BBC School Report ‘ALTERNATIVE FACTS’: HOW THE FAKE NEWS PANDEMIC IS KILLING MEDIA AS WE KNOW IT On January 22nd, 2017, the controversial days Kellyanne Conway was found discussing the term ‘alternative facts’ was born. Coined by make-believe massacre in two other interviews Kellyanne Conway, the Counselor to United just days beforehand. Whether Conway was simp- States, it was used to defend the White ly lying or indeed did mix up her words is un- known, however both are equally alarming, dis- House Press Secretary Sean Spicer’s blatantly playing either a deceitful sentiment or a lack of false claim about the attendance to Trump’s willingness to double check on what they are presidential inauguration. It was just one preaching. more battle in the apparent war against the truth. However, as fun as it is to witch-hunt one of the most powerful authorities in the world for their Conway’s ‘alternative fact’ phrase rapidly went flaws and blunders, the Trump administration isn’t viral across social media, triggering many, includ- the only one taking advantage of ‘alternative ing New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson, facts’. Whether in the form of blasphemous sub- to dub the expression Orwellian in reference to terfuge, twisted truths or ridiculous hyperbole, George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, a classic hoax and fake news has always existed. Even in 1st novel which discusses a dystopian future con- century Rome, Octavian spread misinformation trolled by a manipulative, totalitarian state. Lies about Marc Anthony to convince the Empire that and twisted truth appear to be almost epidemic in he held anti-Roman sentiment; however, in the Donald Trump’s America: askew unemployment internet era, the issue of fake news is exponential- statistics, fairy-tale terrorist attacks and fictional ly evolving to be worse than ever before. Nowa- voter fraud narratives are just a handful of the days, many people receive their news from social myriad of myths the Trump administration have media sites such as Facebook where ‘news’ web- been called out on, only serving to add more fuel sites post links to their pages. In order to receive to the inferno of societal distrust and unease to- revenue online, websites have to be clicked on wards their United States President. which generates advertisement revenue. In order One of the most prominent events in Trump’s al- to convince potential customers to click on them, ternative fact era can again be found in Kellyanne certain websites will create a flashy and eye- nd Conway. On February 2 , 2017, Conway refer- catching but false headline to pique viewer inter- enced the Bowling Green Massacre in an interview est. Some of these ‘news’ websites include Endur- with MSNBC as justification for Trump’s travel and ingVision.com, 70news.wordpress.com and immigration ban. It was soon pointed out that abcnews.com.co – many of these websites takes there had, in fact, never been a Bowling Green the names of existing news companies and slightly Massacre and that the attack was fictitious. As has alter their names in order to create an illusion of become almost routine, the interview went viral. reliability. These websites often exploit political Conway defended herself and claimed that she unease to manufacture headlines; an example of made an honest mistake, saying that she had in- this surfaced during the 2016 United States Presi- stead intended to reference the Bowling Green dential Election when fake news website WTOE5 Terrorists, two Iraqi men from Bowling Green, News claimed that Pope Francis had endorsed Kentucky, who had been found guilty of attempt- Donald Trump for President. Within days, the post ing to send weaponry and money to al-Qaida. This had 960,000 engagements on Facebook. Fake likely wasn’t the case though, as in the following news had become such a problem on Facebook BBC School Report that, in November, reports were made of an unof- shooter, Fox News failed to remove their tweet ficial online task force that will work on taking that pointed blame at Islam. It took an interven- down fake news. tion from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Alarmingly though, some more reputable news for Fox News to delete their tweet. sites seem to have started falling down the rabbit However, what affects does the spread of fake hole of alternative facts; and whilst these sites are news really have? In mid-2016, the American Press not inventing their own news, some are warping Institute revealed that, from a survey of 2,000 the truth, changing context and failing to fully re- people, only 6% of Americans said that they trust port on issues to turn something minor into a ma- everything they hear on the news – an all-time jor news story in the name of money. low. This drop was seemingly in connection with Recently, the