UP till the year 2016, two years ago, the phrase “fake news” was not found in the common usage of our spoken lingo nor written widely about.
Today it is seen as one of the greatest threats to world order, democracy and freedom of speech and even to our perceived sense of morality. In 2017 it was named the word of the year. Indeed even the POTUS used it so often in his many tweets and utterances that he might well have propagated the popularity of the phrase singlehandedly!
How did the term come about and how has it evolved? Are you able to spot it and can you really tell the difference between real and truthful news and false (fake) news today?
It started in the summer of 2016 in a little town called Veles in Macedonia, when Buzzfeed’s media editor Craig Silverman noticed a very unusual phenomenon – a steady stream of entirely “made-up and fabricated” stories had started to emerge from this tiny Eastern European town!
Shortly before the US Presidential elections Silverman’s team uncovered more than 140 fake news websites which were pulling in immense numbers of hits and likes on Facebook. These Macedonian websites were inventing stories with headlines like – ‘FBI agent suspected in Hilary email leaks found dead in apparent murder-suicide’ and ‘The Pope shocks the world by endorsing Donald Trump!’
All the news and views created were of course totally false and fake!
The use of misinformation, lies, spin and deceit have been around since the early ages of mankind; but it now has a platform and a conduit where it can spread like wildfire – like a virus in fact – thus the words “it’s gone viral!” That’s the Internet, cyberspace and social media – and Facebook, Instagram, Tweeter and so forth were perfect conductors of such fake news to a global audience.
Today, two years later many of us are still grappling with telling between what’s true news and false and fake man-made fluff.
How can you tell? How good are you at spotting the difference?
Just this week The Straits Times of Singapore conducted a survey on how good their citizens were at spotting fake news. It was discovered that although 4 out of 5 Singaporeans believed that they could tell the difference between the two, 90 percent of them were wrong when they were put to the test!
More than a quarter of those asked say that if they disagree with a news story it is likely false. Also two in five – mostly men – say that they trust news that they agree with! Sounds pretty logical enough to me.
Today, it is a well known fact that throughout most of the Internet savvy world we can safely say that at least 60 percent of us access news via Facebook; 53 percent on other social media platform and 52 percent read news websites online. (Figures are for Singapore and quoted from Straits Times 27 Sept 2018)
However older readers – those aged between 45 to 65 – tend to trust traditional sources more, including print and news radio and television. News media companies, government ministries and statutory bodies and NGOs are the most trusted sources on social media; with sponsored posts and advertisers having the least credibility.
My personal experience on social media and on Facebook, from my 11 years experience on both my own and a public forum account on Facebook has taught me a few tips on how to tell between real and fake news; as I have to go through and vet around 200-300 postings on a 24-hour day basis to allow them to be seen on my Facebook’s Sarawak Public Feedback. Yet the odd one or two can still sneak right through my fingers!
Firstly you will get the regular serious and mature member who posts or reposts the good stuff – real news from another reputable source with their own additional comments. Then the less frequent ones who may try and sneak in a couple of naughty or incendiary posts from more dubious sites and origins. I also get many frivolous postings as well as many good instructional sharing pertaining to good health, wellness efforts, and other beneficial reposts.
Opinion pieces are dicey but attract a lot of members’ comments and interaction – they are usually the thought provoking ones – I try not to censor nor side with any strong political stance or partisanship but it’s not easy. There’s usually a lot of leeway on both sides from me.
After the May 9th change of government in Malaysia, the previous regime’s cyber-troopers have been having a frenzy in setting up hundreds of accounts in order to bash, slam, criticise, put down and to create havoc and destabilise the new Pakatan Harapan government. Most have been too obvious in their postings – these are the easy ones to spot and can be easily culled and curbed. The insidious operators are the subtle ones who may behave and appear like they are ‘friends of PH’ but they will slowly and surely spew quiet droplets constantly of doubt and uncertainly, creating unease and disunity as they stir their own witches’ brew fermenting toil and trouble for PH. Toppling the PH government of the day is their ultimate goal. They are the evil Machiavellis of our time.
The next time that you read a news item on social media, on the Internet or on Facebook – ask yourself these three questions:
1)Is this coming from a source that I have read before and therefore trust as they have delivered real truthful news in the past?
2)Is there an ulterior motive for this item of news – be it the reporter, the re-poster or the sharer?
3)What emotion is this news item trying to extract from me – and why?
But most of all trust your own gut feeling, and your personal experience from having read and browsed online for so many years – and you’ll rarely go wrong. If you are still in doubt after reassuring yourself, then it’s time for you to file it under fake news!
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