Real or Fake news?

by: Johnny H

There are a lot of events happening in the world right now, and a lot of them are newsworthy. Whether the news is about politics, scientific achievements, or social events relating to celebrities, they are all made much easier to spread because of modern social media platforms. However, not all of these “news” being uploaded onto the internet are true; even information widely shared by the public can be false and misleading. Fake news has always been a “hot topic since 2017,” though recently worsened due to the coronavirus issue. Since people aren’t allowed to really consult with each other face-to-face, they have to get all their information off the internet-- which is how false news gets caught and spret. The associated press by April 24, decided to look at some of these recent “stories and visuals of the week,” and sort out what really is legit. 

In the Article NOT REAL NEWS: A Look at What Didn't Happen This Week, the associated press evaluated various claims, rumors, and photos produced by the public, and straightened out the facts from the lies.

Claim: “Worst pandemic in 100 years, what does congress do? Takes a paid vacation.”- Facebook post April,24th.

Facts: Recently, false posts regarding the members of congress taking vacations in this time where millions of Americans are losing their jobs, have been spreading. This, however, is not true, as congress members-- Democratic house speaker Nancy Pelosi, Republican senate leader Mitch Mcconnell and others-- have been trying to solve this issue according to the AP news. Infact, on Tuesday April 21st, the Senate agreed to “pass a 483 billion package that will help fund small business payrolls and hospitals,” clearly aiming to provide aid to those in need in this time of crisis. Then on Thursday the 23rd, members of the house gathered to discuss “social distancing rules.” U.S. representative Steny Hoyer explained in Thursday’s meeting session, that “members have been working round-the-clock to make sure their communities are safe,” and are indeed hard at work, just at home like the others. In addition, Republican president Donald Trump actually helped fuel this false conspiracy, by tweeting “ Do nothing democrats… End your ENDLESS VACATION!”



Source: The BL

Claim: Any virus that originated from nature has its remedy and cure from nature. Only viruses made in laboratories require vaccines.

Facts: This myth is definitely false, as “vaccination has been used to protect against viruses that have originated from nature for years” says AP news. This false statement is again, widely shared on social media platforms: Facebook, Instagram, and so on. This false statement was intended to “sow doubt around the coronavirus as researchers rush to develop a vaccine for it.” Vincent Racaniello, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Columbia University also strongly disagrees with the claim, as “all human viruses came from nature, and that we have made vaccines for many of them.” Many diseases like the yellow fever, mostly found in subtropical areas in Africa and South America, have a vaccine-- yellow fever vaccines have been around since the 1930s.

Claim: Trader Joe’s has announced that it is giving away free groceries worth $250 to everyone due to “Corona Pandemic.”

Facts: According to this article, Trader Joe’s are not offering any free groceries, and this again is false news. Social media users have actually been using this as a way of scamming people, by telling them to“Hurry up! Collect your FREE voucher here.” Upon hearing these fake announcements, the company “ actively attempted to get [their] name removed,” in hopes of containing this lie from spreading, and to save people from falling into scams. These scams most oftenly end badly for the user, as “scammers can gather traffic to a website, upload malware to your device, or steal your personal information or even money, according to Katherine R. Hutt, national spokesperson for the International Association of Better Business Bureaus, Inc.” Hutt explains that these scams “are often recycled online and then tied to the latest breaking news event like coronavirus to hook people,” which is how they attract attention. She encourages people to act intuitively and avoid things that are too good to be true-- “ is Trader Joe's really going to be giving away $250?”



More examples of facts “Claims and Facts” can be found in this article. In addition, other “news” can be checked for their authenticity through this website, which is a feature of AP news.

Connections?

This article actually connects to two course themes we’ve been studying throughout the year: “how perception is more important than reality in politics”, and “how has the changing nature of media as a platform for human interaction from print to radio/TV to internet/social media affected politics, economics, and social affairs.” As explained previously, and in the article, none of these claims seemed to be true-- yet they are widely believed by people. This proves perception to be more important than reality, not only in politics, but in everyday life. Even though this “perception” is not real, people still believe it; some even take “perceptions” to be “facts,” completely ignoring the “reality,” ironically. It not only proves perception to be a powerful concept, but also that it’s sometimes “more important than reality.” On the other hand, the advancement of social media platforms and social interactions is also a relevant factor according to the article, especially with perceptions. Most of these false claims derived from social media-- which is the factor of why these false claims spread. With technology and social media platforms being more and more advanced, it’s easier to spread information of any kind -- in the olden days, people went through the troubles of writing letters, which took time. This article then goes to show that the “changing nature of media,” is causing news and “perceptions” to spread around much more quickly; this “perception,” can then be viewed as a factor, to whatever outcomes of social, economical, or political affairs.




Questions:


How Come some people believe whatever they see on the internet?

Do you think there is a reason behind why people put up fake news?