fake news that is being spread through social media, the majority do not trust news in the social media. Most the United States citizens believe that social media is full of fake news (Allcott and Gentzkow, 225). Facebook is one of the social media platforms that many people believe that fake news is being spread through. The citizens upon the realization that the news that was being spread through social media was fake developed mistrust towards social media new; hence, did not trust what they read or hear on social media. Most of the social media platforms have been unable to regulate fake news that is being spread through them, they have, therefore, been unable to win the trust of the audience about the accuracy of news that is being spread among.
Lastly, the majority of US citizens view social media as a place where most of the fake news is being spread through. Unless social media platforms come up with strategies of limiting the spread of fake news, it will be difficult for the audience to trust news spread through them. Since the audience cannot verify the source of news that is being spread through social media, they have found it difficult to trust them (Allcott and Gentzkow, 236). The volume of misinformation spread through social media has also made it lose trust among the audience. It is believed that fake news disseminated through social media had an effect in the US election, most people, therefore, stopped believing in the social media news out of fear of being misled.
