Discussing fake news
THE term “fake news” is a catchphrase that has found its way into everyday use in many countries and contexts. This year itself, Malaysia passed and shortly thereafter repealed a bill on fake news.
What is fake news, or media misinformation? What are some of the things we need to think about before sharing the next piece of juicy information that pops up on our social media or WhatsApp groups?
Dr Tan Meng Yoe (pic), coordinator of the Master of Communications and Media Studies programme at Monash University Malaysia, shares his thoughts.
Spreading misinformation is wrong
Fake news refers to the deliberate spreading of misinformation through news channels. This is not a new phenomenon.
It gained prominence during the last American presidential election, where one candidate repeatedly accused the mainstream press of biased reporting in favour of his political opponent.
It is not entirely a bad thing that misinformation in the media is now getting a lot of attention. This means that there is increasing interest in what “truth” is.
Misinformation is wrong and dangerous. This is true not just in journalism, but in any form of content sharing in the media on a personal or institutional level.
For example, individuals who take to social media and WhatsApp to propagate unproven alternative health claims as facts can be labelled as people who spread misinformation.
Everyone can make a mistake
To be fair, not everyone deliberately shares false information, and anyone can make a mistake of disseminating something that turns out to be false.
A common factor behind these errors of judgment lies in our preexisting biases, be they political, ideological or cultural. These biases play a huge part in the way we process information.
Just as it is natural to prefer information that conforms to our worldview, it is easier to believe a message slandering a politician we dislike because we are already mentally primed for it.
To train ourselves to be more careful, we should strive to pursue and defend the truth over our personal taste on any given subject or person.
Spreading lies has consequences
Our ability to share content is a powerful thing. Not too long ago, there was an outbreak of BuddhistMuslim violence in Sri Lanka. It was widely reported that Facebook played a key role in stirring up inter-religious tension by spreading incendiary misinformation and instigating violence. This led to riots, vandalism and at least one death.
This example highlights the immense danger of spreading falsities. Therefore, our communication must be treated with care. Never share anything immediately.
This may sound a little counterintuitive. After all, social media is designed to make us share, share and share. However, the 10 extra seconds we take to critically analyse content that comes our way can positively impact our entire network of communications.
We need to work towards building a society where fake news, or any form of misinformation, will not be tolerated and where content creators put truth and ethics at the forefront of their careers.
To achieve this, responsible and ethical content creation, critical thinking skills, and digital and online literacy are just a few of the many things that we need to develop in society, on a personal and professional level.
It is not entirely a bad thing that misinformation in the media is now getting a lot of attention. This means that there is increasing interest in what “truth” is.