The fear of (fake) news

Fake news. It is a term that is continuously growing in popularity, and possibly one of the few terms that Trump recognises. Jokes aside, it is a growing problem and is not something anyone of us can ignore. Most of us probably have encountered such pseudo-news before, ranging from Rowan Atkinson’s death to false medical claims to why Rohingyas are dangerous - all of which, with GREAT EMPHASIS, are fake.

It is not difficult to understand the allure of generating fake news. It can be funny to some seeing people fall for their tricks. To others, it is a directing tool, a tool for them to mislead the public according to their agenda. This is especially prevalent in countries on the brink of going through major social changes, where all that is needed is a catalyst and this role can be fulfilled by fake news. Yet, these are clearly not justifications for fake news. Its sole purpose is to mislead and there is no benefits for the society.

We could go on and on about the direct impact of fake news on our society, be it minor misunderstandings or violent repercussions, but sometimes, it is important to look at this issue from another perspective as well - its unintended consequence - growing cynicism, not just scepticism, of all news channels.

Before we continue, it is important to differentiate between scepticism and cynicism. Scepticism refers to the general attitude of questioning the meaning and purpose behind everything. Cynicism, on the other hand, refers to the general distrust of people’s motives. Cynics are instead tied to the belief that all men are motivated by greed and materialism. This fine line is pertinent to our discussion, as scepticism is a perfectly fine response to the news while cynicism is far from right. Scepticism pushes us to question why certain things are as such, so as to provide a better understanding of things around us, while cynicism merely seeks to debunk whatever that is happening without asking ourselves how and why.

So what about cynicism and fake news? Remember the story of “The Boy Who Cried Wolf”? Since the boy repeatedly cried “wolf” when there was none, others stopped believing him. When a wolf really came, no one came to help the boy after he called out. Sounds familiar? As fake news grows in circulation, people might/would grow increasingly cynical towards news and this is an unhealthy trend, one that we should definitely avoid because this will eventually lead to a loss of confidence in news outlets especially when people find it harder to distinguish what is real and what is not.

At the same time, the term “fake news” has been used loosely as well. President Trump is one such culprit, labelling any news that goes against his agenda as fake news. The term “fake news” represents an urgent issue and using it against any unfavourable news is an irresponsible act as it creates a greater environment of distrust. When a person of influence denounces reputably reliable news outlets as publishers of fake news, it could lead the former’s followers to perceive these outlets as unreliable, regardless of the reputation of the outlets. Again, cynicism is clearly present.

Clearly, our mindset towards news nowadays can be easily affected by the increasing amount of fake news. However, it is also the fear of fake news that could lead to a greater distrust of news outlets and this is something that we have to avoid. News has been around for as long as humans desired to share accurate information and it has always been the first source of information on what is going around us. It has to be a reliable source because we depend on it, be it for information on the economy, the political scene, the environment or any other issues that we care about. The problem of fake news, while urgent, should not be a reason for blind distrust in the news. It should instead be a reason for us to read more critically and question if what we read can be fake, and not jump to conclusions and assume that it is fake and that the writer must have an ulterior motive for his or her work. On his piece on Astroturfing, John Oliver says, “while scepticism is healthy, cynicism, real cynicism is toxic” which is absolutely true and to me, for those who are not in the position to stop fake news once and for all, what we can do then is to ensure that we do not spread fake news, remain alert and be sceptical but never cynical.

By Eugene Goh

Vetted by Wivian Neo

(Cover photo by Chris Slupski)