Week 6: TOPIC TWO

The term “fake news” seems to be everywhere in today's world. As someone who does not know much about the news, this term is very alarming. It leads to confusion of what is credible and what is not. I do believe that President Trump labels news stories as “fake” if they shine a negative light on him. One of the reasons I believe this is due to a tweet I found of his while researching. Below is the tweet:
The way he connects the word negative to fake is what alarms me here. He attributes something that is negative with being fake, which I have a hard time supporting.

I do believe the president is doing the American public a disservice and harming democracy and the First Amendment with his attacks on journalism and the free press. In the Ted talk, How Free is our Freedom of the press?, Trevor Timm talks about how the press has a right to publish secret information the public needs to know, protected by the First Amendment, but it is impossible to exercise if they can't gather that news and protect those who gave them the news. Journalist are often searched and questioned, leading them to not be able to gather the information they need and have the right to. Another reason it is harming the first amendment is because by labeling every news channel as fake, it develops a distrust among society. An article on ideas.ted.com, named, Why Freedom of The Press is More Important Now Than Ever, states, “But if people don’t believe the mainstream media can be trusted, then they won’t believe journalists if they publish evidence of corruption or illegal activity by the government.” In conclusion if the mainstream media is constantly being bashed and labeled as fake, society will be less likely to believe journalist. This is an example of  where our democracy is weakened.

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