Fake News: What's the big idea?

Written By: Melina A. Gray

In the article written by Terence McCoy, “For the ‘New Yellow Journalists,’ Opportunity Comes in Clicks and Bucks,” two young men, Wade and Goldman, put into perspective what Yellow Journalism is. The two young authors say that their mission with their blog is to get rid of bias. However, reading through the article, everything Wade and Goldman write seems to have some form of bias entwined in it.[1]

This idea of “Fake News” is not a new one. For many years’ writers, reporters, paparazzi, etc., have been creating fake stories and selling it to anyone who will listen. According to Courtney DuChene in “Is Fake News the 2016 Version of Yellow Journalism,” the talk about “fake news” flared back up during the 2016 election cycle.[2] President Donald Trump recently made a statement about the topic during one of his press conferences saying, “The press has become so dishonest that if we don't talk about it, we are doing a tremendous disservice to the American people…The level of dishonesty is out of control.”[3] 

When a world leader criticizes the press as consistently as Trump does, the public will do either one of two things: start questioning everything the press says until that leader validates it, to start calling the leader out and questioning that individual. This more than likely makes even real news, look fake and unreliable to the public. 

So now that “Fake News” is being brought to the light, what exactly is it? Why are people creating/spreading it? What is their motivation? And why are we listening to it and believing it?

According to BBC in their article, “Fake news: What is it? And how to spot it,” “Fake news is news or stories on the internet that are not true.” The question that probably arises in your head is, “How can we stop the spread of fake news?” Well. The answer is, you need to ask yourself these questions before you hit the “share” button or make your mind up that it is true.[4]

Now that we know what fake news is, we can answer the next questions. Why are people spreading it? What is their motivation? And what should happen when someone says that a news story is fake, but it really isn't? 

Going off everything I have researched; I’ve concluded that a yellow journalists’ motivation is to attract readers and gain popularity by telling the audience what they want to hear. Yellow Journalists’ want attention, and ultimately money, and they have created a way to get that without having to work too hard for it.

When someone gives a fake cry of fake news, the reader or listener should verify for themselves that it is fake by doing research of their own online and making sure their research and sources are credible. As for why the people are believing and listening to news that is not reliable, I believe that it is because we are biased. We listen to and believe what we want. It doesn’t have to be true, because at the end of the day, it is what we want to hear. This does not go for everybody though. There are some people that want to get to the truth and eliminate the lies, and I commend those people.