Fake News by Taron Wilburn

                Long day at work, and it’s time to relax. You collapse on the couch, and click on your favorite news station to see what's going on in the world today. Hearing what you want to hear obviously gives you relief, so you keep on watching. Fifty two million people watch local TV news every day, so you aren’t the only one being lied to. Make your way to the bedroom to get on Facebook, Twitter or any social media you may have.(1) Scrolling through you stumble across the same topic. But, only this time the story is another version of the topic. No, you aren’t mistaking, because 23 million people access digitally produced news every month(1). This news doesn’t just come from your flat screen TV or cellular device. Your TV, phone and even radio is filled with lies. After hearing the two different stories, you fall asleep thinking differently about the whole situation. On your morning drive, you hear a third side of the story over the topic you heard the day before. But, not though your tv or phone, its coming from the radio. Sixty million people listen to conservative radio, about the same number that voted for Donald Trump.(1) These numbers don’t lie, but the news does. Fake news is dividing our country for the wrong reasons. Let this paper prove to you that these three media power houses have been lying for eyes, ears, power and money.

 History

            Fake news is nothing new, showing dates back to the sixth century. Around “500-ca. 554 AD” Emperor Justinian has just died and Procopius of Caesarea uses fake news in a very modern day type of way. He releases a journal named Secret History, but keep in mind the Procopius and Emperor weren’t friends. The tale says this lying procopius wrote this journal discrediting the emperor and his wife. Sure enough the Journal grew popular, although the emperor wasn’t around to prove to the people that the news was actually false.(1) Is it possible that he did this to sway the thinking of others to follow someone with so much information? To make him seem more truthful, and carry the likings of the people? Sadly, the lies skip to the era of  printing, an more “educated” era.
            This era was very easy to spread news through the growth of literacy. Selling fake news actually became a thing, bending the truth doesn’t make it actually true. Why would our own people lie to us? Well, selling papers meant making money, and who doesn’t like making money? This money machine was paying people to write real news, but other were writing news to befit the wealth of their employer.(1)

          The mass media era is a hard one to swallow. This is something anyone reading this essay experiences everyday. They might even think this is fake news as they follow these lines left to right. Yes, both fake and real news exists, but what seems to be the problem is sorting what really is real and what is actually fake.(1)

                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Examples of Fake News

            Being lied to is never fun, especially when its coming from a source you have trusted. Here are some examples of who is lying to you.

•     CBS

•     FOX

•     ABC

•     NBC

            The list of proven news stations can go on for days. The real issue is that lying to people is becoming a habit for these money hungry beast. The way of getting us to think the way they want us to think is becoming more and more successful. Fake news is made too bring our attention on what we think is important. As we read what we want to hear, its not hard to believe it. Teens are a big part of this society that is getting lied to. Here is a chart of teens that was told fake news and where they got it from.                                                                                                
49% Social Media                                                                                                                                   
47%. Family                                                                                                                               
33% Teacher/Adult 

33% Friends  33%

32% Website/App         

20% Radio               

10% Newspaper           

12% None of the Above       (Made from a bar graph)

            Yes, kids are usually the fake news magnets, not because they believe everything, but the truth that they actually are around it the most out of everyone. Attending school chatting with people everyday, exchanging information in class. Needless to say that in too cloistered, too self-righteous 40% of teens use their phones most of the day. Expressing that it was a key to their social life. Knowing this should you even trust anything? Expressing your beliefs that you have heard can actually be a lie.

Solution

            The solution to this big and growing epidemic isn’t going to be easy, knowing America for there beliefs in freedom of speech really raises concerns on how we can solve this virus. The Communication Act of Decency of 1966 shows there is laws to help the swamped heads(1). Showing that there are laws for social media websites that make them remove “fake news” in a certain time frame(1). But sorting freedom of speech and actual fake news can be difficult at times. Witch means this takes time to actually prove if someone is spreading news that’s false, because it has to go through a long process. Even if this law was re-wrote and made to where peoples opinions on hot topics that have no coloration to the actual story, were actually demolished. It wouldn’t help the spread, as the publisher would be so hard to find. Posting these rants about someone or something you want to express, it is actually be their right and have no actual threat to the poor reader. The only way fake news writers could actually get caught through the web, is to write false news in the title of their article. A reality to actually consider that fake news could never really be stopped. Loop holes through the system make it easy to make money on the things they write. Truthful or not they get paid when they get views, which really sucks for the average human to get the truth out of the media. Making us the people the only real source of stopping this epidemic. If the fake news never gets re posted there is no chance that it could be read by thousands of people.

Absurdity

            The absurdity of fake news is why It is done, not only to make money but also brain washing you. “Newspapers are not made any longer by news or journalism. They are made by sheer weight of money expressed in free gift schemes. They serve not the interests of the many, but the vested interests of the few” (Mosley). This quote expresses how the news is driven on money, this money isn’t earned a good way either. The lies that are held in the writing are usually spread by leaders, celebrities, and even government officials. Bloggers are heavily pushed to spread fake news media, saying most writers don’t even know what they are talking about. Saying they are mostly getting lazy, too cloistered, too self-righteous to actually go chase the stories like they once did.(1) Pew Research Center for the People & the Press released in June 2004, which found that 53 percent of American adults often don't trust what news organizations are telling them (1). First Amendment Center/AJR poll has found that just 33 percent think that "the news media tries to report the news without bias." (1) Its absurd that the media bloggers are pushed to post these stories, CNN’s bloggers recently pushed the head news executive into quitting.(1) Is this a coincidence, or a way of notifying that the higher man is pushing to get fake news out. It is absurd that media is a money house and a way to get into our heads and persuade the ways of our thoughts.

Conclusion

            Fake news is always going to be around, unless we change it our selfs. Eyes, ears, power and money has been the heart of TV, social media and radio. Turning lies into money from the views they earn, and not really caring about what we think. Separating us from our neighbors because there views are filled with lies. If we don’t stop this epidemic, we could possibly see a war in the future. Don’t let these money hungry beast separate us anymore, its up to you not to share bias articles. So lets cancel out 1 sided news and make America great again.

Works Cited

"Chapter 1 History of Fake News." Library Technology Reports, vol. 53, no. 8, 2017, p. 5+. Academic OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com.ezproxy.com.edu/apps/doc/A521876900/AONE?u=txshracd2496&sid=AONE&xid=29cfc76e. Accessed 26 Apr. 2018.   

 Grossbart, Sarah. "Fighting Fake News." Junior Scholastic/Current Events, 4 Sept. 2017, p. 12+. Academic OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com.ezproxy.com.edu/apps/doc/A513758921/AONE?u=txshracd2496&sid=AONE&xid=32823647. Accessed 1 May 2018.

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/fake-news

Palser, Barb. American Journalism Review, vol. 27, no. 4, 2005, p. 42+. Academic OneFile, Accessed 9 May 2018.

 Wilson, Sue. "FAKE NEWS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING." AMASS, vol. 22, no. 2, 2017, p. 38+. Academic OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com.ezproxy.com.edu/apps/doc/A520460399/AONE?u=txshracd2496&sid=AONE&xid=1a3bc5a1. Accessed 26 Apr. 2018.