Facing Fake News

Birth defects due to Fukushima Radiation?

      My initial reaction to the picture above was shocked. At first, I thought that it could be real but then I went on a wild search for the truth. The birth defects in these daisies have supposedly been mutated by radiation from the Fukushima nuclear plant, however, a reverse image search will lead you to an article on National Geographic that explains how it may be caused by radiation but scientists aren't so sure. They believe it is caused by fasciation which basically causes two flowers to grow on the same stem. It also makes certain parts of the plant cylindrical. It is easy to assume that they are caused by radiation, it is strong enough evidence to believe it is true as "seeing is believing." and the caption is convincing. I found the article by going to TinEye and uploading the image and finding the link to the original post and the National Geographic article. An article on Global News that I found also confirms that the flowers are most likely caused by the phenomenon fasciation.
 
       So fake news goes back way before the times of Donald Trump spewing the words at every reliable news agency. Back then it was known as propaganda and yellow journalism. Basically, propaganda is information, often biased or misleading used to promote and publicize a person or cause. It was often used by leaders in order to uphold their power. It was used in both world wars in order to get people to enlist in the army. Perhaps the oldest use of propaganda was in 1274BCE by pharaoh Ramesses the second.

"Uncle Sam's call to arms" an example of propaganda playing on patriotism.

       Yellow Journalism is journalism that is based on sensationalism and crude exaggeration. An example of this is during the American-Spanish war newspapers sensationalized, even manufactured news stories which helped propel America into the war.

       

       I am a huge fan of satire news. It is funny to read peoples reactions to what they believe is true news. However, there is a big difference between satire news and fake news. Satire news is a form of comedy that plays on current political or prominent events or issues. It is for entertainment purposes.The articles are usually outrageous and parody the issues but somehow people still believe them and expose their stupidity. I like reading the comments of people who think the article is real. Fake news is exactly what it sounds like, it is news that is untrue, but is presented as being true. There is no comedy or parody, it is just false information trying to be passed off as true.

       Fake news isn't just annoying, it is a really important issue that can impact the outcome of a lot of things. A lot of people blame the fake news for the rise of President Doland Trump during the 2016 United States election. The PizzaGate scandal is also pretty scary, as someone could have gotten injured or killed. The reason for fake news is money. Ad revenue from the fake news websites is a big profit for the people running them. The lad from Macedonia made it rich from writing fake news articles on a website. I mean if I could make sixty thousand dollars from writing fake news I probably would do it as well.

       I was surprised when I discovered that out of 8000 middle schoolers, 82% couldn't distinguish the difference between real and fake news. I like to think that our younger generations have more know how when it comes to things on the internet. The video done by Buzzfeed was a nice little comedic play of people trying to spot fake news. It is a more lighthearted take on the serious issue. I like to think that I'm good at spotting fake news I fact check things before I share them and look into the sources. I've used Snopes.com before and I've only just heard of Tineye. The fact-checking toolkits are really good tools to help see if new is real or not.