Fabricated or manufactured news is often a busy supply line on social media and that is mostly responsible for its spread as well.
In this age of the internet as the major source of news gathering and distribution, Facebook gets most of the accusations followed by other online media outlets. News stories are posted without any credibility or authenticity check on them.
The traditional editorial system to go thru the news is not the norm in social media. And that poses serious problem hurting the information literacy and the search for reality.
No doubt the social media provide the platform that was once monopolized by the traditional print and electronic media. The social media is open, free, and readily available for the dissemination of news, true or false, and a viewpoint, rational or irrational.
However, the disturbing point is when misinformation is launched it is seldom being investigated for its truthfulness especially by those readers who naively share or spread the news or views. Generally speaking, readers are not interested if the information has passed thru “professional gatekeepers” before being allowed for distribution.
Our viewpoints are hard to change. We pick up from the internet and social media only that information and knowledge which support those mindset viewpoints.
-Promod Puri
Promod Puri.com 