How fake news is spreading even
after fact-checking?
We all know by now that sensational, emotional, dramatic made up stories trigger our emotions in such a way that we can’t stop ourselves from hitting on the share button. We’ve got addicted to negative news so much that even though there is a splash of thought on the credibility, our minds still get distracted by the content. Thankfully now there are portals fact-checking the news before bringing it out, even then why do people believe in fake
news?
Here’s why…
1. Repetition of news
The most common reason for people believing in fake news is because of the repetitiveness of the news on various platforms. Repeated exposure to the statement leads to more acceptance of the same.
2. Pre-existing thoughts
India is a country of people coming from a strong belief system or has strong mindsets and pre-existing notions about something, and thus find it difficult to believe anything out of that system. Also, people take offense easily, thus making it furthermore difficult in explaining a news to someone.
3. Information Fluency
The easier the words, pictures, fonts, grammar the more chances of people believing in it. These factors make the story ‘look right’. Things that are easy to process, gradually get more focus.
4. Misinformation
Misinformation is when people share something without any knowledge of whether the content is accurate or inaccurate. It’s where people tend to believe that if ten different people have shared the same news then the possibility of them all going wrong is very low. News does spread fast!
5. Disinformation
Disinformation is when people share misleading news or content intentionally. It happens because of a strong belief system. It’s between what you believe in and what is reality. People in this case are more likely to share the content with others around them with conscious behavior to get a certain reaction from them.
As we are getting highly exposed to social media and everything is just one click away, we must think critically before directly believing in something which can later cause harm to anybody. Fact-checking the news before sharing is the best way to deal with this problem but this ain’t enough. Normalize your perception when provided with the new and correct information can do wonders! Read, consume, fact check everything, and then share what is accurate.
Contributed by Drishti D Content Writer at Mitti Ke Rang
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