Unit 3: The rapid spread of fake news (1ère AMC)

Behind Fake News

The document under study is a video from the Ellen Show published in October 2017. We can see Ellen who is explaining facts and fake news with fruit.

She uses an apple, a banana, two oranges and a pineapple.

The apple represents the facts as she was inspired by CNN last commercial on their ability and will to always share real facts with their use of an apple to illustrate their message. Then, one of the oranges represents the things that Donald Trump, president at the time, said. The pineapple represents Anderson Cooper, a famous anchorman for CNN. The banana represents fake news, as it is not a real one, it is indeed a fake one made out of plastic. Finally, the second orange represents a magic trick with a card inside of it.

The reason why Ellen uses fruits to speak about fake news is that fruits are well-known and relatable/relevant to everyone. On top of that, the fact that she uses a plastic piece of fruit reinforces/stresses the dichotomy/duality between what is fake and what is real.

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The first document under study is an infographic entitled “The Fake News Problem in one Chart”. We have learned about how fake news spreads/proliferates due to social media.

Indeed, fake news mainly comes from social media, which people consult four times as much as traditional news website.

As a result, people are losing their trust in traditional mass media because of the massive spread of misinformation. Consequently, they are turning to alternative sources for their news.

The second document under study is also an infographic called “How to spot Fake News”. It explains what to check in order to distinguish from what is real and what is fake.

Hence, the “source” of a document is where a document comes from. For instance, it can be a newspaper, a Youtube channel, a website, a book, a social media post, a radio station or a TV channel…

The two categories to take into account in order to distinguish between what is fake and what is real are to look for objective elements: such as the sources, authors, dates and the supporting sources. The subjective elements will be your personal feelings and biases to see if the information is good enough to be true.

Homework: Learn the lessons.