scholarly journals Is “Letting the Truth Get in the Way of a Good Story” Enough? Journalists’ Perception on Fake News

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (3 (41)) ◽  
pp. 63-79
Author(s):  
Elena-Alexandra DUMITRU ◽  

While numerous scholars have studied the role media has in the fake news phenomenon, journalists’ perception on disinformation has been insufficiently approached, and only from a US and West-European point of view. Based on interviews with eight traditional media and new media professionals, this study seeks to add to the understanding of the way journalists from an East-European country see fake news in an environment influenced by time pressure and external immixture in the media. The findings show that even though all interviewed journalists place great value on fact-checking, they happened to publish information that later was demonstrated to not be trustworthy. While journalists perceive disinformation in a deeply negative manner, many of the things that add to the spread of fake news cannot be controlled by journalists as a part.

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 570-579
Author(s):  
Alexander V. Zemlyanskiy

The article raises the problem of the destructive impact of the infodemic phenomenon on the life of the society. In order to understand the todays infodemic the author suggests conducting a comparative analysis of the media coverage of the SARS epidemic and the COVID-19 pandemic to identify common features in the work of editorial teams during such global challenges as an outbreak of a new dangerous disease. After having analyzed all relevant aspects the author arrives to conclusion that the key features and characteristics of the process, which in 2020 was called infodemic, also took place during the SARS in 2003. Given the fact that the media have been following the same concept of coverage for years, it can be assumed that during a new pandemic, journalists will make the same mistakes and let infodemic get in the way of spreading truthful information again. Having analyzed in detail the algorithms of media coverage of the two mentioned pandemics, the author raises the following questions: increasing responsibility of media towards their target audiences for publishing fake news; deeper fact-checking of information that could pose a threat to the society.


Author(s):  
Abby S. Waysdorf

What is remix today? No longer a controversy, no longer a buzzword, remix is both everywhere and nowhere in contemporary media. This article examines this situation, looking at what remix now means when it is, for the most part, just an accepted part of the media landscape. I argue that remix should be looked at from an ethnographic point of view, focused on how and why remixes are used. To that end, this article identifies three ways of conceptualizing remix, based on intention rather than content: the aesthetic, communicative, and conceptual forms. It explores the history of (talking about) remix, looking at the tension between seeing remix as a form of art and remix as a mode of ‘talking back’ to the media, and how those tensions can be resolved in looking at the different ways remix originated. Finally, it addresses what ubiquitous remix might mean for the way we think about archival material, and the challenges this brings for archives themselves. In this way, this article updates the study of remix for a time when remix is everywhere.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivan Valchanov ◽  

The development of the Internet and social media and networks as a media environment and communication channels combined with the specificity of the journalistic profession in the online environment are a factor which contributes to the emergence and proliferation of fake news. The lack of reliable fact checking by the media and the fast news consumption by the public lead to mass disinformation about certain issues or subjects. The current paper examines fake news from several points of view and describes the models of their use – as harmless jokes, as lack of journalistic competence or professionalism and as means of manipulation and intentional misleading of public opinion. The attempts of big media corporations to fight fake news are also described.


Author(s):  
Carlo Giovannella

The advent of new media and web technologies made both contents and “containers” more “liquid” and requires an in depth reflection on the multi-facets concept of literacy in which the author tries to develop from an education point of view that can be defined as “experiential”. According to such reflection, in the present scenarios, the “design” becomes central to education, underlining the need of educational activities, which should include among their objectives the dissemination of what one may call “design literacy”.