online community blew up after the the 2016 Presidential Election, with both sides Wall Street Journal seemingly launched an attack apparently trying to spread rumours about each on popular Youtuber Felix Kjellberg, better known other, whilst ridiculous headlines spread like wild- as Pewdiepie. Kjellberg’s videos are gaming and fire on social media. Mrs. Cutler, the head of me- comedy centric; however using out-of-context dia at Christleton High School, agreed that the clips from some of his videos, the Wall Street Jour- issue may have been intensified following the elec- nal portrayed the Youtube megastar as a neo-Nazi tion, telling us that, “I think that fake news has and an anti-Semite. They still haven’t apologized. moved from being a comedy thing to being a seri- Other mainstream media sources have been ac- ous issue recently, as Donald Trump is using it to cused of displaying bias on certain topics by the cover up lots of things that he is doing in America online community. During the 2016 United States and then lying about it.” When asked about what Presidential Election, many people criticized affect this may have, she said that, “The problem newspapers such as the New York Times for being with fake news is that it devalues real news. Peo- biased towards Hillary Clinton. A more common ple stop believing it as they don’t know what to problem, however, is the failure to follow up on think.” certain reports or even including unverified infor- So how can we stop fake news? One of the main mation and publishing stories before all of the de- problems associated with fake news is that many tails have come out. A shocking example of this people will spread the stories without a second was follow the Quebec City mosque shooting on thought, taking the ‘news’ they hear on social me- January 29th, 2017, which claimed the lives of 6 dia as gospel. It is becoming increasingly important people and injured another 18. In the hours fol- that we learn to take everything we hear on the lowing the attack, news sites began taking to social internet with a pinch of salt. If you see a news re- media and publishing articles on the massacre, port online that you think is sketchy, there are despite a lack of any solid facts. Two distinctively now steps you can take to verify and, if it is false, different narratives started to sprout – one remove the article. Mrs. Cutler told us that, “There blamed Trump, the other blamed ISIS. On the fol- are organisations that check the validity of news lowing Monday morning, new reports emerged sources on the internet,” and upon further re- that two men had been arrested for carrying out search we found that are in fact websites like the shooting – one of the men had a French- FactCheck.org and PolitiFact.com that will fact Canadian surname, the other a Muslim surname. check news stories you find. It is also encouraged Social media was split in two, as was the world of that you insure the source you are receiving your media. During the ordeal, Fox News decided to news from is reliable or that the story has been latch on to the narrative that it was a Muslim who verified by other reliable sources. had carried out the attacks, solely mentioning the Moroccan-born Muslim suspect in their tweets -Jude, Christleton High School Year 10 while failing to mention the second suspect, and helping spread the story of an ISIS-related attack on Canadian soil. When far-rightist, white national- ist Alexandre Bissonnette was revealed as the BBC School Report https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_facts http://www.newsmax.com/US/Jill-Abramson-Alternative-Facts-Lies/2017/01/23/id/769951/ https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/06/kellyanne-conway-fake-bowling-green-massacre-three- times https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowling_Green_massacre http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/0/fake-news-origins-grew-2016/ http://www.mediaite.com/online/you-are-fake-news-trump-and-cnns-jim-acosta-get-into-shouting-match-at- presser/ http://www.cnbc.com/2016/12/30/read-all-about-it-the-biggest-fake-news-stories-of-2016.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-us-2016-37987306 http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/twitter-and-the-mosque-shooting-a-tale-of-fake-news-and-bias/ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/quebec-city-mosque-shooting-what-we-know-so- far/article33826078/ https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/01/fox-news-deletes-false-quebec-shooting-tweet-justin- trudeau-mosque http://uk.businessinsider.com/ap-poll-just-6-percent-of-people-say-they-trust-the-media-2016-4?r=US&IR=T http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-38769996 https://www.technorms.com/454/get-your-facts-right-6-fact-checking-websites-that-help-you-know-the-truth .