Here’s some real news about fake news: half of all Americans see made-up news as a problem in the United States today, ahead of violent crime, climate change, racism, illegal immigration and even terrorism, according to a study by the Pew Research Center.
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The survey also confirmed that misinformation is taking a toll on people’s trust in democracy and each other. Two-thirds of people surveyed say made-up news is undermining the public’s confidence in government.
As for who is at fault, six-in-ten adults say political leaders and activists are primarily to blame, but over a third think journalists deliberately make up news. They also think that it’s up to the news media to fix this problem.
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Only 20 percent of those surveyed think that the public has the responsibility to stop the spread made-up news and information even though more than half said they have shared made-up news themselves because they didn’t fact-check it before sharing.
On a more somber note, only one-in-ten think the problem will improve over the next five years.
Takeaway: The whole premise of the study of news literacy is to empower people to become their own fact-checkers. While journalists do play an important role in reducing the spread of misinformation, it is more effective to train news consumers to be their own fact-checkers. With only one-in-five Americans of that mindset, there’s a long way to go to get the people to accept this personal responsibility and train themselves to do their own fact-checking before sharing news and information.