Sunday, July 1, 2018

Information Sources and Fake News

The fake news may have a large negative impact on people's lives. For instance, as Stephanie Busari told, fake news about the kidnapping of girls by Boko Haram is a hoax caused a serious delay in the rise of public attention and the start of real actions to return them. This is why it is important not to take all the information we are bombarded with for granted.

My three main information sources are Weibo, Instagram, and Wechat. These are my go-to information sources because most of my digital social activity occurs in the first two, while the last one is a reputable source, where I can easily filter information and read only on those topics that interest me. Generally, I would not call Weibo and Instagram reliable news sources because most of those who publish news there does not verify the information they post. Certainly, there are trustworthy pages on Weibo, but they are very few. The news that can be trusted in these two social networks is first-person testimonies with real photos. Wechat, in contrast, is a much more trustworthy information source because it is socially moderated, and those authors who publish faulty information are simply banned.

I am usually not very concerned about some piece of news being a fake because the vast majority of news is not important for me personally or for our society. However, I am concerned about controversial news or those that are personally or socially important. When I doubt, I check the Internet for similar reports. I look at reputable sources and foreign media to get the clear picture. After that, I can decide if the news is fake or real.

No comments:

Post a Comment