Online Journalism, and the lack of, has become quite the crisis. In 2019 where even the President of the United States is known to share false information, fake news and false facts spread like cancer across our nation where political tensions are at the highest they have been in over 20 years. Buzzfeed has reported that both the left and the right has been known to share fake news at times. So why is this happening so much? Some would say it is because people are not media literate and rely too much on strangers on the internet for their daily news. Others would say it is because journalism is not what it use to be. While both answers might be right to an extent, it is a blessing and a curse when anyone can say anything about anyone, anytime online. Most fake news articles are shared from less than reputable news outlets that are more blogs than professional press.
In this crazy fake news age social media just keeps getting bigger and bigger, and the laws and legal system in this country sadly have not adjusted too. I really enjoyed reading about Victoria Rubin, a professor who had a class develop and algrithim to help detect fake news https://phys.org/news/2017-02-fact-fiction-fake-news-algorithm.html. While I sadly believe it will be a while before we legally catch up to the age of the internet, it is great to see citizens working on ways to combat it. Fake news is a very tricky topic because on one hand, we all are protected to some degree by the first amendment. However there can be big ramifications from sharing fake information that comes with serious issues (take the anti-vaxx movement for example). Should people be held responsible for spreading false information that can cause bodily hard? Or should those who choose to disagree with science and medicine be soley accountable for the actions they chose to make. I believe we are still at least 10 years away from laws changing to hold fake news accountable. That being said I do hope that people become more media literate and go back to trusting creditable sources and not blogs or opinion pieces that are not backed by facts. Some false information spread can be held accountable due to it being libel. However when it comes to opinion pieces that do not attack others but simply spread false information there is not a lot of accountability. I hope as we continue to use the internet as our information outlets we all take action even if the laws have not changed. We are fortunate to live in a country where speech is so heavily protected. At the same time we also must address the fact that false information has real affects on our society and our safety. I also respect the different media outlets that are taking it upon themselves to help address the issue by debuking a lot of fake news. The laws right now protect many kinds of speech almost to fault where we have taken things too far by sharing seriously dangerous ideas and ways of thinking with little to no consequences.
