“Reports of my death have been
greatly exaggerated.” Mark Twain
There are several varieties of fake
news. Here are two of the most common forms.
 |
| Michael Mullen and Jon Stewart |
Satire
The most obvious type of fake news
is satirical fake news. This includes everything from material in The Onion, to
Weekend Update on Saturday Night Live, to The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. The
emphasis is on humor and getting laughs. Sometimes people are not aware that
they’re reading or watching satire. Some people take satire completely
seriously. Also, there are people who don’t understand what satire is or how it
works through irony, exaggeration, and by other methods.
Good satire is funny, although not
usually to everybody. People generally don’t like it when they realize they or
their beliefs are being made fun of. Also, there’s generally a point to good
satire. In many cases, satire can be more effective for getting a message
across than trying to be persuasive in a straightforward manner. People enjoy
laughing. If they’re laughing, they’re listening and processing what they’re
hearing.
Fabrication
People who read and watch the news
don’t always realize how tedious and time-consuming it is to put a story
together. It involves research, tracking down people who may not want to be
cooperative, interviews, writing, fact-checking, rewriting, editing, and probably
more rewriting. In addition, media professionals are being asked to do more
than ever before. Instead of covering one primary beat, a reporter may now be
called upon to cover two or three or more areas.
A reporter may also have to take pictures, shoot video, and engage with subscribers on social media. It’s not as easy as many people who have never done it might think. Rather than deal with those challenges day after day, some reporters simply make things up. Quotes, characters, whatever. Making things up is much more efficient for a busy reporter than producing a real story, doing real interviews, and digging beneath the surface.
A reporter may also have to take pictures, shoot video, and engage with subscribers on social media. It’s not as easy as many people who have never done it might think. Rather than deal with those challenges day after day, some reporters simply make things up. Quotes, characters, whatever. Making things up is much more efficient for a busy reporter than producing a real story, doing real interviews, and digging beneath the surface.
Another type of fabrication that
sometimes goes on is when media professionals massage the information available
to them to suit their own agendas. Video and audio can be edited in ways that distort what happened. Although journalists are not supposed to
have agendas or to allow their biases to affect their work, it happens. It’s
human nature. That appears to have been the case in the leadup to the election
of 2016 when it was widely reported that Donald Trump didn’t stand a chance to
win the Presidency.
Yet another type of fabrication is
when people lie to the media. They do this to get attention, or to promote their
own agendas, or both. Unfortunately, busy media professionals sometimes believe
lies far too easily. It’s easier to simply believe what you’re being told than
to dig deeper for the truth. This has happened with women who claimed to have
been raped and with people who falsely claimed to have witnessed or been the
victims of various forms of racism and discrimination.
The following are interesting
articles.
No comments:
Post a Comment