Journalism in the Age of Fake News

Abstract

After the rise of fake news throughout social media platforms before and during the 2016 U.S. presidential election and the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, the journalism industry lost a profound amount of trust. As various levels of fake news found its way to spread through social media, the public's trust in journalists declined, eroding the relationship between news and the media. Because of this issue, the journalism industry has been struggling, especially in forms of journalism outside of investigational reporting, which only accounts for about one percent of journalism (Carson & Farhall, 2018). This problem has increased the need to understand why fake news persists, and how to prevent its spread by discovering effective solutions to reduce its negative and concerning effects on society.