Fake News and Clickbait

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As the consumer wants to be the first to know, the media wants to be the first to deliver. And social media has provided us with instant information- rather than waiting for news to travel by traditional media, information can be shared with us as soon as it is released. But what communications professionals must not forget is to deliver this information ethically, focusing on accuracy and balance. Because of the media’s importance to our society and culture, everyone in media “has an obligation to participate responsibly… this means professionally and ethically creating and transmitting content” (Baran, 2021, p14). Otherwise, misinformation or fake news can spread. 

When media isn't created and shared ethically, especially through New Media platforms, it has a negative effect on society. Fake news has been a widely discussed topic and typically is “news stories that are false: the story itself is fabricated, with no verifiable facts, sources or quotes” (“Research Guides,” 2022). However, it “may include basic verifiable facts, but are written using language that is deliberately inflammatory, leaves out pertinent details or only presents one viewpoint” (“Research Guides,” 2022). Although fake news has a long history, our advancement in technology has enabled fake news to spread very quickly, particularly through social media, where it can easily garner traction and shares (“Research Guides,” 2022). Fake news goes against ethical principles and can lead to emotional, physical, and financial damage to those involved. Communication professionals must ensure they are not creating or sharing posts that are untrue. Proper research must be done to verify that information is true. It is also important to find out if “information on an online channel is objective and whether there are any underlying third-party interests” (“Ethics in Digital,” 2017).

In media it is important for headlines to draw readers in by grabbing the audience's attention. But when these titles are misleading or inaccurate they become clickbait. Clickbait is described as “a headline which tempts the reader to click on the link to the story [and] is used pejoratively to describe headlines which are sensationalized, turn out to be adverts, or are simply misleading” (Frampton, 2015). Misleading headlines are not new to journalism- newspapers, magazines, and especially tabloids have historically been known for enticing readers with misrepresented titles. However, its increasing in popularity on the internet: this issue has migrated online and is especially prevalent on social media platforms. Not only does it contribute to ethical issues but it can present legal issues as well, making it a topic of importance for digital communications professionals (Watson, 2020).



References

Baran, S. J. (2021). Introduction to Mass Communication, 11th Edition. McGraw-Hill.

Ethics in Digital Communication - ICCO PR. (2017, October). Retrieved from https:// iccopr.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Ethics-in-Digital-Communications- Guidelines.pdf

Frampton, B. (2015, September 14). Clickbait: The changing face of online journalism. BBC News. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-34213693 

Research guides. Research Guides. (2022, August 4). Retrieved from https:// guides.lib.umich.edu/fakenews

Watson, A. (2020, October 12). Online sharing of fake news U.S. 2019. Statista. Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/657111/fake-news-sharing-online/ 




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