Fake news pandemic!

If we have lived long enough, we'll certainly remember when newspaper & magazine reporters and other media broadcasters actually reported the "news". Just what they learned when studying ethics in journalism, that is... telling readers, listeners and viewers what had occurred, plain and simple ... just the facts! and allowing them to make of it what they would.

Those days are long gone.

Now mainstream "reporters" and "broadcasters" spin nearly every story to fit their political agendas. They're more interested in manipulating public opinion and campaigning on and promoting their sectarian preferences than they are in reporting facts or making impartial analysis.
By this time, we are getting so much of "Fake News", even from democratic countries like the United States, Canada and others in Europe, Latin America and the rest of the world, that we can no longer tell it from the real thing. And the so called "social media" turns out being a depository of innuendo and false information spreading like a cancer.

So...what, exactly, is "Fake" News?

Wikipedia gives us a clear description: "Fake news is a type of yellow journalism or propaganda that consists of deliberate misinformation or hoaxes spread via traditional print and broadcast news media or online social media. Fake news is written and published with the intent to mislead in order to damage an agency, entity, or person, and/or gain financially or politically, often using sensationalist, dishonest, or outright fabricated headlines to increase readership, online sharing, and Internet click revenue."

Spreading the news is the main function of professional journalism, meaning to inform the public about an event, that is elaborating a “story” of some event based on all the relevant facts diligently collected by some reporter. In other words, letting the readers or audience know everything the reporter could find out and verify about this or that event, and letting them judge.

Of course, journalists may also "editorialize" certain news and events expressing their subjective opinions, but such a function should be open and transparent instead of being hidden in an alleged newscast. Ethical journalism requires them to be fairly diligent in separating their “opinions” from the “news.”.

That is not what is happening on these days.

Most journalists have abandoned their role as faithful “observers” and “chroniclers” of human events and, instead, became “players,” seeking to shape human events by manipulating “public opinion.” This trend transforms a "story" basing it on false statements of fact and innuendo barely supported by "selected" pieces of information. In other words, misinformation. It often resembles a sales pitch, and like all sales pitches, the "story" is adorned with ambiguous sources, attributing the selected information to “European Leaders,” “Climate Change Scientists,” “University Professors,” "Political experts," “Surveys," "Polls," "Studies,” etc., etc., but failing to name them or provide a proper ID.

How may we sort-out the false from the truth in the newsmedia? Pope Francis offers a basic guide: "Fake news is malicious. It plays off rash emotions like anger and anxiety. It grasps people’s attention by appealing to stereotypes and common social prejudices,” Francis wrote. “We can recognize the truth of statements from their fruits,” he added, “whether they provoke quarrels, foment division, encourage resignation; or, on the other hand, they promote informed and mature reflection leading to constructive dialogue and fruitful results. Fake news leads only to the spread of arrogance and hatred.”

Readers, listeners and viewers, beware!