What is fake news?

Characteristics of fake news At present, the misrepresentation of news generally has the following manifestations: adding extra details and exaggerating; "reasonable imagination", the plot is untrue; using points to represent aspects, using partial and generalizations; seeking novelty and credulity, using falsehoods to spread falsehoods; the director's manipulation , engage in fraud; confuse right and wrong, confuse right and wrong, and even fabricate the entire story to make it appear to be nothing. Looking at the fake news in recent years, the main characteristics are as follows:

1. Recurrence

As far as specific individual news is concerned, in April 2007, "Integrity Outlook" The magazine published an article titled "The former deputy mayor of Xinzheng City, Henan sells barbecue after being released from prison", which was later named one of the top ten fake news in 2007. In fact, "Integrity Outlook" was not the initiator. As early as 2005, "Working" and "Modern Women's Newspaper" had published this article, but it had little impact at the time. The article "American doctor White will go to Ukraine next week to perform surgery on people's heads", which was rated as one of the top ten fake news in 2001, was repeatedly reported by Beijing Youth Daily three times in 1998, 1999 and 2001. This is evident in the recurring episodes of fake news.

2. The phenomenon of fake news pictures is becoming increasingly serious

In recent years, digital photography technology has become increasingly mature and widely used in the field of news photography, providing great convenience for news photography and publishing. However, compared with traditional photography technology, it is much easier to use computers to create fake news. This has opened the door for many photojournalists who are good at "creating" rather than faithfully recording, and fake news pictures emerge one after another. "The most famous one is the photojournalistic work "Love in the SARS Period" that won the third prize in the daily life category of the 47th 'Dutch Competition'. It was finally found out that it was a model posing for the photo. The 'China Competition' selection in early 2006 , also broke the news that the gold medal-winning photos were faked. ”

3. Variability

Many of the fake news in previous years were completely fabricated and had no basis in fact. There is no way to even talk about catching wind and shadow. As for the fake news that appeared around 1993, most of the methods were relatively crude, mostly fabricated out of thin air and based on one-sided speculation. Generally, you can tell immediately after a quick check. However, the methods of fake news that appeared around 2003 were obviously much more sophisticated. , it is hard to find traces of things that are absolutely made out of nothing. It is more likely that things happen for a reason. Some of them are due to reporters' unreliable interviewing style, hearsay and subjective guessing, which lead to big mistakes. For example, in 2002, the "Jinling Evening News", "Chinese Business News" and other newspapers reported the "Nanjing Massacre Victims Memorial Hall" can be renamed incident, which was a misinterpretation of the proposal of some CPPCC members in Nanjing City, rather than a complete fabrication.

4. The number is increasing, the lifespan is shortening, and the "professionalism" is getting stronger

With the doubling of the number of news media in our country, especially the emergence of online media, our country's media The number of fake news on the Internet is also gradually increasing. In addition, the lifespan of many fake news is getting shorter and shorter. For example, one of the top ten fake news in 2003, ""Back" was not selected for the new textbook in Hubei Province, was exposed the day after it was published. Counterfeiters are becoming more and more professional. This is not only reflected in the fact that in the past, most of the producers of false news were amateur writers or correspondents, but now many journalists are also involved in making false claims. It is also reflected in the fact that in the past, they only made small troubles occasionally. This is a professional fraud.

5. Diversity

This is not only reflected in the diversity of news genres and fields involved, but also in the diversity of presentation forms. In the past, fake news was mostly news, but now it is news, communication, and speech. In addition, the content has also evolved from anecdotes and tidbits in the past to involve politics, culture, history, science and technology, sports, international relations, etc.