Fighting Fake News

The media in recent times has witness disruption not just from Technology but also from the US President Donald J. Trump. At one point, the media was the 'Alpha and Omega' in communicating information and shaping public opinion but the emergence of this US president has changed all of that, even the study of journalism itself. Now a new concept of interest called "Fake News" has emerged.

Though this concept has been observed since the early 13th century BC, however, the term became popular from 2016; thanks to the Trump presidency. For the US president, any news that was negative towards him was tagged "fake news". But that is not the definition of "fake". This was just a way Mr. Trump protested the highly skewed, mostly negative, and sometimes untrue news stories the "liberal" media in the US, particularly CNN, have been publishing about him from the day he announced his candidacy. CNN pieces do not also qualify as News.

• According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, "fake" is defined as something that’s 'not real'. Thus if it is fake, it never happened.

So did everything Mr. Trump complained about never happened? The answer is No. While he is been accused of blurring the line between the 'Fake' and the 'real', it was CNN (and the likes) who drew the first blood by consistently presenting unbalanced (one-sided) and negative narrative of Mr. Trump. They blurred the line between what 'News' is and what it is not.

Having established that CNN's definition of 'News', especially when it relates to President Trump, is 'inaccurate', lets now take the next step to find out what News truly is.

• News reports are defined by the 5 pillars of journalism namely; Fairness, accuracy, inclusivity, balance, and sensitivity. So journalists and the media at large are expected to aim for objectivity. From the foregoing, it is obvious that CNN's coverage of Trump does not reflect these pillars.

Therefore a 'Fake News' can be defined as follows:

• A News that is partially or completely untrue. News that did not happen. False reporting.

• A news that is one-sided, not balanced. This is so because reporters must try to cover all sides of an issue without bias. Anything contrary to this is defined as 'opinion', and it’s an impostor masquerading as ‘News’. That's falsehood.

But you see, Objectivity has been one challenge of the practice. While it is included in the curriculum of the Journalism program, it is rarely put into practice. News medium tends to report stories according to National Interest, Financial motivation, political affiliation, ethnic & religious inclination, etc. So the CCTV/CGTN, out of National Interest, will always report the News from a narrative that favors China. If CNN and FOX news, for instance is to report on Abortion or Immigration Issues, you will immediately know what political party they are affiliated to. While Aljazeera is inclined to promote all things Muslim and Anti-Israel, CBN on the other hand will go all the way to protect the interest of Israel and Christianity. These interests align with the overall interest of the founders/largest shareholders or whoever makes the highest donation. This is where the financial motivation comes in because “he that pays the piper will dictate the tune”.

Consequently, it is important that as you source for News daily, you watch out for these indicators, in addition to considering outlets with opposing viewpoints as they come together to create balance and help you find the truth. Then you can escape misinformation and be truly informed.