Journal Entry #8- Facing Fake News

The photograph posted along with the Fukashima Nuclear Disaster article leads to many questions. One thought that I automatically had when I saw the picture was " Where is the proof that this picture was actually taken in Fukashima, near the power plants ground?" There is absolutely no actual proof to show that this picture was taken there. The closest thing to proof is that the article says this picture is taken there. Articles have risen and are questioning whether this photo was taken where it was said to be, and whether it was the radiation that even caused these mutations. Some scientists have said that the radiation levels are barely above normal levels where this photo was believed to be taken, and that it is believed to be safe for living things to stay in that area. Also, others have said that they've seen these mutations in flowers without any radiation needing to be present, so it might not even be caused by the nuclear disaster that took place.

For me to actually believe this picture was taken from the grounds near the nuclear disaster I would need more proof. I would like to see more photos possibly with the power plant in the background, or maybe some video evidence. In my opinion this photo could have been taken anywhere. I would have to do a lot more research on the topic to actually believe it is true.

I probably would have believed this photo if I had seen it on Facebook or social media. One reason that I question it so much is because of the articles and videos I watched before this assignment. There is so much fake news around to get internet views and earn money. Almost everything is click bait. Also, I know that fake news can look very real at times but not even be close to the real story.

Another reason I am questioning this article so much is because I watched a video on Facebook earlier today about a country teaching their kids to play soccer without a soccer ball, It seemed true until I realized that it was posted by "This is That- CBC". I only realized then that it was fake news because I had been told before that they were a satire site that made up comical stories

One thing that I found really interesting was how " Yellow Journalism" was believed to be the main cause of the Spanish-American war. I did not think that news articles would have the ability to cause an entire war. Even though the articles may not have actually caused the war, they did increase the desire for war among the United States citizens. I do believe this could happen because American citizens are very patriotic and always have been. The article telling them that one of their ships was sunk by the Spanish caused the people to go into a frenzy and push for war. This is the perfect example of how much trouble fake news can cause.

I am extremely against fake news because of the problems it can cause. I already cited an example of it causing a war and it also caused a shooting in a pizzeria because there were beliefs of children being sexually abused taking place there. Neither one of these things were ever proven true so therefore they are fake news and can cause a lot of trouble. Fake news does not tell facts, but instead says whatever the writers believe it will take to get the readers attention.

Satire news is something I am not against. Satire is not meant to cause trouble, but instead is meant to be humorous. Yes it is still a form of fake news, but is completely different then most fake news articles. Satire news does the same thing as fake news by grabbing our attention, but is usually based on much lighter topics than fake news.

One experience that I have had with fake news is that last year I took a class and we were going to start a fake news site. We were doing it for fun and were not going to try to cause any harm by it. We ended up not doing it because it was difficult to try and find articles and change things in them. Writing fake news can be very interesting, but is not something that should be done out of anger or to cause harm. The only fake news that should be written is humorous, satirical news; not yellow journalism or propaganda.

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