Phenomenon of Deterioration of Journalism

Deterioration of Journalism

The news industry shows today’s world as a connected society. However with the gradual spread of fake news, it becomes difficult to understand how people are using the freedom of speech within this new technology era. The internet and other Social Media applications have created information bias, over the past couple of years. There is more data, opinions, and freedom throughout the instantaneous circulation of information. The environment society has created is one in which every source of news considers to be trustworthy and making it hard to know what is happening.

The prevalence of fake news in Journalism has led to more biases on what is true, and brought up many misconceptions. There are also corrupt officials in the Media who enjoy brainwashing others instead of allowing people to think. The increase in Fake news is a threat to future Journalism as the public has lost trust in the corrupt media and this will have unforeseen consequences beyond just the corruption of truth. Fake news existed in society, but in the modern era, it has become more prevalent. Wikipedia shows that Fake news dates back to the time before the printing press, known as Yellow Journalism. It comprised deliberate disinformation spread via the traditional means through person to person. As more people became literate, it became easier to manipulate information for those that were not literate. Literacy skills improved making it easier to print and sell information although technology has made it more reliable.

Technology is being used to share information through the internet and different Social media outlets, for example, Facebook, WhatsApp among others. This is making it very difficult to point out what is true and false. According to Allcott and Matthew Gentzkow on the research for, “Social media and Fake News in the 2016 Election hunt”. “Social Media platforms, such as Facebook, have a different structure than any earlier Media technology. Content can rally among users with no significant third-party filtering, fact-checking, judgment, and an individual user with no track record or reputation can sometimes reach as many readers as Fox Report”. To protect our future in Journalism, it’s more important to make individuals aware of the inaccuracies of the news and information they read. It is necessary to encourage them to be more skeptical of the sources they get their news. It requires truthful journalism more than ever to counter fake news that is resurfacing at a gradual rate.

As it shows in the 2016 presidential elections, Holly Ellyatt correspondent, CNBC says, “Donald Trump’s favorite phrase has become 2017’s ‘word of the year, fake news. The President uses it to criticize the media which has been a greater contribution to the undermining of the society’s trust in news reporting. This has impacted people in the media especially, journalists and editors, because most of the people are losing confidence in what is true and misleading. People are more interested in the beneficial outcomes of fake news because all they care about is winning, popularity or even business goals and they forget about the traumatic experiences that go thereafter.

Journalists and more people in the media fighting for the truth lose moral to keep up since the people they want to stand up for are being influenced by the fake news and are not willing to support. People do not demand more from the media and therefore they will pay what it costs to improve their situation, and this is contributing to the rapid increase in fake news. According to the article, “The news is breaking” by Alterman Eric. He says, “The problem of intellectual integrity in our public life is now almost beyond repair. Most Americans and the world at large believe it is now harder to be well informed and determine what news is accurate. because Journalists these days are choosing popularity over the truth and are willing get bribes to achieve whatever their goal may be. It’s more than just journalism but survival for the fittest since most of the people involved are not ready to risk so much to defend the truth. This fear is jeopardizing the confidence and truthfulness of most journalists causing so much terror and decline in journalism today.

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