Author(s):  
Taher Awad Basha

This research aims to identify the attitudes of Emirati youth towards citizenship and their level of awareness of it and to determine the extent of their commitment to those values by Identifying their contribution to promoting the values of citizenship and strengthening the values of belonging, loyalty, and positive participation What is the relationship between young people's awareness of the concept of citizenship and translating this reality into practical images. Then stand on the level of commitment to the values of citizenship among Emirati youth and how they can contribute to strengthening the values of rights, duties, and social responsibility. The study also aimed to identify the threats to the values of citizenship from the point of view of young people in light of the increasing media openness, socially, culturally, security, and economically. It emerged through the results that the vast majority of respondents are fully aware of the concept of citizenship and feel proud that they are citizens of the United Arab Emirates. Furthermore, it was found through the results of the study that there are no negative effects of the presence of expatriate workers and the multiplicity of nationalities within the country working to weaken the concept of citizenship among the sample members. The recommendations of the study included the following: 1 / The need to give the concept of citizenship the utmost importance in the media and educational curricula. 2 / The need to support and strengthen the concept of citizenship among young people by launching community initiatives led by young people themselves. 3 / Immunizing youth against the negative effects of media openness and new media by focusing on developing citizenship values. 4 / Paying attention to historical, religious, and cultural symbols and promoting them through the means of tourism to enhance the concept of citizenship for the people of the same country with the importance of motivating young people to loyalty to the homeland, pride in its heritage and adhere to its customs.


Author(s):  
Nahida M. Imanova ◽  

The article deals with the virtual identity in the media discourse. It states that there must be information for communication to take place, including virtual communication. The object of research is text-generating language tools in Internet linguistics, and the subject is to determine their participation and role in the formation of the text. The realization of virtual communication is carried out in written and oral form of the language. Any language units such as sentences, texts, discourses (written and oral), non-linguistic units (such as graphemes, grapheme combinations, prosodic means, such as syllable stress, intonation, pause, etc.) can be considered a virtual information carrier. Virtual communication participants must use one of these tools in order to have two-way communication in the communication process. It is important to pay attention to the meaning and content of the communication. For virtual communication there must be a text that is formed for a specific purpose. Until recently, in linguistics, an independent and separate sentence was accepted as the last unit of the syntactic level in terms of hierarchical relations. In our opinion, these shortcomings, which exist at the syntactic level, gives a special impetus to the emergence of such a field as textual linguistics. In the modern world of the Internet, at a time when man-made technology is beginning to open the way to all areas of our lives, it is not surprising that a new field of linguistics � Internet linguistics � is developing very rapidly. The language of the Internet is constantly on the move; it is observed and operates in different types of communication. In the 21st century, the study of the Internet language from a systemic and structural point of view is observed. At present, linguists are focusing on the analysis of different expressions of the new media discourse in the various virtual worlds observed in the process of communication. The formation of an anthropocentric scientific paradigm in linguistics leads to the intensification of linguistic trends related to communication problems. It is noteworthy to note that when approaching communication in a semiotic plan, its consideration as an action carried out with the direct participation of linguo-semiotic means is one of the factors that led to the expansion of discourse. The virtual world is a shining example of the transition observed in the modern Internet world (explicit and implicit) on the basis of communication. The Internet is the most remarkable tool created by living things. Its impact on society and the world is undeniable. In this regard, the formation of Internet linguistics should not be considered a coincidence. Internet linguistics plays an important role in studying the influence of the Internet on language, develops under its own name in modern linguistics and forms the means of communication in different languages.


2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 540-561
Author(s):  
Sylvia Moretzsohn

