Running Head: The Information Apocalypse

The Information Apocalypse

Vincent Kageyama

ASU ENG 102

Professor Kardell
The Information Apocalypse 2

During the 2016 presidential election, the term “fake news” was used frequently, it was

even referenced by presidential candidate Donald Trump (Habgood-Coote, J, 2018). According

to authors Jang and Kim, “Recent Pew research suggests that 62% of US citizens obtains news

from social media” (Jang, & Kim, 2018). The ever-growing popularity of social media warrants

both celebration and caution, it gives the ability for anyone to create a profile and voice their

opinions and ideas, and this new open public forum gives way to new ideas and free expression

for all. However, this unfiltered constant stream of opinions from everyone demands caution as it

allows for the spread of information that has not been checked or verified. In one article by

author Carlson, he references a fake story about Hilary Clinton that was published during the

2016 election that suggested that she was untrustworthy and was playing dirty, this video was

viewed 567,000 times (Carlson, 2018). This was just one example of fake news, where a

shocking and flashy headline drew people’s attention to a fabricated story or faulty information.

“With so many potential voters reading and sharing misinformation, these stories may well have

had an outsized impact on the election outcome. In an environment filled with inaccurate

information, the importance of critical thinking skills is more apparent than ever” (Batchelor,

2017). Faulty information that is fed to a large audience can impact their ability to analyze and

cause distrust in media, which is a huge concern in our country as a democracy requires citizens

to be informed, however with distrust and misconceptions in general this becomes far more

difficult. “Fake news” stems from social media, influences people’s opinions, affects

people’s trust in media, and the public’s inability to distinguish credible and accurate

sources.
The Information Apocalypse 3

Body Paragraphs:

Topic Sentence #1: The definition of fake news is any idea or information that has no

evidence or credibility and undermines the truth.

Main Argument: Fake news is any mode of information that has been created to spread

misinformation, confuse, and spread rapidly (Gelfert, 2018). This argument seems to be the most

common ground of all the definitions of fake news as it seems to be specific enough to point out

the intention of fake news as being to spread and create confusion, however not so specific that it

limits the term too much. This is the definition that will be used going forward in this paper.

Opposing position: There are other authors that would argue that fake news has no relevancy in

academia. According to author Joshua Habgood, the term “fake news” has no place in our

language as a result of it having no stable public meaning and that it is actually a form of

political propaganda meant to promote an ideology (Habgood, 2018).

Rebuttal: The term implies that it is a form of news that is factually inaccurate. The specific

details of “fake news” can be debated and interpreted but there are plenty of other terms that

have space for interpretation, this is just part of the English lexicon. There are also many sources

that at least agree on the idea that “fake news” is to spread misinformation (Gelfert, Pennycook,

& Rand, 2018).

Topic Sentence #2: The cause of the increase of appearance and relevancy of fake news is

due to social media.

Main Argument: The cause of the problem of “fake news” is as a result of social media and

everyone having the ability to post or publish information. It also has never been easier for

anyone to get free information and see all of these personal opinions, especially on an app such
The Information Apocalypse 4

as twitter where someone can literally just post their thoughts freely without any fact checking

(Batchelor, 2017).

Opposing position: There has always been misinformation and a recent decrease in journalistic

integrity is to blame for the dramatic increase in fake news. Author, Brian Morton discusses how

when he actually researched into a biological taxidermical report and found out that the

information had no evidence and was inconsistent with other reports and had to contact the

publisher of the journal (Morton, 2018).

Rebuttal: There has always been sources that lack journalistic integrity however the ability for

anyone to publish information for the general public to see has been aided a lot by social media.

Even political parties have taken advantage of using social media to control the headlines and the

narrative of stories to promote a side (Pennycook, & Rand, 2018).

Topic Sentence #3: Fake news affects people’s ability to recalibrate their mindset after

learning new information.

Main Argument: One issue with fake news is that when people are told that information that

they had previously received is incorrect, they have trouble readjusting their opinion. These

authors argued that initial impressions structure the way we think about information we receive

and that therefore it makes it hard for us to then change our mind about the information that we

think. The study that they performed suggested that it was more difficult for people to recalibrate

their opinion after being told that information that was previously told was incorrect (De

Keersmaecker, & Roets. 2017).

