How to understand fake news and mainstream media

What can I tell you about mainstream media and fake news? Well, lets see. They both intertwine. One can survive without the other but the other one can't. I'll let you figure it out which one does what and why. But we’ll get into that later. Here is a quick explaining of fake news and mainstream media.

I define “fake news” to be news articles that are intentionally and verifiably false, that mislead the readers. Their sole purpose, usually, is to shape the public opinion by creating fictional personalities and emotional responses that overwhelm reality. The case with Hillary Clinton, the F.B.I. and the Michael Brown suicide and another similar case seems to be fitting exactly in this matter. In order for fake news to thrive it expanded on different branches like clickbait, satire, propaganda, conspiracy theory, misleading information, hyperpartisans websites, Facebook pages and so on. Fake news are no longer just fake news. Fake news became a multi-milion dollar industry that is skillfully designed and managed by public relations agencies, publicists and communications departments on behalf of individuals, government and corporations to manipulate public opinion. The public is so under attack from these fake news, 24 hours a day, through print, electronic devices and so on, that it can no longer distinguish between truth and fiction. So how do you tell the difference? Well good that Huffingtonpost along with Dr. John Johnson made a quick guide for you.

Why so serious? Well it's a serious bussines but i'll mellow down a bit.

In order to move forward in this matter, I'll explain to you what mainstream media is and how it works. Mainstream media (MSM) is bassicaly TV, radio, newspapers, and nowadays the internet is considered so as well. What started as a form of "militia" that held the "Power" in place back in the late 1900 turned out to be a great thing but also capable of mischievous things. Why am I saying this? Well, not much later, the big news agencies started and "preyed" at the little ones all over the world. The whole process is called "Concentration of media ownership" if you want to look it up later. Wikipedia should be enough for a basic understanding of this. As soon as this started, many critics stated that this could be killing the democracy and the actual truth that's is handed to us. I could go on with examples and examples but this is not what I'm here for.

Now that we have a basic understanding of both let's put them together. I said in the begining that they both intertwine. Look at the mainstream media as an "army". A big-big army! Guess what the fake news are? Well, the fake news are like small organizations. Let's look at them as "Guerilla factions". The news agencies today, the renowned ones at least, keep their stories as clean and as true as they can. Our big problem is not them, even though at times they are. Our real problem are the rebels. The ones that are not sustained financially by no one and have to do "dirty deeds" in order to stay afloat or even make a good bussines. These guerillas infiltrated our society and at times, they are posing as one of the good ones, taking the names of credited and even prestigious news agencies. An example is "cnn-trending.com" -that doesn't exist anymore- copying the name of "CNN.com" and even the logo. Another one that went even further, copying even the design of the original platform of ["NBC News"]((https://www.nbcnews.com/) is "NBCNews.com.co". Many similar sites had a big influence on people. Many fakenews sites and fake news surfaced around the United States presidential election, 2016 and became a hot topic pretty fast. People are way too ignorant of where they get their news and most of the time they are receiving false information. This is frightening when you thing about it. The mixture of true and false and the ability to use it for fading impulses and desires is half responsile for big stories like Donald Trump's US election victory, Brexit, Erdogan or even the expansion of Russia. It's hard to fight against accidental or programmatic dishonesty. We don't have the means and we are not prepared to fight it as many are blinded by everything they see. There are consequences! Even the waste of time is one. The fake news can even affect ones personal image. For example, in my country, there were rumors about a 12 years old girl vlogger being pregnant. This right here can be one hell of a consequence. Everybody can write and post fake news. But not all fake news is equal. In my opinion there is smart or dumb fake news. When done in an insightful manner it can gain you quite the few beneficies. But when done in a dumb way, well, is just dumb.

In conclusion to all of this, fake news can't be fought head on because more and more will pop out. It's been around since the introduction of Johann Gutenberg’s printing press in 1439. It's 2017 and there is no stopping them, not only that, but they seem to get even more out of hand. So, yeah, I personally believe they can't be fought this way. We should educate ourselves on how to differentiate them.

Here are a few advices for you to help you identificate the fake news:

Verify the publication. Do you know it? Who is funding it? Check the "about" section of the website and if it's written in a drammatic manner you need to raise some question marks. Verify what other trustworthy sources are saying.
Check the author. This person really exists? If the author its a journalist some info will pop out on the first search. If the name is fake, everything else risks to be fake.
Check the authors sources. Are they trustworthy? The quoted specialists are really authentic? If the author uses anonymous sources the information might be fake.
Think twice before you share the article. If the information is legit it should also be presend in the traditional media. Compare the content and then come to your own conclusion.
Fake news is bad news! among everyone. Be you a public or a non-public person you can still lie and produce it. The only difference is the level on which the fake news are made. It can even influence the whole world.

Long time "CBS News" correspondent and University of Virginia grad-turned-professor, Wyatt Andrews (See? It's verifiable) when he took the floor at a conference about Donald Trump's at-times precarious relationship with the truth, said:

"Let’s all agree as citizens that we need facts to decide problems and reforms, operating on falsehoods leads to bad outcomes"

Have you come to your conclusion yet? Who gets to live and who gets to pass on?

Always check the facts.

Stay woke!