Worried about fake news? You’re not alone

We live in a world where our readers want their news immediately and we endeavour to give you that news as soon as we can. But it's important we remain skeptical, consider the source, and work to secure independent confirmation.

Keith Lynch

So Kiwis are worried about ‘fake news’.

We here at Stuff and the Taranaki Daily News think this is encouraging to see, that New Zealanders are concerned about the news they are consuming.

If the last 12 months has taught us anything, it’s the casual ease at which misinformation, lies or propaganda are accepted as fact, and the resulting chaos that brings.

We’ve seen US president Donald Trump’s numbing ability to call the truth a lie and his lies truths, without so much as a hint of shame.

We’ve seen those who pushed for Britain to leave the EU loudly promise £350m a week for the NHS before quietly dropping this pledge.

We’ve seen right-wing US news outlets peddle lies such as Seth Rich being executed by the Democratic National Committee, as Trump gleefully branded stories from the likes of the New York

Times ‘fake news’ because he didn’t like what they said.

Incredibly, this Buzzfeed study found: ‘‘in the final three months of the US presidential campaign, the top-performing fake election news stories on Facebook generated more engagement than the top stories from major news outlets’’.

Horrifying - and quite damaging to the idea that truth and good journalism actually matter. What is fake news?

It’s misinformation, a lie or a hoax designed to illicit financial or political gain.

Do we have a problem with fake news here in New Zealand?

As Stuff editor Patrick Crewdson says, there does not appear to be a homegrown fake news industry to speak of, and foreign operations haven’t targeted us.

‘‘They’re more likely to target bigger countries where they can attract more eyeballs to their false stories and profit more from advertising,’’ he said.

‘‘The real threat here is the mis- use of the term ‘fake news’ from people slurring stories that don’t serve their agenda or conform to their biases.’’

Tell us what Stuff can do

Let’s chat about what we have seen so far at Stuff and what we can do to combat fake news and ensure you trust what we publish.

For us, it’s important we commit to being good journalists.

We live in a world where our readers want their news as soon as humanly possible and we endeavour to give you that news as soon as we can.

But it’s important we remain skeptical, consider the source, and work to secure independent confirmation.

In April this year, a story about a New Zealand woman being killed while trying to take a selfie with an alligator emerged in the United States of America.

In the rush to be first, it’s easy to get caught out by this kind of news, as one news organisation (not us!) did.

While this sort of fake news isn’t on par with politically wicked claims such as Barack Obama not being a US citizen, publishing such a story without verification erodes trust.

We apply these standards in everything we do, which is why we have a journalistic charter, and why we are part of the Press Council.

We should also note we’ve been accused of peddling fake news because of a typo in a caption that stated Donald Trump was a boy scout, when the story stated he wasn’t.

This isn’t fake news.

It’s a mistake, one that was immediately remedied.

And that’s an important distinc- tion.

There is a huge difference between politically-motivated hoaxes or straight lies and a news organisation making a minor mistake in a story.

Finally, we need to remain open and transparent with you guys, our readers, wherever you see our stories, to accept your feedback and to rectify these mistakes - to keep your trust.

If there is something wrong with a story, please always feel free to tell us about it.

We’re here to tell you the truth, and we’re always willing to listen.