The Place Of The Media In A Post-Truth World

It comes as no surprise, that the Oxford dictionary’s Word of the Year for 2016 was ‘post-truth’. This phenomena has its core strength in the idea that a single opinion is worth more than the facts. During a time period when an increasing number of countries resort to populism, and defy their values when faced with fear, the media is supposed to be a medium through which correct information can be delivered to the public, in accordance with their right to be aware of how their governments are being led. Social media especially, has been used for years now to deliver news at the press of a button. It should be an effective tool of communication between party and people, especially the youth, who are, on average, spending almost more than one third of their day on various online platforms. The problem with using these sites as news sources arises because they offer a way to quickly and effectively relay often one-sided opinions, without any verification of the credibility and authenticity of the informations utilized, or a balanced argument. This commonly leads to so-called ‘fake news’ being spread around, which is then subsequently believed without any form of fact-checking. Whereas traditionally, though considered biased, the mainstream media has been regarded as an honest and truthful delivery of necessary information; today it is branded as illegitimate simply because it might make use of facts which paint powerful people in a bad light. When in actuality, it should be the revelation of ‘alternative facts’ being used to justify otherwise unjustifiable political actions, that cast a doubts to citizens about how the world is being led. Instead, the opposite seems to be happening. As long as administrative figures weave the kind of words they think their audience wants to hear into their speeches, their support will be unwavered, simply because we live in a world where emotions win out over honesty. A world where the lines between fact and fiction are so blurred, people have grown tired of trying to clear things up because access to any kind of information is so uncomplicated. This is exactly where the fault lies. Mainstream media sources must not succumb to political pressure when aiming to deliver quality information to the public based on experience and qualification. In return, we, who have access to such a wide and deep ocean of facts should not consider every piece of ‘news’ reliable simply because it has been posted on the internet. If there is one thing we have learned throughout the last couple of years, it is that not everything you read on the internet is true. A statement which holds more merit now than ever before.