Election period counts on initiatives to combat false news

Electoral period counts on initiatives to combat false news

With the start of the electoral propaganda of the 2018 elections, last Thursday (16), the volume of information, facts and rumors circulating in theweband social networks. Therefore, concerned with the force of false news, the so-called fake newsthis year, several organizations have dedicated themselves to combating this practice.

An example of this is the newly launched ComProva project, which brings together journalists from 24 different communication vehicles in the country to check information during the electoral period and receive questions forWhatsapp. Public power has already mobilized with the Federal Police and the Regional Electoral Court of Pernambuco, for example, where they have set up exclusive teams to investigate and combat such false news.

The phenomenon of fake news in the new, but was enhanced by the popularization of the internet, as Professor Guilherme Carvalho, coordinator of the Journalism course at Centro Universitrio Internacional Uninter points out "False news has existed since journalism was created. However, the process of mass communication is no longer a monopoly of the great means of communication, since the common citizen can also transmit content ".

The source of the information must be investigated to differentiate between false and true news.The source of the information must be investigated to differentiate between false and true news.

In 2016, during the election race that elected Donald Trump in the United States, there was a boom in false news. A survey conducted byPew Research Centerin the North American pre-election period it pointed out that 64% of adults in the United States believed that the false news was leaving the population confused about basic facts.

No rumors

In the fight against false news, Carvalho affirms that the greater responsibility of journalists, who must value the quality of their own work, but other entities are responsible, such as the case of media companies, public authorities and civil society organizations. "Joint work has to be done", he emphasizes.

The professor suggests that readers look for the source of the information to differentiate a fake news from the real one, in addition to comparing the same news on various websites or news vehicles and asking themselves in relation to who is disseminating this information and for what purpose? "The Brazilian, unfortunately, is not educated to think about the media. It is a learning process," said Carvalho. The population can also access reliable fact-checking sites.

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