What is “fake news”?
Fake news: we’ve all heard about it and have probably (at some point) fell victim to it. Whether it oozes from TV, print, or social media, controversy sells. Fake news, although difficult to encapsulate, can be summed up as the purposeful spread of fake or sensationalized stories presented as fact. This isn’t a new phenomena (surprisingly!) but digital media has definitely added a new twist. Consequently, with its enormous commercial access, social media has taken the brunt of this criticism.
Fake news has been disseminated by special interests groups, backed through political or financial gains. Sensationalized stories garner massive amounts of attention and clicks, yielding amazing results in the short term. An article drenched in “alternative facts” can mislead audiences into a sharing frenzy, spreading that content throughout the web.
