Through the Rose Scholars Program, I was able to attend a very informative table talk on fake news. Fake news is the spreading of false information through common news outlets and broadcasting stations. Fake news is common in today’s society and became very apparent in this past presidential election; it is all around us. Sometimes fake news is extremely apparent and other times it is hard to decipher and can spread quickly through social media sources such as Twitter and Facebook. In order to avoid reading and spreading fake news, follow the following steps: consider the is the article reliable, read more about the information discussed in the article, pay attention to the text itself (look for satire and ridiculous comments), is the author reliable, is the support for the news claim legitimate or fake, check the date of the article, and last but not least, double-check your own bias and make sure it is not overly-influencing you. Outlined above is a list of steps that can help individuals avoid believing fake news. Though time consuming, it is better to be informed about what is truly going on in the world. As fake news can potentially harm individuals and miss-inform the general public.

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.

Last Monday, I attended the table talk about fake news. I thought it really opened my eyes to the responsibilities of regular consumers of news. When people share fake news, it gains attention and more people believe the news that isn’t true. Although the problem of fake news gained national attention with the presidential election last year, it is not really new. People have always created stories to trick consumers of news into believing false things about one person or another.

During the talk, GRF Magdala focused our attention on solutions to this problem. We spoke about checking sources, reading carefully, and only subscribing to reputable sources like the New York Times. We also spoke about how difficult it was to find the time to source-check every piece of news we read. I learned about the detriment it was to serious journalism. I think that everyone has a responsibility to decrease the amount of fake news we read and give attention to.

Not only does fake news cause people to believe things that aren’t true, it also has the potential to cause accidents. When people believe that someone is in danger as a result of fake news, they can behave in a way that is dangerous to others. We also discussed whether people should be prosecuted for such crimes. I think that fake news brings new questions and demands on society. These questions are indicative of a fast changing technologically inclined world that needs to adapt.