Meet the Latest Victim of Fake News: YOU!

You might be thinking to yourself, “Why are my brain cells slowly deteriorating?” The answer lies within your Twitter timeline, where the mind-crippling fake news phenomenon makes its frequent appearance. Nearly every tweet contains misinformation provided by drama-seeking individuals who are aiming to take advantage of the internet’s vulnerable audience. We are all victims of the twisted truth of fake news.

We live in a culture where news is covered twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Fifty years ago, only a select number of topics were included in the daily newspaper. Local and national evening news segments only lasted about thirty minutes, because that is about how long it takes to cover the true news daily. Today, news is pulled out of thin air. People are always searching for newsworthy stories but are usually faced with a vast world of opinionated comments mistaken for fact.

Society gives the illusion that Snapchat, Twitter and Facebook are the most efficient ways to get our daily news. When it comes to receiving updates on current events, reading 140-character tweets from random people with the verification symbol is a bad habit.

Social media is not the only source of fake news. Let’s take The Onion for example. It is a popular online satirical news organization that publishes fictional commentary for strictly entertainment purposes. The full title of the paper is The Onion – America’s Finest News Source, a name filled with sarcasm that stays consistent throughout the website. The publication’s humor ranges from lightly comical to extremely controversial. Amusing as it is, The Onion is a fine example of people having too much time on their hands. Would journalists in the 1950s be writing about their president’s potential love for feet? Probably not.

Even popular news sources such as CNN and Fox News are guilty of providing the public with fake news. In a world constantly seeking instant gratification, these media outlets jump the gun on stories, feeding into the culture of fake news.

Technology provides many benefits to the journalism industry, but it often comes at the price of the truth. How is this fake news phenomenon going to affect the future of journalism and society as a whole? Our society has turned news into nothing more than a mere shouting of opinion.

That’s fake news.