Introduction
It has become a longstanding issue that relates to the authenticity of information influences society. The reality and truth of information count for both digitals as well as printed media. In modern society, there is great need to ensure the authenticity of the medium of information as well information itself. As well as, the effects and reach of information through social networks take place at a fast speed. In this course, false or inaccurate news call for a terrific potential and tend to impact the real world. This spread of wrong and incorrect information affects millions of users within minutes. The majority of people take part in discussion indirectly to form community life of society. Most of the people in society get aware of news through the media. Thus, media is a vital source to provide direction as well as indirect information to people. However, media is also essential to make effective participation and contribution of people in society, Therefore; it is essential for media to be active, professional, free as well as inquiring to realise adequate functioning of contemporary democracy.
Discussion
The spread of inaccurate information usually occurs through social media that further circulate by mainstream media. As a result, post-truth politics increases through the relevancy of fake news. Lies, hypocrisy, persuasion, as well as flattery, are the factors that always present in public life. In this way, fake news and alternative facts also remain a part of journalist’ and politician’.
It is a fact that there is a deeper as well as wider problem of fake news. Due to the spread of inaccurate information, the trust of the public also declines in media. Majority of people do not trust on certain platforms for information due to the inappropriate source. The credibility of both information and media destroys by releasing fake news. In this way, people will not consider the source as well as information reliable. The confidence of the public in institution declines due to the continuous spread of false information. It impacts the public badly to trust the institutes for public debate through the constant spreading alternative facts. There is very important to have confidence in the institute as a whole. Having confidence in the legitimacy of government is crucial. As well as, it is important for political changes and ongoing developments.
This information has influenced the public in society. Sometimes, citizens do their thinking by having trust on likeminded peers. In this way, these alternative facts are very influential in changing the perception as well as thinking of public[1].it alters the overall judgment of people by modifying cognitive abilities. It is a fact that public does not receive any information directly from the government. For this reason, these media channels are very crucial to provide news through which perception of the public can be changed or improved. Online channels are very persuasive to affect the cognition of the public to play a part in discussions. To meet cope up with these fake news issues, political parties try to build confidence as well as trust in the institution by way of innovative practices for public awareness, engagement, ethical behaviour and transparency. Political groups make sure to realise the authentic information and engage audience well through the transparent process of communication. In this way, there is a great chance for the public to get exposed to real content and will play a part positively in society.
Nowadays, people have more access to instant information through the use of the internet[2]. These online sources provide a great platform to access content. The news that spread through the digital medium has more persuasive and challenging impact. It is the digital platform where people feel freer to express as well as the freedom to information. In these days, the majority of people have access to online sources. Therefore they also get exposed to unreliable sources for news. The reason behind this matter that most of the people are not equipped well to identify the real story. They are not enough educated that can identify the record of source or content to examine the authenticity of data. According to the study, 80% students are unable to recognise sponsored material from actual real information. The people view the information from these sources and conclude the statement in their way. These online sources have an influential impact on the critical thinking and decision of public. When these online sources release incorrect news, then people develop their judgments as well as thinking to interpret the meaning of fake information[3]. It will impact the overall process of decision making regarding authorities. People seek conclusion of discussion by analysing the content that are available on these platforms.
Most of the users read the headlines of news and forward it freely to another group of people. They don’t bother about the source of content as well as the history of a source that releasing news. They don’t even read the full text of content. They make their statements by half news and conclude decisions just to read the main heading of news. The transfer of fake news from one person to a group of people through internet impacts the intellectual ability of public in society. There is much need of education to disseminate the information that has the basis of the authentic source with factual information[4]. Otherwise, public will not be able to have confidence in the source as well as authorities to receive information. As a result, citizens will not be able to contribute actively to discussions in their society.
In this modern era, the level of critical thinking of people are low due to access to the internet. People are available with vast information through the internet. There is a difficulty for people to manage as well as examine the traffic of information. Most of the people does not filter the information and source of information to examine the credibility of it[5]. It will affect the overall process of rational thinking of people during participation and discussion in the public life that exists in their society. Social media uses the different strategies to disseminate fake news to make this information real in front of general public. Ultimately, it is an amazing platform where the large traffic of people exposed to each news at any time[6].Each person has access to receive as well as convey information by using the form of social media.
There is the great role of the source in disseminating any information. The medium of information matters to convey as well as deliver the desired content. It depends upon how the source is giving information to change the perception of the viewer. Sometimes, source tries to generate hype while giving information in emotional tone. Social media creates hype of news by using various persuasive strategies to influence the public as well. The manner in which source delivers information directly impact the cognition of people in society. The impact of negative news is so high that triggers the people to convey this content to another group of people. In this way, source makes efforts to create message more influential as well as persuasive. The public also gets a meaning of message exactly in a sense as it conveys. The thinking of people changes the nature and tone of the content. In this situation, the overall perspective, as well as an understanding of public changes and, become modified.
