Abstract
Today, the media environment has traversed several phases of technological advancements and as a result, there is a shift in the production and consumption of news. This chapter conceived fake news within the milieu of influencing information spread in the society, especially on the cyberspace. Using the hierarchy of influence model trajectory with fake news, it was established that it has become almost impossible to sustain trust and credibility through individual influences on online news content. The primary reason is that journalists are constrained by professional ethics, organizational routines, and ownership influence. Rather than verify facts and offer supporting claims, online users without professional orientation engage in a reproducing information indiscreetly. The chapter recommends that ethics be reconsidered as a means to recreate and imbibe journalistic values that will contend with the fake news pandemic.
TopBackground
In the field of technology, online is broadly used to describe a state of connecting to an existing networked service constructed using computers. The means through which connectivity occurs enables various computerised devices put in place to access other existing services, especially those of local area network and the internet. In more specific terms, data is stored and made available for access by users who are connected to the cyberspace using internet. At this stage, one is said to be online and can use such connectivity to carry out activities such as electronic mailing, data storing, data retrieval, information sharing, learning, and so on.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Fake News: As the name implies, fake news is information that lack adequate quality to be considered truthful, only intended to deceive.
News Credibility: Is about information source reliability and fairness.
Online: Is a term used the denote connectivity to internet and cyberspace.
Information Technology: Is concerned with the use of computers to process information for archival, retrieval and distribution.
New Media (Environment): The new media environment otherwise referred to as new media, is used to explain internet-based processing and distribution of information and other communication processes.
Media Ethics: Are the core values and codes guiding the ideals of media practices, activities and professions.