Mass Media's Role in Politics

Memes are meant to be funny, they float around social media giving short caption to pictures. however, these things that are intended to be funny could fuel fake news. People tend to believe what they see. Even if memes are not intended to imply truth, people find truth and form opinions off of them. Above are examples of some memes I see frequently on media. These are things that are available to the masses, and no matter what the intention is they are a form of fake news and they impact the opinions of citizens. These are all memes surrounding presidents because this is still a hot topic. If you someone who did not know much read these they would think President Trump is a brain dead, fascist, oompa-loompa. This may seem funny, but in impacts society.  I do not believe that many people consider memes to be a form of fake news, however after researching this topic more I think they are a very serious source of fake news.  What do you think?

Fake news is something that has become a problem in our society. It is fueled by our actions, we are the problem. Fake news is correlated to our use of social media, and the need for interesting stories. According to statista 81% of Americans use social media, and the majority of these people get their news form these sites. This is a huge number, and this use of social media has influenced the rise of fake news. Social media is an immediate source. People do not have to be journalists to put "news" on social media, they just have to set up a page. Social media is where fake news starts and it seems that the majority of users believe what ever they see. All social media sites need to implement a fake news program like Facebook to stop the rise of Fake news. The use of social media is increasing every single say around the world, we need to get a grip on fake news before it becomes an uncontrollable issue.

Social media is something I am really intrigued with, and coincidentally it is a breeding ground for fake news. A quote that has been swirling around about Vice President Mike Pence Vice President Mike Pence: “Allowing rape victims to have abortions will lead to women trying to get raped”? From the first red of the quote it seem unlikely that any educated person would say this, especially the Vice President. Of course people believed it, because it was on mass media sites. Facebook actually flagged this quote as being fake news. So we know the Facebook flagging system is effective. I found it interesting that Facebook had to be the thing that flagged this quote. This is a completely fabricated quote with no backing, and people believed it until Facebook flagged it. This puts into question if all sites should adopt this program to flag fake news. This could be the beginning of making mass media more trusting to citizens.

People post anything in order to get viewers and more attention. Hurricane Irma and harvey have  proven to be grounds for fake news.  https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/4448508/miami-sharks-flooded-street-hurricane-irma-video/ Above is a link stating that "sharks flooded the streets in Miami"  This is FAKE NEWS! Posts similar to this have flooded media in the past weeks. People are taking advantage of this natural disaster and spreading fake news. People should not believe this, but the fact is that some people do. Viewers have a tendency to believe what they see and people to do not know any better believe that sharks could really reach land throughout the floods. 

Fake news is a heavy topic in current discussions of the media. Facebook is taking a stand agains it. Facebook now blocks ads from pages that spread fake news. This ban is targeting advertisements. the company is "cracking down on the instances of pages using Facebook ads to build their audiences in order to distribute false news more broadly." Facebook is setting an example in my opinion. Fake news is beginning to control sites and advertisements. This is leading to confusion of citizens and a broad misunderstanding of news. This is something that is impacting out media and out country. It is resulting in media being unreliable or not trust worthy. This action that spurred the debate about fake news began after the 2016 election. Fake news impacts politics and presidential elections. People need to take a stand against fake news. Media outlets need to adopt this policy and make all types of news more reliable. https://www.theverge.com/2017/8/28/16215780/facebook-false...