Fake News played a huge roll in the 2016 election. Even in the technological age where we can go and verify our sources with ease we still fall for news articles that are made to be seen as real when all it was is a giant hoax. It's not like this is a new thing of course, but the feeling that we are becoming more gullible and susceptible to the articles we read on a daily basis. There was a time where it was funny to see who would read an article from The Onion and post it as fact, but we now have articles out there that are published as truth and have caused dire consequences.
People need to understand that they need to check their sources as any person writing a paper for a class should and yes, popular news outlets do post bogus things from time to time and they need to be shown their errors when it happens.
What bothers me is that some news outlets refuse to own up to their fake news and instead like to finger point towards the other news companies. Let's look at Breitbart. Breitbart has been
caught by Vice News of posting a fake election map that only showed a small percentage of Democratic support. Breitbart did admit the map was bogus, but they still continue to tweet that the left posted more fake news than they or other right wing/alt-right news agencies did.
With so much focus on fake news it does bring every news article posted under scrutiny, but that does bring a positive to it: journalists have to be more on it to bring facts that can be backed up if their work is ever brought up for debate. Yes, you still should not believe everything you read, say, and hear, but you have to make sure you do your research when you post, share, and talk.
