NDM News: Globalisation and fake news
The Guardian & the global problem of fake news
1)
A similarity between both France and Germany presented in the article and their problem with fake news is that it's used to influence and manipulate the political beliefs of people particularly during election periods. While the dissemination of the news unlike in the USA isn't done with the incentive of ad revenue in mind, it is in terms of affecting the ideology of people. While it can be done to tarnish the image of a political figure, with Angela Merkel being an example of this, it's something that is mainly employed by people on the far ends of the political spectrum, resulting in the fruition of things like conspiracy theories.
2)
The lack of gatekeepers that exist on the internet is what's causing this influx of fake news and is without a doubt, an inevitable consequence of 'the culture of freedom and innovation.' It could potentially be stopped if say digital giants decided to change the algorithms they're employing which means that all stories whether branded or not appear as standards. If they were branded with the logo and name of the publication perhaps less people would actually access the fake news.Whether it'd be stopped as a whole though is a completely other question.
New York Times and the creation of fake news
1)
Stories that were particularly successful for student Beqa Latsabidze, were ones which talked about Donald Trump in a way of praise based on both real and completely fake news. These drove traffic to his site particularly, adding to the anti-Hilary Clinton fervour. Articles to do with Trump's proposal to create a wall around Mexico for example combined with some lies, were ones which were especially successful.
2)
Google and Facebook can be blamed for the global rise in fake news since almost inevitably, they help to actually disseminate it. The 'like, share and comment' buttons on Facebook for example all help to make news stories circulate further as the algorithm values engagement as justification for showing it to more people. With fake news especially catching a lot of attention and reactions from viewers, it's undoubtedly going to be the case that tons of people end up reading and possibly believing what they're accessing. This is representative of how it the digital giants can be held responsible for the rise of it.
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