Reinventing the values of traditional journalism

Around 10 years ago, international media forums used to focus on the benefits of developments in communication technologies. Today, the question is more often about how to cope with the inconveniences brought about by technological advancements and social media. 

Certain incidents during the U.S. presidential elections are particularly eye-opening. In an article published in the New York Times back in November titled "Marc Zuckerberg Is in Denial," Zeynep Tüfekçi, an associate professor at the University of North Carolina, gave two striking examples that help us grasp the dimensions of the problem. 

The first example was the article claiming that Donald Trump received an endorsement from Pope Francis, which was shared nearly a million times on Facebook. The second example was the "Denver Guardian" newspaper article claiming that an F.B.I. agent suspected of involvement in leaking Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton's emails was found dead. This story was also shared widely on Facebook.  

Both stories were completely false. The pope has always avoided endorsing anyone and Pope Francis is also a firm supporter of refugee rights, while there is not even any newspaper called the "Denver Guardian." These facts could not stop these fake news articles from being read by millions of people on Facebook. 

"I encountered thousands of such fake stories last year on social media - and so did American voters, 44 percent of whom use Facebook to get news," wrote Tüfenkçi. 

This was one of the main themes discussed in The Global Media Forum I attended last week in Bonn. How to cope with the information pollution created by such imaginary news in social media? 

One way to deal with these issues is to increase social media literacy...