Fake News: Good News For Newspapers?

As a hopeful journalist looking for a job, I recently interviewed with the editor of a local newspaper. Its a small company, and even though they have expanded much over the years, they still have a minimal digital presence. This didnt seem to concern the editor much, though: I dont know if you follow politicspeople trust newspapers. They trust us. Acknowledging what he was alluding to, I said the two words that has riddled Twitter this post-election season: Fake news.

Its an interesting point he was suggesting, that people would continue to trust newspapers, perhaps even trust them more, in the wake of the #fakenews discussion. With headlines concerning Russian hacking and an unverified spys dossier, coupled with contradictory reports from the Trump team, its easy to start viewing every online story suspiciously. Is this article trustworthy? Is this really whats going on? Between the media-bias claims from the Republicans , and social medias role as the conduit for conspiracy theory-esque articles that circulated during the election, digital media is suddenly faced with a new challenge. Ultimately, legitimate news sites will have to win back Americas trust, even as fake news sites continue to spread.

In late November NPR ran a piece that interviewed the creator of various fake news websites , Jestin Coler. For some of these news articles every detail was completely fabricated: fake town, fake people, fake quotes, everything. Even so, these false articles were widely shared, some with millions of views. Why the popularity? Because the pieces were written to affirm the beliefs the intended readers already shared. Each piece was catered to the partisan of its intended audience. People dont trust the Clinton Foundation? Write a fake article on some massive bribery cover-up. Present it to the right groups of people, and it wont be questioned.

Coster claims that the purpose of his sites is showing how easily fake news spreads, as a sort of advocacy for readers to use more discretion. Its definitely proved its point, though that doesnt seem to be any sort of a deterrent from creating more stories. Additionally, he admits that making money from ads on these sites is a huge incentive to continue writing the fake articles. Even if his desires are noble, Coster points out that there are plenty of other entrepreneurs out there who are willing to jump on this market for fake news, and who will be doing it just for the money.

This is the new digital reality we live in. Even so, its unlikely Americans are going to ditch social media as a news source all-together. We would probably have a panic attack if we had to give up our Facebook and Twitter. But maybe the presence of fake news will give print newspapers a bit of a boost, perhaps more so in the long run. Its arguably more difficult for fake news to create the same effect in the world of print as it has online. Yes, some of us enjoy skimming celebrity gossip in The Enquirer every once in awhile just for kicks. But to find such news in our daily papers... not so enjoyable. So maybe (just maybe), in an age of #fakenews, print newspapers will enjoy a little bit more popularity. Or, more likely, social media sites and readers alike will simply have to step up their game and weed out fake stories before they unwittingly share them with all their friends.