Every now and again we hear stories of fakes being passed off as the real thing. Counterfeiters have replicated everything from currency to art, antiques, collectibles and even electronic gadgets.
Sometimes a bank will help with a fake bill, but generally the owner is out of luck and out of the cash it took to purchase something that wasn’t real. For some people a fake doesn’t matter; it lets them perpetuate the pretense of having a designer handbag or watch without the expense.
It would stand to reason though, that a purchaser or seeker of a service would do their homework if they wanted the real thing. With that line of thinking, we worry greatly about the prevalence of fake News and the acceptance of it.
Examples abound, from the recent election state-side, where salacious stories ran about both candidates for president. In fact, some purveyors of fictional content were quite proud of their work designed to embarrass campaigns and confuse voters.
With the ease of digital communication it doesn’t take long for hoaxes to gain wings and fly into inboxes across the worldwide web. The problem is troubling and prevalent enough that many News organizations have taken to employing fact checkers to sift through the chaff and discern fact from fiction.
The benefits of social media, the ability to converse with friends and community members, has itself become its curse. Unedited and unregulated, social media remains the wild west of our times. Like most entities with little accountability, there will always be those who take it to the limit and then some.
A number of years ago we happened to sit beside an old publisher at a conference. One of the plenary sessions included a bright-eyed bunch of students talking about the benefits of social media and the great freedoms it provides. When the audience was surveyed by a show of hands, a sparse number got their News from Facebook. This put the old publisher next door into orbit – he guffawed at the thought of kids getting News from such sites. To believe people would accept News from anyone other than a trained journalist was nonsense to him. Ease of access has made this consumption pattern such that the old boy won’t be chortling now. That doesn’t mean however Newspaper people or trained journalists need to like it.
Although various mediums have tried to persuade the general public otherwise, Newspapers have an obligation to present the truth. We hit the mark most of the time with News coverage, but on the odd occasion we fall short, a correction or clarification is published. That shows how important trained journalists take the commitment to their craft. We have to get it right.
In cases where we don’t, the public has the ability to sue if the plaintiff can demonstrate loss of standing in the community or loss of business as an example. No publisher in their right mind would tempt fate by publishing fake News. There is just too much at stake, including financial implications and reputations so easily tarnished.
Over the years we have read a lot of crap online. That might be a crude thing to say in a column that has tried over the years to write in a thoughtful way, but that’s how we see it. Typically, the author online is disgruntled about something and sets about to “inform” people. Other times it could be bullying or a malicious way to fool with others’ lives and well-being.
There is however an even more disturbing aspect of fake News that unwittingly befalls authors online.
It’s a relatively local example where a group of young lads loitering at a public facility were condemned quickly online for setting fire to a public building. With this “breaking News” the trolls fired up their keyboards and within minutes the teenagers and their parents were disparaged mercilessly online. Were stocks and chains available in the town square it may have ended badly for the lads.
The actual story? They were experimenting with vaping and let off an excessive amount of vapour, making it appear they had set a fire. There was no open flame.
News isn’t a play-toy and we thank readers who support our efforts to bring quality local journalism to your home.
It’s too important to leave to chance.
