Transcripts


Nevertheless, the story was so widely circulated online that NASA felt the need to release a statement reassuring the public that the earth was safe. It seems the asteroid story was just another example of a phenomenon known as ‘fake news’. But what exactly is fake news, and why does it seem to be so widespread at the moment? The term ‘fake news’ refers to the deliberate spread of untrue information that aims to deceive people. In other words, it’s a made-up news story written either online or in traditional media to trick people. Fake news has been discussed a lot lately, particularly in reference to the political situation in the United States. And so you might think it is a recent phenomenon. In fact, it’s just the expression ‘fake news’ that’s new. One of the earliest examples of the phenomenon dates back 2,000 years, to Ancient Rome. There was a power struggle between two men, Octavian and Marc Antony. To win the support of the people, and discredit his rival, Octavian made up nasty and untrue rumours about Marc Antony, and had the messages engraved onto coins. Outrageous! Another famous example of fake news from history is the Great Moon Hoax. In August 1835, a New York newspaper called The Sun published six articles claiming there was life on the moon. They told their excited readers about how scientists had used a special telescope and seen trees, oceans and beaches on the moon. They even printed this drawing to illustrate the findings. Many people were fooled, and it wasn’t until weeks later that the story was revealed as untrue. These stories represent the two main reasons for fake news: (i) to influence public opinion, and (ii) to increase readership. Octavian put his words on to coins to persuade people that his rival was a bad man. Not unlike a politician tweeting about his rivals today! And The Sun ran their moon story because it wanted to increase circulation of the newspaper. The modern equivalent might be websites that post misleading headlines or far- fetched stories, to maximize the number of hits. We call such stories ‘clickbait’. The following quote is often attributed to Winston Churchill: ‘A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.’ But why do untrue stories seem to be so readily believed and shared? Put simply, it’s because people want to believe them. Sometimes, this is because it’s just a great story. Here’s an example. While on a family trip to the local aquarium a young boy asks if he can explore on his own and his parents reluctantly agree. But 20 minutes later they can’t find him anywhere. Eventually he appears, soaking wet but unharmed. They tell him off and drive home. Later that night, while the boy is having a bath, the parents hear a lot of loud splashing. They walk into the bathroom … … and find a penguin in the bath! The boy had sneaked it home under his coat. A funny story that has been told (and believed) thousands of times. But completely untrue. These types of story are often called ‘urban myths’ or ‘urban legends’, and are generally quite harmless.


210 English for the 21st Century • Transcripts


But another reason why we believe certain untrue stories is because they help to confirm our worldview – that is, the way we think the world works. For example, if you think rich people are mean and greedy, you are likely to believe a story about a successful businessman defrauding the public or avoiding taxes. And you may well share the story online without ever checking its validity. And it is through this online sharing that fake news is becoming so prevalent in today’s society. One piece of research found that in the run-up to the US election in 2016, more people ‘liked’ and ‘shared’ online fake news stories than real stories from reputable media sources. We have seen how internet allows stories to spread quickly and widely. But it has helped the rise of fake news in another way. In the past, there was a limited number of news organizations and on the whole they could be trusted to tell us something close to the truth. Today, however, anyone can set up a website and post whatever they like. While this may have made the media more democratic, it makes it very difficult for the public to know who to trust and what stories to believe. Take these two stories for example. Both were widely reported. However one is fake and the other is true. But can you guess which is which? Story 1: ‘Man marries 3-metre snake because it resembles his lost girlfriend’. An unidentified man in South East Asia found the snake and decided it looked a lot like his girlfriend who had recently died. He married the snake and now they spend every hour together, having picnics and watching TV. Story 2: ‘Man skips work for six years … and nobody notices’. Joaquin Garcia was a supervisor at a water treatment plant in the southern city of Cadiz. When the local mayor visited the plant to give Garcia a medal for long service, he couldn’t find him. After some frantic searching, it became clear that Garcia had not come to work for at least six years. And yet he was still on the payroll, receiving his wages at the end of every month. So … which story do you think is fake news? The big question is, how do we spot fake news? Here’s some advice from the International Federation of Library Associations. From researching the website and the author, to checking the date and looking for the story on other websites, it seems to be all about reading critically. If we look at the example stories from before, notice how the Spanish worker story has a lot more detail than the Asian snake story. We know the city where it happened and the name of the man involved. The snake story is much more vague. In fact, it was proven to be fake news when an Indonesian man contacted the media and explained that he was the man in the photos. In fact, the man in the photo is a firefighter, and part of his job is to teach people how to handle snakes. The bad news for anyone worried about fake news is that it’s not going to go away anytime soon. In fact, experts predict it is only going to get worse. Because, while reading a story online might make it believable, what happens when you see a video of something happening? Something that didn’t actually happen! For years we’ve had fake photos and we have


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