"Fake News" is inflammatory propaganda. Let's stop using it.
If you’re like me, you groan every time you hear the term “fake news.” My first instinct is to ignore it and hope it goes away, but that’s not working too well lately thanks to a barrage of negative stories about the White House.
So if ignoring this won’t work, what’s a peace journalist to do?
For starters, journalists should take the advice of writers like Daniel Funke, who advises on Poynter.org that reporters should "stop calling everything fake news." I’d go further, and add that we should stop using the term altogether unless we’re directly quoting someone. Why should we just say no to this phrase? According to Poynter, using the term has important consequences:
“In a study published Aug. 15, Emily Van Duyn and Jessica Collier of the University of Texas at Austin found that, when people are exposed to tweets containing the term “fake news,” their ability to tell real from fraudulent stories decreases. Those findings were based on a Mechanical Turk survey of 299 U.S. adults between April and December 2017.” Thus, the more we use the term, the more we aid those who seek to sow confusion.
Peace journalism teaches us that words matter, especially inflammatory ones. “Fake news” has taken on a transcendent form which goes well beyond merely reporting that isn’t factual. The political baggage the term carries makes it inflammatory and confusing, and that’s why I believe we should avoid or eliminate it.
So what should we say instead of “fake news”? The Poynter article recommends using terms like “misinformation,” “disinformation,” “hoax,” and “malinformation.”
The term is more than just inflammatory. Peace journalism also advises journalists to reject both propaganda and “us vs. them” narratives. The phrase “fake news” was created as a clever propaganda tool by those who seek to discredit the news media. Thus, every time journalists use the term, they’re rewarding the propagandists. The term “fake news” also creates a false “us vs. them” narrative pitting “real Americans” (as defined by the White House) against the greedy, reckless “mainstream” media.
By avoiding or marginalizing the term, we can perhaps begin to open up a necessary, broader discussion across political boundaries about news media accuracy and bias. This kind of cross-boundary, common-ground-seeking discussion is exactly what peace journalism promotes.
For more on Fake News:
http://cits.ucsb.edu/fake-news/
https://www.poynter.org/news/reporters-stop-calling-everything-fake-news
https://www.poynter.org/news/should-we-stop-saying-fake-news
If you’re like me, you groan every time you hear the term “fake news.” My first instinct is to ignore it and hope it goes away, but that’s not working too well lately thanks to a barrage of negative stories about the White House.
So if ignoring this won’t work, what’s a peace journalist to do?
For starters, journalists should take the advice of writers like Daniel Funke, who advises on Poynter.org that reporters should "stop calling everything fake news." I’d go further, and add that we should stop using the term altogether unless we’re directly quoting someone. Why should we just say no to this phrase? According to Poynter, using the term has important consequences:
“In a study published Aug. 15, Emily Van Duyn and Jessica Collier of the University of Texas at Austin found that, when people are exposed to tweets containing the term “fake news,” their ability to tell real from fraudulent stories decreases. Those findings were based on a Mechanical Turk survey of 299 U.S. adults between April and December 2017.” Thus, the more we use the term, the more we aid those who seek to sow confusion.
Peace journalism teaches us that words matter, especially inflammatory ones. “Fake news” has taken on a transcendent form which goes well beyond merely reporting that isn’t factual. The political baggage the term carries makes it inflammatory and confusing, and that’s why I believe we should avoid or eliminate it.
So what should we say instead of “fake news”? The Poynter article recommends using terms like “misinformation,” “disinformation,” “hoax,” and “malinformation.”
The term is more than just inflammatory. Peace journalism also advises journalists to reject both propaganda and “us vs. them” narratives. The phrase “fake news” was created as a clever propaganda tool by those who seek to discredit the news media. Thus, every time journalists use the term, they’re rewarding the propagandists. The term “fake news” also creates a false “us vs. them” narrative pitting “real Americans” (as defined by the White House) against the greedy, reckless “mainstream” media.
By avoiding or marginalizing the term, we can perhaps begin to open up a necessary, broader discussion across political boundaries about news media accuracy and bias. This kind of cross-boundary, common-ground-seeking discussion is exactly what peace journalism promotes.
For more on Fake News:
http://cits.ucsb.edu/fake-news/
https://www.poynter.org/news/reporters-stop-calling-everything-fake-news
https://www.poynter.org/news/should-we-stop-saying-fake-news
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