Opposed to print or broadcast, in which news content is
distributed via newspapers, radio, and televised productions, online journalism
is opening doors to whole new worlds of the journalistic form. From blogging,
social media, video blogging, photo-blogging, podcasts --- the world of online
journalism is a vast place.
In today’s world,
everything is free ‒ well, maybe not everything,
but news is. Just click on your internet browser and presto! Articles upon
articles at the click of a button. Thanks to online journalism the news is now
at your disposal ‒ just be wary of what you read. Fake news articles are seemingly
endless. And while most of us can tell if the articles we read are true or not,
fake news stories are blowing real, credible news clean out of the ballpark.
Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are huge contenders
in the realm of fictitious news, and with their many users from all across the
globe it is so easy now for absolutely anyone to post anything about everything.
Our timelines are so cluttered with fake news that we fall victim to the click
bait, to the outrageous headlines, to the shocking images that only stand to
draw in readers and push one-sided views.
Much of the time we simply scroll through our timelines, paying
little attention to articles that crop up, or else skimming through headlines
without diving deeper into the story itself. We expose ourselves to fake news
every day without even realising it.
Whilst online journalism has made it possible for journalists and
news organisations to get the real facts and the real truth out there quickly and
efficiently, fake news sites have a level playing field. Unfortunately this
means that readers and social media users are bound to be exposed to lies and
false news stories as much as they are the nitty-gritty truth.
