Page 9 - Sharing Posts: The Spread of Fake News

after all, are negative: They seek to portray political candidates
and others in the worst possible light. Since the point of fake
news is to drive web traffi c toward certain sites, that makes
sense. Many fake news providers have found that negative
headlines are more effective than positive or neutral headlines in
getting people’s attention. Even among legitimate news outlets,
stories of tragedy, corruption, and disaster tend to have a wider
readership than stories about successes. As an old journalistic
saying puts it, “If it bleeds, it leads.” The prevalence of nega-
32
tive fake news articles about public fi gures, then, should come
as no surprise.
But it can be diffi cult to live in a world awash in negativity.
Nearly all politicians engage, at least at times, in a practice called
negative campaigning, which means spending time and money
highlighting their opponents’ fl aws rather than playing up their own
strengths. Negative campaigning can be effective, but it comes
at a cost. Though research fi ndings vary,
several studies have suggested that a
relentlessly negative tone to a campaign “Negative campaign-
depresses voter turnout—and could have ing may undermine
even more damaging effects on political the legitimacy of the
participation. “Negative campaigning may entire political pro-
33
undermine the legitimacy of the entire po- cess.”
litical process,” reports one study. “View- — Authors of a study on the effects
of negative campaigning
ers may learn from the mudslinging and
name-calling that politicians in general are
cynical, uncivil, corrupt, incompetent, and untrustworthy.” Fake
33
news, in this way, is much like a steady barrage of negative cam-
paigning and may disengage voters from the political system.
Moreover, fake news allows for little if any nuance. Fake news
items insist that political fi gures are either good or evil—usually
evil—and almost always portray them as self-serving rather than
genuinely interested in serving the public good. The situation is
made worse because most people only click on fake news items
that tend to support and confi rm their political biases. Thus, Re-
publicans experience a steady diet of false news items attacking
Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, or former House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi, while Democrats see fake news that lambastes Donald
Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, or current Senate majority

35