ABSTRACT
Fake news is often spread via social media sites and this chapter examines what journalists and the social media companies can do to combat it. It will also address the associated menace of trolling or internet-bullying of journalists. Fake news and trolling share some similarities in so far as the perpetrators hide behind the perceived anonymity of internet communication. Many early users regarded the internet as a utopia where there was unrestricted freedom of speech. The idea that cyberspace, the online world, is run on different rules to the offline, real world, was popular in the 1990s. Internet freedom of expression, where anyone can publish content without censorship clashes with the restricted communication of mainstream mass media. This chapter will look at the motivation and causes of fake news. It will discuss Donald Trump’s association with fake news and his attack on the reporting of CNN. It will looking at what makes good journalism, examine traditional news values and discover solutions to fake news and internet trolling. Aidan White of the Ethical Journalism Network is interviewed.
