What is Fake News?
Embedded Files
According to the Cambridge Dictionary, Fake News is defined as 'false stories that appear to be news, spread on the internet or using other media.'
The term 'fake news' has been used as far back as the 1800s but has become more popular in recent years. According to Google Trends, the phrase started to become widely used following the 2016 US Presidential election.
Search results according to Google Trends, 0-100 rating indicating the average frequency of 'fake news' being Google searched. A spike is seen in search results in 2016, and its peak interest found in March 2020.
What Motivates People to Create Fake News?
Fake News is often motivated by political agenda to influence public opinion on a subject and damaging the reputation of other individuals and groups.
It may also be published to share sensationalist stories for the financial benefit of its online publishers.
One story about Pope Francis endorsing Donald Trump for President in 2016 circulated online and gained attraction from various media outlets.
This news item was entirely false and was originally created by WTOE 5, a fake publication which poses as a real outlet. Similar approaches have been taken to promote other political candidates, including US Senator Bernie Sanders (Snopes, 2016).
Pope Francis endorsing Trump article.
(ResearchGate, 2017)
How People May Fall For Fake News
As detailed in a 2021 study of 'The Pyschology of Fake News', media consumers are often biased towards information that suits their ideology. People may overlook inconsistencies if the media coordinates with their identity, for example with political ideology (Pennycook & Rand, 2021).
It is therefore important for media-consumers to be mindful of their ideological and political biases.
Reference List
Reference List
Evon, D. (2016) 'Did Pope Francis Shock World by Endorsing Donald Trump for President?', Snopes, 10 July, available https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/pope-francis-donald-trump-endorsement/ [accessed 16 April 2024]
Google Trends (2024) fake news trends [image] available: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=fake%20news&hl=en [accessed 16 April 2024]
Pennycook, G., & Rand, D. G. (2021). 'The psychology of fake news', Trends in Cognitive Sciences 25(5), 388–402, available: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2021.02.007
ResearchGate (2017) Figure 5 [image] available: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Screenshot-of-the-fabricated-news-article-published-in-July-2016-on-WTOE5Newscom-The_fig2_339031969 [accessed 16 April 2024]
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse