The Rise of Fake News in the Media Communications & Media Essay (Essay Sample)

The Rise of Fake News in the Media
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The Rise of Fake News in the Media
The pervasiveness of fake news in the media is a topic that has received a lot of attention. The debate was triggered after it emerged that false information was used to influence electoral behavior in the 2016 American presidential elections. According to Waisbord (2018), devious content creators used social media to disseminate fabricated information under the disguise of factual news to promote political propaganda and cause mass deception. Intriguingly, the use of fake news is an old practice. In his article, Boczkowski (2016) mentions that fictitious journalism existed as early as the 19th Century. Undoubtedly, the prevalence of fake news today has aroused skepticism among news consumers and undermined the trust conferred on journalists as gatekeepers of information.
Fake news in the media has widely stained the informational climate and engendered distrust among the public. People are now more doubtful about the veracity of any news reports that are published by established media institutions (Boczkowski, 2016). During the 2016 presidential elections, deceptive information and political propaganda were allegedly churned out to either exploit the gullibility of the electorate or disparage any mainstream media outlets that attempted to publish the truth (Waisbord, 2018). Since then, news consumers have become more ambivalent towards traditional institutions as the genuineness of information they release cannot be guaranteed.