The spread of fake news

Over this past weekend I had the opportunity to accompany others in the Informer staff to a conference in San Diego. This was a fantastic experience and there was so much learned by us all at this conference. However, one talk really took a hold of me. It wasn’t any of the keynote speakers or even any of the ones with a large audience. This had to do with fake news. This professional did not simply use it as a political ploy, he is a professional journalist and had his own opinions very much removed from this presentation. Instead, he went about how to not write fake news and how to spot it. He told us that we must always have more than one source for a topic, and these sources should definitely not be sketchy sources; they have to be verified. Also, it is always so easy to print a piece that will be later found to be incorrect, and then not correct. The biggest part about the circulation of fake news is that the authors never correct their mistakes. Also, there are problems with individuals, outside of the professional realm that cause fake news to become a rampant problem in our society. That is because individuals will look at a headline and immediately share it if it agrees with their own personal beliefs, regardless of whether or not it is true. So many of these headlines come from online sources that flat out tell the reader that the pieces are fiction articles meant to entertain, not inform. Still however, people share and believe these lies. So when it comes down to it, it is the responsibility of not only those employed in media outlets, but all the rest of us as well to be on the guard and not spread fake news throughout our country.