It might be possible that source delivers a message in a term that influences more people. Media tries to deliver same incorrect information again and again to persuade the public. To deliver information, media attempts to pop up the same message in sometimes[7]. It will create more value of content in the mind of people to figure out things. It affects the audience too in a manner that this information remains in the head of the audience. It also influences the audience to change the perspective of their thinking. In this way, they continuously remain with that information and get meaning from this information without considering the authorised source.
The impact of fake information is really powerful due to fragmentation and disintegration of media. Since different mediums are used to distribute the content as well as to persuade the audience through every platform. Transfer of information through these channels has reduced the reading habits of the public[8]. It became easy for people to get aware as well as exposure to content through media. People do not investigate actual information as it takes time to examine as well as investigate the news. Nowadays, people have no more time to evaluate the information as well as critically analyse the news. People depend upon this medium for content than making efforts themselves. They evaluate information by information that are available on different media. Therefore, media is responsible for providing any information that gets the audience to take a decision.
As well as, there are Buzz feed, Axios, Vice Media and Twitter that has provided a new modern form to access any necessary information that a viewer wants to have[9]. When all the sources of media convey the same information, then viewer seek the information credible. Public assume the authenticity of information in a manner that this information is being displayed through other sources. All the sources with same particular information more likely to influence the mind of people in a particular direction. In this situation, it does not matter that information is correct or not. The reason to consider it credible that each platform is displaying the same information.
It seems correct to people to consider the information reliable. People start to think in the same manner and make a conclusion. In other words, it will change the overall perspective of the opinion of the public as well. The independent behaviour of people is affected by this fake news, and they will perceive the outer world differently. The thinking patterns of individuals are shaped by the information that is in their head. There is a phenomenon named as solipsism. According to this, the only things that exist around the person are the ones he is familiar with. Therefore, the fake news heard by a person develop a mindset that he was not of familiar before. Now, this mindset plays an important role in his perception of the world end and the way he reacts to certain conditions.
Similarly, when we see this from a big perspective, people react in the form of pressure groups to represent the idea of the majority of the population. This pressure has a direct effect on the minority group that are involved in decision making at the top level. In this way, the overall society actions are greatly influenced because of post-truth.
Most of the people seek the part of the information that is viral. The viral cycle also affects the thinking and judgment of people whether this information is right or not[10]. In this way, viral information becomes the important part of the concentration. Every person will try to concentrate on this information. The person attempts to think through the discussion and considers it valuable. He considers the source and information is correct because everyone is liking or commenting on it. A large pool of people spread the certain content that everybody tends to seek the content. In this way, fake content also grabs the concentration of people effectively and stimulate them in a particular direction.
In this modern era, when people contribute to the discussion through online platforms, then it also affects the decisions of general people. It is the fact that every person who shares information consider himself a citizen journalist. As well as, every person tries to raise his voice on the certain discussion in real time. General people also conclude by a real-time discussion of other people. People share the information with the people at first and authorise this information later on[11].it affects the mind process of the audience to share the content initially then think about verification of information. As a result, the double meaning of information will also affect the decision process of the audience. People will also get confused due to the double meaning of the content.
In addition to, it is also possible that different unethical ways are used to get profit. For that reason, poor quality content is displayed by making use of online platforms to get money as well as an abundance of power. Online platform feels free and freedom to convey inappropriate information to get short-term success. The reason behind popularity is that these fake news are the short pathways to attract as well as divert the concentration of audience. At times, it also occurs that politicians with great power may have their political agendas. High authority people negatively use the power by disseminating information as they want to convey a message. In this due course, they attempt to distract the attention of the public from the main issue that are not in the best interest of public overall. They display the content according to their own will.
Moreover, there was a monopoly of old media to inform information where everyone was watching or reading the information. That time, every individual had sought content through a single channel. Information transferred through these media was reliable as well as credible. Now, there is more option to get information or alerted to citizens. Now there are a number of the medium through which people can access information. As well as, it increases the availability of information to the citizens. It also increased competition among different medium. Therefore, different medium uses the fake news to get popularity among citizens for a short period. No doubt, it has increased the content availability due to a greater number of online platforms.
Online platforms distribute that information as well as content that citizen wants to see. This information or content may be fake or real. These platforms do not consider their liability for this act until other political parties took notice of this act. It is because this fake content may be a greater danger to democracy. Sometimes, it creates intervention with the open distribution of content by those with extreme power.
The global environment is diverse, and in this diverse population, people perceive information differently. Their opinions are shaped by the type of data the interaction they have, and ultimately group decisions are taken rigorously. The online media has played a significant role in shaping the opinion of people by fake news. There are many youth groups taking part in activities of creating awareness. However, in their effort to do something different fake news travels to create hype. Youngblood is spontaneous, and without doing any further investigation, they believe on the information provided to them right away. This lack of critical thinking ability has made our youth face multiple challenges. These challenges are not only from the perspective of their education but also in the way they behave in society.
