Fake News: Discuss the implications of corporately-funded news/propaganda; or speak to the importance of other forms of journalistic discourse (satirical fake news; citizen journalism; Indymedia)
Ever hear of the Colbert Report or the Daily Show? For those who haven't, these shows are seen as comedies to most, but they are also seen as fake news, or satirical broadcasts. Some of you might be asking "But they talk about real events and things that actually happen, how can they be fake?" Simply put, they use real facts and dress them up with their own opinions and biases to create the programs that you watch.
Real news programs do the opposite of what is shown in shows like The Colbert Report; they are supposed to present news in an informative manner that is unbiased and free of personal opinion. The way that some of the information the Daily Show is present seems quite believable at first, but after you think about it, you know it can't be true.
Take a look at this ad, it will help explain what I'm trying to say.
Ever hear of the Colbert Report or the Daily Show? For those who haven't, these shows are seen as comedies to most, but they are also seen as fake news, or satirical broadcasts. Some of you might be asking "But they talk about real events and things that actually happen, how can they be fake?" Simply put, they use real facts and dress them up with their own opinions and biases to create the programs that you watch.
Real news programs do the opposite of what is shown in shows like The Colbert Report; they are supposed to present news in an informative manner that is unbiased and free of personal opinion. The way that some of the information the Daily Show is present seems quite believable at first, but after you think about it, you know it can't be true.
Take a look at this ad, it will help explain what I'm trying to say.
"That looked really, real, but you knew it couldn't be true."
Imagine that this commercial was meant to be informative, rather than to raise awareness. Not everyone would jump the conculsion that this is satirical, and that's where the real problem lies. It is us as people that make things complicated. In most instances of fake news, when the article is seen, almost immediately a series of events occur that lead to the information being passed around as quickly as possible to others. No one will question the content because it came from a reliable name. Every time the information gets passed to someone else, they throw in their own opinion on the matter and before you know it the information that was initially received has been transformed into something completely different.
Chuck Clausterman, author of Sex Drugs and Cocoa Puffs has a similar view point on what actually happens with the information that comes out of a newspaper. He finds that more times than not, the information in the papers aren't always truth. Few people actually see that the newspapers are either "fact plus fiction or truth minus fact".
"It's not that the truth is being ignored, it's just that the truth is inevitably combined with a bunch of crap that's supposed to make news stories credible or unbiased..." (Klosterman)
It's just unfortunate that because of how people interpret the information received from these sources that propaganda and scandals are created.
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Sources Cited
Klosterman, Chuck. Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs. New York: Scribner, 2003. Print
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