互联网上流行的讽刺是——“如果是在线的，那一定是真的”。几十年前，互联网是一个受到严格审查的地方，出现的任何东西都可能来自权威网站(authority site)。长期以来，人们在互联网上建立的信任一直延续至今(till date)。
新闻自由(Freedom)已成为一场(Press)辩论
在议会制中，新闻媒体被称为继立法(Legislature)、行政和司法(Executive and Judiciary)之后的第四级民主。这是一个当之无愧的称号，因为虽然所有其他机制都可能失败，但人民、他们的意识和有关公众舆论却不能。
公众完全有权保持消息灵通，因此全球几乎每个国家（除少数例外）都规定了新闻自由(Press)。媒体和新闻界的权力不亚于任何其他民主阶层。从长远来看，它们可以引发抗议、改变政府并操纵法律。
然而，巨大的力量伴随着巨大的责任。如果媒体诉诸腐败行为或对特定的人或意识形态(person or ideology)产生偏见，它可能会破坏民主的基础，因为人们可能会形成错误的意见。
随着时间的推移，媒体发生了怎样的变化？
当媒体的重要性在 1900 年代成为一项重要辩论时，它通常仅限于报纸或书面新闻(Press)。随着时间的推移，它转向电视媒体，现在它完全是关于在线媒体、社交媒体和基于手机应用程序的媒体。
虽然公认的权威组织仍在处理其他形式，但在线媒体和社交媒体仍然广泛不受监管。
社交媒体对年轻一代产生了巨大影响，因为他们大部分时间都花在社交网站上。因此，当他们登录Facebook 或 Twitter(Facebook or Twitter)时，他们会在订阅中阅读大部分新闻。
无论在那里看到什么，都可能被认为是真实的。然而，社交媒体在很大程度上是一种个人观点的表达，必然是有偏见的。但更重要的是，它是营销宣传新闻的中心。在通过搜索引擎搜索时，一般来说，被假新闻愚弄可能并不那么容易，但社交媒体让它变得无法辨认。
假新闻与讽刺
一件事是讽刺，写假新闻的目的是幽默。作为免责声明提到这个故事是错误的，有时，标题很明显。但是，假新闻不同。当我们使用假新闻这个词(word fake news)时，它意味着宣传，恶作剧，虚假信息等。伪装成真实新闻，以愚弄人们的目的传播。
互联网上的假新闻(Fake news)网站伪装(internet pretend)成权威，有时将其网站命名为与知名新闻权威(news authority)品牌相似。例如。Bloomberg.ma模仿Bloomberg.com。在许多情况下，假网站复制了从徽标到网站结构的所有内容。
由于社交媒体革命，假新闻网站现在对公众有很大的影响。他们打算动摇民主的基础。例如。在 2016 年美国总统大选(US Presidential Elections)期间，许多假新闻网站如雨后春笋般涌现，与政党站在一起。
夸张的新闻
在 2016 年美国总统大选(US Presidential Elections)期间注意到的一件事是，媒体变得两极分化，不同的媒体机构撰写的新闻偏向于各个政党。好消息的标准是覆盖重要的消息并设定优先标准(importance and set priority criteria)。无论报道什么新闻，都应该报道故事的两面。
夸大新闻意味着不报道主要新闻的一部分并夸大任何(news and exaggerate whatever)有利于个人或意识形态(person or ideology)的内容。正如他们所说，半真半假比完全谎言更糟糕。夸大的新闻对真正的民主有害。
它可能比假新闻网站上发布的新闻更糟糕，因为读者可能会盲目地相信它已经发布在权威网站上(authority site)。
假新闻网站的类型
- 使用与知名新闻品牌相似的名称(Using names similar to those of known news brands)：几乎所有知名新闻网站(news website)都采用这种方式。网站所有者(website owner)将制作一个具有相似徽标和稍有不同名称的重复网站。(duplicate website)有时，网站所有者(website owner)的个人信息会从在线数据库中隐藏。目的是让读者相信这些假新闻网站上发布的信息来自他们所模仿的权威网站。(authority site)
- 创建有偏见的政治网站(Creating biased political websites)：许多新闻网站的一个重要目的是使政治观点偏向于某个特定政党。这是因为政党代表的政治观点可能有利于或反对特定社区及其利益。在许多国家，政治是一种巨大的热潮，因此人们创建的新闻网站非常支持某些政治观点。
- Clickbait 网站(Clickbait websites)：除了传播宣传，经济回报是许多假新闻网站蓬勃发展的一个原因。他们写的新闻正是他们认为人们想读的。当人们打开他们的网站并查看广告时，它可以帮助网站所有者增加收入。
假新闻网站列表
这个名单是无穷无尽的，可能有多少新的假新闻网站被关闭，就有多少。识别假新闻网站(news site)需要观察的是它的域名。他们通常会复制一些主要的真实新闻网站(news site)的名称。此类网站的一些示例包括 - cnn-trending.com、bloomberg.ma、drudgeReport.com.co、usatoday.com.co、washingtonpost.com.co 等。因此，重要的是您要学会发现假新闻网站(spot fake news sites)。
控制假新闻网站的措施
任何新闻网站(news website)都有两种接触大众的方式。第一种是被批准为谷歌新闻或必应新闻，并在他们的(Google News or Bing News)搜索引擎(search engine)中排名。其他搜索引擎(search engine)也是如此。然而，由于严格的质量标准和监控，这很困难。第二种方法是通过Facebook 和 Twitter(Facebook and Twitter)等社交媒体联系人们。最近，Facebook推出了一个报告假新闻的选项，而 Twitter(news and Twitter)可能很快就会跟随这一趋势。
尽管法律有助于新闻自由，但假新闻在大多数国家都是非法的。因此，为了防止问题进一步蔓延，许多国家正在联手对虚假消息进行交叉核对。
欧盟委员会(Commission)正在为检查假新闻提供更多资源。德国(Germany)正在建立一个监控虚假信息的中心。法国(France)的17 家新闻编辑室也正在与Facebook 和 Google(Facebook and Google)联手解决这个问题。
The human tendency is to immediately share something if the ‘news’ is something the person likes or wants to be true! But before sharing indiscriminately, we as users must fact check all the news available online by comparing it with what all has been published on authority websites.
