MMeM, Vol.13 Issue 1 – Fake News!

As 2017 has gotten off to a start, one of the hot topics so-to-speak that has spilled over from 2016 has been the horrific story of FAKE NEWS! Main stream media has run rampant with this story for good reason, and for their never ending pursuit of self preservation in this climate of “everyone is a journalist.” We’ve all heard some of the more reported fake news stories such as the supposed child sex ring being run in a pizzeria by a presidential candidate that led to a less than sane person shooting up the place. There are other unfortunate stories, that don’t really deserve repeating, but sure, fake news is out there anywhere really.

There’s fake news, slanted news, biased news, self serving news, agenda driven news, and news that tries really hard most of the time to do a good job. However, in the effort to present good news, the fact that business drives these organizations cannot be forgotten by anyone. It can’t be forgotten by the news organizations and most of all not by the readers or consumers of the news themselves. That brings us back to fake news, again. There is a problem today where news sites, legitimate news websites, try to disguise their ads by mixing them in amongst their news stories making them virtually indistinguishable.

This is a HUGE problem as everyone’s doin’ it these days. Yeah, that sounds like a teenager themed argument there, but it’s true in this case.

• FOXnews

• CNN

• Yahoo

Sure, there are lines stating they are “Sponsored Stories” or “Paid Partner Content.” Content? Stories? Yeah, and that’s if you actually notice those words as you scroll through identical looking news stories. So why do legitimate news sites engage in this trickery? Clicks. They are looking for ad clicks through clickbaiting their readers with fake looking non-news ads! They are participating in the very thing they are so against.

This is a problem. It is a very fine line between fake and real news when a real news site camouflages their ads so well that the general reader can barely tell the difference. Now, the same news site will certainly get all high and mightily enraged about true fake news (there’s an oxymoronic phrase), but they really aren’t helping fix the problem either are they?