Opposing Position: The effect of fake news is that it will affect our social networks, our

memories, and our viewpoints as a result of it coming through social means (Spinney, 2017).
The Information Apocalypse 5

Rebuttal: First impressions is the reason for our inability to change our mindset about fake news

because social news such as gossip always spreads but it is easier to dismiss that as gossip than

something that is presented as true (De Keersmaecker, & Roets. 2017).

Topic Sentence #4: Fake news can affect people’s abilities to find credible sources of media.

Main Argument: Fake news affects people’s abilities to find sources that are credible.

“Individuals may be susceptible to fake news stories that are amenable to their political

ideology” (Pennycook, & Rand, 2018).

Opposing Position: There are no issues with people finding information, there are plenty of

filters and ways to find satisfactory information, such as teenagers just asking their parents

(Marchi, 2012)

Rebuttal: The issue with teenagers asking their parents for news is that they do not develop the

necessary skills to learn how to navigate information for themselves and they will not form their

own opinions for voting or just life. Also, fake news does create problems with people’s source

analysis, through a study done about the effects of fake news, it was found that 75% of U.S

adults had read an article title that was falsified and believed it was true (Guo & Vargo, 2018).

This points to the significant amount of impact that fake news can have on the public and the

problem with misinformation.

Topic Sentence #5: Fake news on social media has a lot of relevancy in traditional media

and the real world.

Main Argument: Fake news is undermining the United States’ democratic process. “Individuals

may be susceptible to fake news stories that are amenable to their political ideology”
The Information Apocalypse 6

(Pennycook, & Rand, 2018). This would suggest that if “fake news” continues to proliferate that

people will never be truly informed as they would be stuck within their own political views and

this would be harmful to a democracy where everyone must be well informed.

Opposing position: Fake news, such as skits with exaggerated and staged information can help

elections and inform the public (Balmas, 2014).

Rebuttal: When people view anything that is fake it will have some form of impact on their

opinion surrounding that politician or party and therefore prevents the public from being well

informed on how to vote (De Keersmaecker, & Roets. 2017).

Conclusion: Fake news has meaning, is due to social media, affects mindsets, diminishes

trust in media, and causes issues finding credible sources.

The Information Apocalypse 7

References

Jonathan Albright. (2017). Welcome to the Era of Fake News. Media and Communication, 5(2),
87-89.

Balmas, M. (2014). When Fake News Becomes Real: Combined Exposure to Multiple News
Sources and Political Attitudes of Inefficacy, Alienation, and Cynicism. Communication

Batchelor, O. (2017). Getting out the truth: The role of libraries in the fight against fake
news. Reference Services Review, 45(2), 143-148.

Carlson, M. (2018). Fake news as an informational moral panic: The symbolic deviancy of social
media during the 2016 US presidential election. Information, Communication & Society,
1-15.

De Keersmaecker, & Roets. (2017). ‘Fake news’: Incorrect, but hard to correct. The role of
cognitive ability on the impact of false information on social impressions. Intelligence
, 65, 107-110.

Figueira, & Oliveira. (2017). The current state of fake news: Challenges and opportunities.
Procedia Computer Science, 121, 817-825.

Gelfert, Axel. (2018). Fake News: A Definition. Informal Logic, 38(1), 84-117.

Guo, L., & Vargo, C. (2018). “Fake News” and Emerging Online Media Ecosystem: An
Integrated Intermedia Agenda-Setting Analysis of the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election.
Communication Research.

Habgood-Coote, J. (2018). Stop talking about fake news! Inquiry, 1-33.

Jang, & Kim. (2018). Third person effects of fake news: Fake news regulation and media literacy
interventions. Computers in Human Behavior, 80, 295-302.

Marchi, R. (2012). With Facebook, Blogs, and Fake News, Teens Reject Journalistic
“Objectivity”. Journal of Communication Inquiry, 36(3), 246-262.

Mihailidis, P., Viotty, S., & Payne, J. (2017). Spreadable Spectacle in Digital Culture: Civic
Expression, Fake News, and the Role of Media Literacies in “Post-Fact”
Society. American Behavioral Scientist, 61(4), 441-454.

Morton, B. (2018). Fake news. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 128, 396-397.

Pennycook, & Rand. (2018). Lazy, not biased: Susceptibility to partisan fake news is better
explained by lack of reasoning than by motivated reasoning. Cognition.
The Information Apocalypse 8

Spinney, Laura . (2017). How Facebook, fake news and friends are warping your memory.
Nature, 543(7644), 168-170.