In recent years fake news has become more problematic due to the attention it has been receiving. One of the biggest reasons for this is that it is taking credibility away from all journalist, and is even giving other countries the confidence they need to wrongfully punish journalist for fake news. It has also made all news questionable, even if it is the real news, because when certain people claim everything to be fake news it can heavily influence others to believe everything is fake news as well. Another problem with fake news is how deadly it can be, whether it be in the workplace or in life. One thing that shows fake news is not as bad as people say is that it has been around for a long time and has not become controversial until recent, and that the majority of people do not even believe all of the fake news they read.
President Trump and his administration tend to make journalist out to be less credible by tearing them down in the media. This has led other countries to have the leeway to punish journalists in any way they please if they believe journalists are posting fake news, whether it is proven to be fake news or not. One way trump has recently been discrediting journalists has been by calling any news he does not like fake news, which is most news relating to him. In an article on The New York Times written by the Editorial Board titled, “The True Damage of Trump’s Fake News” they stated “When the president calls every piece of information he does not like ‘fake news,’ he also encourages politicians in other countries who are not constrained by constitutional free speech protections or independent judiciaries to more aggressively squelch the press.” In saying this the editorial board tells the audience about how Trump uses this strategy towards the things he does not like to nullify the effect of the negative statements. This is a good idea when appealing to his supporters because they tend to agree with him when he calls things fake news, but to the people that do not like him it simply makes them dislike him even more. Leaders of other countries have fallen into the footsteps of Trump by also being outspoken and trying to expose all of the falsely stated fake news. At first thought that may not seem very bad, but people have to remember that most countries do not have the right to free speech. This means that other countries are allowed to punish people for saying certain things, and if the leader of the free world is calling everything fake news then why should all other countries not do the same? Due to the difference in our constitution our president can say whatever he wants, but is not actually able to put action to his words. While other countries can put action to their words by sending people to jail for life which is exactly what they are doing. This is all because Trump has giving them the opportunity to see right in something wrong all because he does not want people knowing whether something is true or not.
The fact that everything is being questioned by our president means that everything will be questioned by the rest of the country. Questioning ideas or news is essential for the public because it entices and amplifies critical thinking, but only to a certain extent. Something people need to understand is that the journalists working for these powerful and prestigious companies, that are writing “fake news” are actually credible and reliable sources, and are qualified to do their jobs the correct way, and do just that. Like stated earlier, it is good to have questions, but when it gets to the point that people are not trusting valid sources it becomes asinine. People have to understand that journalists, although they are normal people like the rest of us, do have much more credibility or they would not be in the position that they are in. It is good for people to question information and find out what is true and what is not, but over questioning can become ignorant.
Fake new has been proven to be a deadly force in multiple ways. Over the years people have watched many careers end because of fake news, but careers are not the only thing that are at risk when talking about fake news; the lives of any day to day person is also at stake. In a Ted Talk called “ How Fake News Does Real Harm” a woman named Stephanie Busarie tells us the story of a group of girls in Nigeria that get kidnapped by a terrorist group, but the Nigerian government seems to do nothing about it. In fact the government got to the point where they claimed that the entire story was a hoax, so the people stopped worrying about the girls for a couple years until a picture of them from the terrorist group surfaced. Busarie follows the telling of this story by saying “this illustrates to me the deadly danger of fake news” and she could not be more right. This story goes to show that when government avoids their problems by calling news they do not like fake news they can and have put real people’s lives at risk. People need to understand that taking it upon themselves to fact check is vital to keep others and their own careers and lives safe in today’s society.
Although there are plenty of facts pointing to why fake news is problematic there are few reasons why it is not. Fake news has been around for such a long time it is hard to argue that all of a sudden it has become so different to become such a major issue. The fact that fake news is just now becoming a big problem in the media makes it seem as though people are blowing things out of proportion. Another valid point disproving the problems of fake news is that not everyone believes fake news. In fact, according to a poll from Monmouth University 77 percent of people believe that mainstream media outlets put out fake news stories. This shows us that the majority of people do not believe a good portion of the media, because they are calling it fake news themselves. Due to these two simple reasons fake news may not be as detrimental of an issue in our country as people assume.
The amount of attention people have been giving fake news has made it become a more drastic problem in today’s society. One of the many reasons it is such a problem is because it takes credibility away from writers and has allowed countries to become more comfortable when punishing their own writers for publishing “fake news”. Also fake news causes people to question any and everything they see on the news. The fact that fake news can be deadly in some situations shows just how much of a problem it has become, not just in this country, but across the entire world. Despite the fact that fake news is a problem in today’s world, it has been around for a long time, and is not even believed in most cases. Due to the fact that fake news has been a growing problem in the last couple of years, this topic of discussion is not going away any time soon.
