Social Media Bias Essay

1179 Words5 Pages

Society today likes to tailor news to our likes, even if it is unfair, unrealistic, and a flat out lie. Today it can be very difficult to find real news, and understanding what the red flags are to fake news is a skill that needs to be more prioritized. News sites such as Natural News post fake theories about real tragic events, such as claiming YouTube shooter Nasim Najafi Aghdam motives part of an ISIS terrorist attack (Paragraph 6). The unrealistic news that is put out in media platforms can influence others to believe false information. With that a person may make decisions that may affect their personal life, and professional life. This issue is seen in many different genres including, newspapers, reporters on television, social media …show more content…

Extremely biased articles are quite funny; their information is so unrealistic it almost feels like a satire. These are the easiest to identify; well I did think that until I learned about the Stanford research study. Social media sites like Facebook have been known to have hundreds of false articles that people believe due to the credibility Facebook has. In articles like Natural News’ “Active Shooter at YouTube Headquarters in California… Multiple Casualties… Deranged GIRLFRIEND on Rampage”, the bias can be automatically seen in the title. The author Mike Adams has a clear agenda; his connotative and extreme language “deranged girlfriend” is a one sided opinion. In his article Adams makes claims that have no evidence, he also jumps to stereotypical conclusions like blaming her actions as a act of terrorism by ISIS. He says “The dishonest left-wing media fails to report this, but ISIS has openly called for attacks on social media technology providers such as Google, YouTube, Facebook…” (Mike Adams), but where's the evidence? Adams also uses this event as a way to blame YouTube for censoring his information (paragraph 4). His article in no way informs readers of the recent event. It simply is an article that tries to make up conspiracies that fit his agenda. A reader needs to be very aware of articles with extreme bias, the fake news can lead to beliefs that cloud one's