Fake News websites: A growing problem & what it means in today's world
A popular sarcasm with the internet is – ‘If it is оnline, it must be true’. A few dеcades ago, the internet was a very censored place, wherе anything that аppeared would probably be from an authorіty site. That truѕt people buіlt on the internet over the time is cаrried on till date.
The Freedom of Press has become a debate
In a parliamentary system, the press is called the 4th estate of democracy after the Legislature, Executive and Judiciary. This is a title well deserved by it because while all other mechanisms can fail, the people, their awareness and the concerned public opinion cannot.
The public has every right to remain well informed, and thus almost every nation across the globe (few exceptions apart) have mandated the freedom of the Press. The media and press have no less power than any other estate of the democracy. They can trigger protests, change governments and manipulate the law in the long run.
However, with huge power comes huge responsibility. If media resorts to corrupt practices or becomes biased towards a particular person or ideology, it could shatter the foundation of democracy, for people might form wrong opinions.
How has media changed over time?
When the importance of media was an essential debate back in the 1900’s, it was limited to newspapers or written Press in general. With time it shifted to televised media, and now it is all about online media, social media and phone app-based media.
While recognized authority organizations still handle the other forms, online media and social media remain widely unregulated.
Social media has a huge impact on the younger generation because they spend most of their time on social networking sites. Thus, they read most of their news in their feeds when logged on to Facebook or Twitter.
Whatever is seen there is likely to be perceived as true. However, social media, to quite an extent, is an expression of individual opinion which is bound to be biased. But even more, it is the hub for marketing propaganda news. It might not be so easy to be fooled by fake news in general when searched through search engines, but social media makes it unrecognizable.
Fake News vs Satire
One thing is satire, where the intent of writing false news is humor. It is mentioned as a disclaimer that the story is false, and at times, it is evident by the heading. However, fake news is different. When we use the word fake news, it means propaganda, hoaxes, disinformation, etc. Disguised as real news, spread with the intent to fool people.
Fake news websites on the internet pretend to be an authority and at times name their websites in similar to well-known news authority brands. Eg. Bloomberg.ma to imitate Bloomberg.com. In many cases, the fake website copied everything from the logo to the site’s structure.
Thanks to the social media revolution, fake news websites have a huge approach to the public now. They intend to shake the foundation of democracy. Eg. A lot of fake news websites mushroomed during the 2016 US Presidential Elections to side with political parties.
Exaggerated news
One thing noticed during the US Presidential Elections in 2016 was that the media became polarized with different media outlets writing news biased towards various political parties. The standard of good news is to cover news of importance and set priority criteria. For whatever news is covered, both the sides of the story should be reported.
Exaggerated news would mean not to report a part of the main news and exaggerate whatever is said to favor a person or ideology. As they say, a half-truth is worse than a complete lie; exaggerated news is harmful to a true democracy.
It might be worse than news published on fake news websites because the reader might believe it blindly considering that it has been published on an authority site.
Types of fake news websites
- Using names similar to those of known news brands: This is something that has been done with almost every known news website. The website owner would make a duplicate website with a similar logo and slightly different name. At times the personal information of the website owner is hidden from the online database. The intent is to make the readers believe that the information published on these fake news sites are from the authority site they are imitating.
- Creating biased political websites: A strong purpose of many news websites is to bias political opinion in favor of a particular party. This is because political parties represent political opinions that may favor or be against particular communities and their interests. In many countries, politics is a huge craze and thus people create news websites which grossly favor certain political opinions.
- Clickbait websites: Other than spreading propaganda, financial returns is a reason for the flourishing of so many fake news websites. The news they write is exactly what they believe people want to read. When people open their sites and check the ads, it helps the website owners build revenue.
Fake news sites list
The list is endless and probably as many new fake news websites are launched as they are shut down. What you need to observe to identify a fake news site is its domain. They usually copy the name of some major real news sites. Some examples of such websites are – cnn-trending.com, bloomberg.ma, drudgeReport.com.co, usatoday.com.co, washingtonpost.com.co, and so on. It is therefore important that you learn to spot fake news sites.
Measures to control fake news websites
Any news website has two ways of reaching the masses.The first one is to be approved for Google News or Bing News and ranked for their search engine. It is the same with other search engines. However, this is tough because of the strict quality criteria and monitoring. The second method is to reach people through social media like Facebook and Twitter. As of recent, Facebook has introduced an option to report fake news and Twitter might follow the trend soon.
Despite the laws assisting in the freedom of the press, fake news is illegal in most countries. Thus, to prevent the problem from spreading further, many countries are teaming up to cross-check the false news.
The European Commission is contributing more resources towards checking the fake news. Germany is setting up a center to monitor disinformation. 17 newsrooms in France are also joining hands with Facebook and Google to overcome the problem.
The human tendency is to immediately share something if the ‘news’ is something the person likes or wants to be true! But before sharing indiscriminately, we as users must fact check all the news available online by comparing it with what all has been published on authority websites.