This paper seeks to situate historically the production of what is now called “fake news” and points out the misconception of establishing a dividing line in which the traditional press would be the sole source for reliable information, even though it was and still is the origin of much untrue or biased information. It criticizes the methods of the fact-checking agencies, which end up selling a false idea of objectivity. But above all, it points out the need to deepen the discussion about credibility at a time when reference information standards are challenged and beliefs seem to be allowed to prevail over the evidences. If arguments are useless in face of convictions, and if journalism is more than never necessary, the way to recover its role would have to be sought outside the rational field, in order to deactivate the affections that lead to the formation of bubbles refractoryto all criticism.Este artigo procura situar historicamente a produção do que hoje se chama “fake news” e assinala o equívoco de se estabelecer uma linha divisória na qual a imprensa tradicional seria a exclusiva fonte para a informação confiável, mesmo porque ela própria foi e continua a ser a origem de muita informação inverídica ou deturpada. Critica os métodos das agências de checagem, que acabam por vender uma falsa ideia de objetividade. Mas, principalmente, aponta a necessidade de um aprofundamento da discussão sobre credibilidade, em um tempo em que os padrões da informação de referência são contestados e as crenças parecem autorizadas a prevalecer sobre as evidências. Se os argumentos são inúteis diante das convicções, e se apesar disso o jornalismo é mais do que nunca necessário, a saída para recuperar o seu papel precisaria ser buscada fora do campo racional para depois recuperá-lo, de modo a desativar os afetos que levam à formação das bolhas refratárias a qualquer crítica.Este artículo busca situar históricamente la producción de lo que hoy se llama “fake news” y señala el equívoco de establecer una línea divisoria en la que la prensa tradicional sería la única fuente para la información confiable, incluso porque ella misma fué y sigue siendo el origen de mucha información falsa o engañosa. Critica los métodos de las agencias de chequeo, que acaban por vender una errónea idea de objetividad. Pero, principalmente, apunta la necesidad de una profundización de la discusión sobre credibilidad, en un tiempo en que los parámetros de la información de referencia son contestados y las creencias parecen autorizadas a prevalecer sobre las evidencias. Si los argumentos son inútiles ante las convicciones, y si a pesar de ello el periodismo sigue siendo necesario, la salida para recuperar su papel necesitaría ser buscada fuera del campo racional, para desactivar los afectos que llevan a la formación de las burbujas refractarias a cualquier crítica.


Tripodos ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (47) ◽  
pp. 87-104
Author(s):  
María José Ufarte-Ruiz ◽  
Belén Galletero-Campos ◽  
Ana María López-Cepeda

The dissemination of fake news is an increasing issue in the media ecosys­tem, which has worsened with the current healthcare crisis. Pandemic-re­lated hoaxes challenge media, which have not hesitated to implement dif­ferent plans to combat these contents. The objective of this research is to ana­lyse the structure, make-up and proce­dures of fact-checking units that have been created in the newsrooms of the public service media (PSM) in Spain to refute false and unreliable information related to coronavirus. Two initiatives were studied: RTVE Verifica, belonging to the Spanish Radio and Television Corporation, and Coronabulos, from the public entity of the Basque govern­ment, EiTB. The method used is based on case studies, web content analysis and in-depth semi-structured inter­views with those responsible for these departments. Such a triangulation of techniques has allowed us to draw conclusions and provide interesting ex­amples to the research. The results re­veal that these sections use traditional techniques and technological applica­tions to verify content related mainly to healthcare and pseudoscientific infor­mation, which are published on corpo­rate websites and social media. Keywords: hoaxes, coronavirus, healthcare crisis, fact-checking, public service media.


Author(s):  
Martin C. Njoroge ◽  
Purity Kimani ◽  
Bernard J. Kikech

The way the media processes, frames, and passes on information either to the government or to the people affects the function of the political system. This chapter discusses the interaction between new media and ethnicity in Kenya, Africa. The chapter investigates ways in which the new media reinforced issues relating to ethnicity prior to Kenya’s 2007 presidential election. In demonstrating the nexus between new media and ethnicity, the chapter argues that the upsurge of ethnic animosity was chiefly instigated by new media’s influence. Prior to the election, politicians had mobilized their supporters along ethnic lines, and created a tinderbox situation. Thus, there is need for the new media in Kenya to help the citizens to redefine the status of ethnic relationships through the recognition of ethnic differences and the re-discovery of equitable ways to accommodate them; after all, there is more strength than weaknesses in these differences.


2019 ◽  
pp. 167-206
Author(s):  
Terry L. Schraeder

Physicians who participate in the media may perform an important public health service for their communities. Physicians who understand the media (and their influence) may decide to engage and work with the press to inform society on a variety of issues in medicine. Physicians have access to information and knowledge as well as experience, a perspective and a point of view valuable to the public. They have something to say and something to teach the public because they do it every day in their practice, in their profession, and with their patients. Improving their understanding of reporters’ roles, responsibilities, and professional guidelines, along with an overview of the world of medical journalism, may help reduce physicians’ anxiety and potentially help them relate to journalists and interact with the press. Physicians will want to learn important guidelines from the American Medical Association and other organizations regarding their involvement with the media, whether writing a news article or being interviewed on television. This chapter includes the “what, why, how, when, and where” regarding all of the information and advice physicians need before working with or in traditional media.


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