Fake news: major headache for society

By Jung Se-rim

Mobile devices have become an integral part of our life. People encounter news through smartphones and tablets as the number of online newspapers increases at a rapid pace.

Online media outlets make money from ads and sponsorships, so they need people to read their articles.

But the problem is it becomes harder to get public attention since so many online media outlets have sprung up to compete with each other. In this climate, some unscrupulous players resort to articles with sensational or sexual headlines. Some even come up with outright fake news.

They pose a serious threat to our society for many reasons.

First, they tend to be defamatory as amply demonstrated in recent presidential campaigns. Most candidates warned the voters about fake news, which reportedly increased five times this year compared to the previous presidential election in 2012.

The U.S. presidential election last year showcased the damage of fake news including ones claiming Pope Francis endorsed Trump for U.S. president and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton sold weapons to Islamic terrorists.

During the U.S. presidential election, an intensive study on Facebook found that fake news generated 871 million shares, comments and reactions, outnumbering the 736 million for legitimate news.

There are many indications that fake news is powerful enough to sway the results of an election.

Second, they bring about social unrest. People come across fake news easily via social media. As a result, they struggle to determine legitimate news from the fake.

For example, sensational fake news about North Korea can get people’s attention, causing significant social confusion. It takes much effort to calm South Koreans down who worry about any military actions of the belligerent North.

Once false information has spread through the public, it is hard to change people’s minds with legitimate information. Since fake news is usually provocative, it tends to strongly affect people.

So even if fake news eventually turns out to be wrong, many people are still affected by the provocative and incendiary headlines and content of fake news.

Also there are no relevant laws to force fake news producers to provide compensation to their victims. Many companies and celebrities fall victim to fake news, suffering big losses or mental stress.

The National Assembly must step up to legislate a relevant law. Since negative effects caused by fake news have increased significantly, we need official regulations to properly punish those who spread fake news.

Plus, people have to be aware that all the news articles they read are not necessarily true. If some of them turn out to be misleading, people have to boycott their producers.

It is a problem that there are producers of fake news seeking profits or have other purposes. But demand creates supply _ it is also a problem that there are many people who do not care whether available news articles are true or not.

A clean media culture will only be created when both society and individuals remain alert while putting forth efforts to root out fake news.

Jung Se-rim is a third-year student at Myungduk Foreign Language High School in Seoul.