In the fake news table talk, we addressed what fake news is, and how we can help stop the spread of fake news.

For me, fake news is anything that the media publishes that is misleading (intentionally or not), or perpetuating wrong information. In my opinion, the media should be held accountable to fact check their information and they are responsible to publishing the right information. However, the public should also take all the news/information that they read with a grain of salt–that is especially true if you have access to the education and resources that allow you to fact check and critically think about what you’re reading. However, I don’t find the fake news issue to be too critical amongst our society today. By that, I mean that I don’t necessarily distrust news networks; I give them some benefit of the doubt, but I do try to read the news without getting my emotions involved so I can logically piece the article together. Does it make sense? What are the implications of this event and what are some of the historical background that relates to this? News networks will often try to get us to feel/respond a certain way (sometimes unintentionally, sometimes intentionally) just through the rhetoric of the article and the way it is presented. CNN tends to be liberal, and Fox will be conservative, etc. Fox will vilify the liberal agenda and CNN the opposite, for example. But, if we take out the subjectiveness in these media pieces, then we can better judge for ourselves the validity of the articles.

Here I will be sharing something I consider “fake news.” Taiwan recently banned eating dog and cat meat.  CNN wrote an article about it.

Here’s what’s true:

• Taiwan recently banned eating dog/cat meat
• Individuals who eat or trade dog or cat meat can now be fined between $1,640 and $8,200.
• Pretty much all the facts in this article.

But here’s what makes it “fake news”:

• The article almost unintentionally (or intentionally) make the reader believe that Taiwan is a country that has participated in eating dog/cat meat through the random pieces of information about other Asian countries that eat dog/cat meat. The videos and pictures were all taken in China. 
• Fact is that nobody eats dog/cat meat. Taiwan just decided that they needed a law so they knew what to do when they catch people who do it. But the population of people who eat dog/cat meat in Taiwan is extremely rare. As in, it’s not part of our culture at all.

This article is an article based on truth, yes, but there are so many parts of it that make this article misleading. It gives people who are not familiar to Taiwan the wrong ideas about the country and almost paint it in a negative light by including all the videos/pictures of animal abuse in China.

As a person who regular reads CNN, I’m actually quite disappointed in their coverage of this legislation. But it just shows that even a piece with all the facts can be misleading, just in another way.