Be vigilant consuming what could be fake news
“It’s fake news,” I replied to the New York Times reporter when he called to corroborate information covertly passed to him claiming I was an Italian spy.
“Can we use another word? This is a Trump term,” he replied, as he thought of a way to dismiss this fictional accusation in his article.
The phenomena associated with the phrase “fake news” broke into mainstream media predominantly after President Donald Trump accused the New York Times of being “fake news.”
It’s a dangerous accusation to any earnest journalist. It’s a demeaning threat I had been accustomed to hearing during my coverage in the Middle East, mostly from dictators who hoped to dismiss critical journalism and brainwash their own people at any cost.
Sadly, as soon as Trump’s dissemination of the term “fake news” began, leaders of authoritarian regimes and TV anchors who peddle those leaders’ questionable views also began using the term fluidly to dismiss legitimate critical journalism published by western reporters.
“The leader of the free world, the land of democracy just declared CNN was fake news!” one Egyptian anchor shouted like a child on his talk show.
It’s one thing to be fooled by a fabricated article, it’s another to be accused of producing fake news.
As a journalist who was accused of falsifying news and unjustly spent 438 days of incarceration in Egypt, the topic is extremely close to my heart.
“How can a journalist even think of fabricating news in this day and age and get away with it? Hawkish internet trollers on Twitter alone would have ripped my accused colleagues and I apart instantly, way before the court, if we had peddled any fake news,” I told the Egyptian judge during my trial in 2014 in defence of my journalism.
The problem has gotten worse, especially with governments, political parties and politicians misusing social media platforms and going as far as establishing electronic armies to spread their own propaganda — an ancient tactic of using misinformation to muzzle dissent and counter opposition, or even win elections, in the case of the most recent U.S. election.
A study published by Stanford titled “Social Media and Fake News in the 2016 Election,” states that 62 per cent of U.S. adults get news on social media and that most popular fake news stories were more widely shared on Facebook than the most popular mainstream news stories:
“Many people who see fake news stories report that they believe them and the most discussed fake news stories tended to favour Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton,” the study said.
The study puts these facts together, stating that a number of commentators suggested, “Donald Trump would not have been elected president were it not for the influence of fake news.”
How ironic would it be if this were a true hypothesis considering Trump regularly complains of so-called fake news peddlers targeting him?
There are ways to protect oneself and spot “fake news.” Be skeptical of partisan hard-to-believe sensational headlines and check their URL to see if it’s fabricated or possibly close to the spelling of the original site.
Right-click on the image attached to the story and “search Google for image.” Even if the photo is taken out of context, you can still check to identify its source. I usually do a quick Google search for the article itself and if no other news source is reporting the same story, it could mean that the story is fabricated.
Thankfully, both Google and Facebook have taken measures to tackle misinformation, such as Google’s AdSense designed to block fake news sites and eradicate fake news sites from search results listed under “News” tabs.
“How do we trust the media and the news we read?” I usually get this question when I give lectures on terrorism or journalism.
It’s common to get such queries when the president of the United States is bashing prominent journalists day and night and banning them from attending White House briefings — a repulsive attitude you won’t see from our wise leaders in Canada.
What I have learned is to question everything and not believe that any single source is above bias. I have come to trust specific journalists, ones I follow closely. Be vigilant, educated and active when reading the news. Compare what French, Arabic, U.S. and Canadian news sources are reporting on sensitive subjects, such as terrorism. Read between the lines.
We no longer live in a world where we can afford to be passive recipients of news, whether from social media or TV networks engrossed in the battle of the ratings.