In the meantime, the online platforms should also treat equally while distributing information or any content regarding any matter. They should not manipulate the content and would not make a statement by their information. Therefore, Government should not use any online platforms or source to gain personal interests. It is also necessary for the government to provide freedom to express ideas to every individual equally rather than outsourcing. At times, it also happens that harm would be greater for fake news than harm triggered by real content. In other words, there are more dangerous after effects of spreading fake content or fake news than the bad effects of real news[12]. Also, citizens have the right to get as well as impart information without any interference. In the meantime, citizens have the free will to share their opinions as well as have the choice to obtain ideas.
Hence, fake news has a powerful impact on certain circumstances in society. It is a big concern to deal with fake content or information. Therefore, the spreading of negative news can negatively influence the campaign of the election. As a result, people will encounter with a negative notification that will spread through fake news by some mediums. In this way, people are alerted primarily through the media in a modern society. Mostly, people are informed as well as get exposure for awareness through media. As a result, people form their political thinking as well as opinions on these content of media. In this way, the patterns of thinking and reasoning are shaped by the content that are present in the media. People access this available content and information to form the proper plan for action.
There is highly important the role of media in influencing the mind of the public to form judgments about political things. This procedure is susceptible when lies distribute through the media. It causes the severe results when incorrect news disseminates through media. In this situation, people get confused about the news. There are more chances of people to change the perspective of people regarding critical issues. If negative news about political party gets viral, then it will also have an impact on cognition and think of people to influence them. In the meantime, negative news has more power to influence the people than real facts. They are not likely able to identify as well as examine which news is right or false. Consequently, they are not able to find confidence in the state as well.
Conclusion
In this modern society, the increased use of internet has provided the greater access to instant information as well as real-time news. People can easily access real-time as well as immediate content through the use of media. It is crucial to deal carefully with this pool of information by managing own critical thinking. However, it is more important to examine the media before considering the fake news. The spread of fake news has the power to polarise the people in society. There is very obvious results of fake content and lies in the election campaign. Therefore, people should evaluate different sources to have to believe in content that will help out to develop better decision making. It might be possible that political parties will exploit these platforms to give fake news to divert attention as well as the concentration of people from the real issues. In due course, educated people will be able to save them from this political agenda. They will also keep other people away from the fake news. They will try to avoid the fake news as well as will not spread fake content to other groups of people.
As a result, educated public will actively engage and participate in discussions that have authenticity as well as realism. Furthermore, social media has provided the greater opportunity through Whatsapp, Twitter, Facebook as well as Instagram. Social media will help out the people to get aware from a pool of information as well as has the power to change the opinion of people regarding any matter. On the other hand, these are the factors that destroy and disturbs the support system of democracy. As well as, the technology also made convenient to uncover the picture of reality at an incredible speed. But, it is also necessary to initiate the monitoring system to protect from fake news attacks. Therefore, there is need to scrutinise and examine the sources of fake news to protect from incorrect information.
Bibliography
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- Pope, J. C., & Becnel, K. (2018). Who’s Evaluating the Evaluators? Cognitive Biases, Fake News, and Information Literacy. ↑
- Campan, A., Cuzzocrea, A., & Truta, T. M. (2017, December). Fighting fake news spread in online social networks: Actual trends and future research directions. In Big Data (Big Data), 2017 IEEE International Conference on (pp. 4453-4457). IEEE. ↑
- Pope, J. C., & Becnel, K. (2018). Who’s Evaluating the Evaluators? Cognitive Biases, Fake News, and Information Literacy. ↑
- Rider, S., & Peters, M. A. (2018). Post-truth, Fake News: Viral Modernity and Higher Education. In Post-Truth, Fake News(pp. 3-12). Springer, Singapore. ↑
- Vosoughi, S., Roy, D., & Aral, S. (2018). The spread of true and false news online. Science, 359(6380), 1146-1151. ↑
- Wang, P., Angarita, R., & Renna, I. (2018, March). Is this the Era of Misinformation yet? Combining Social Bots and Fake News to Deceive the Masses. In The 2018 Web Conference Companion. ↑
- Campan, A., Cuzzocrea, A., & Truta, T. M. (2017, December). Fighting fake news spread in online social networks: Actual trends and future research directions. In Big Data (Big Data), 2017 IEEE International Conference on (pp. 4453-4457). IEEE. ↑
- Paul, P. V. (2017). Fake News, Alternative Facts, Post-Truths, Misinformation, Misinterpretation—and Other Challenges Associated With Knowledge Generation. American annals of the deaf, 162(1), 3-7. ↑
- Wang, P., Angarita, R., & Renna, I. (2018, March). Is this the Era of Misinformation yet? Combining Social Bots and Fake News to Deceive the Masses. In The 2018 Web Conference Companion. ↑
- Vosoughi, S., Roy, D., & Aral, S. (2018). The spread of true and false news online. Science, 359(6380), 1146-1151. ↑
- Corner, J. (2017). Fake news, post-truth and media–political change. ↑
- Vosoughi, S., Roy, D., & Aral, S. (2018). The spread of true and false news online. Science, 359(6380), 1146-1151. ↑
