The problem of Yellow journalism and fake news
1809 Jae Yeon Shin
Today, modern people are living under the influence of the press. Also, the power of the press is very strong. Most ordinary people read newspapers in the morning and get news from the radio or TV about once a day. Also, Internet news has become more accessible these days because of the development of the Internet. The media is increasingly becoming an information society because it makes us aware of the information. It is impossible to maintain neutrality at all times because it is human to form such a media, and problems such as distortion and cover-up are occurring intentionally. These days, there is a growing problem in the press with exaggeration and fake news. So I would like to talk about exaggeration of press, yellow journalism. Yellow journalism refers to the tendency to excessively cover and report sensational and immoral articles to attract readers. Yellow journalism originated in the 1890s when it referred to the tricks used in the fierce competition between <New York City's World> and <Journal>. Joseph Pulitzer took over New York's <World> in 1883 and secured America's best circulation through colorful, sensational articles and extensive propaganda. Pulitzer believes that 'The newspaper is right and teach to make wrong things right'. He also thought that 'boring newspaper crime'. For this reason, he wrote cartoons and photographs in a splendid way, created a new sports department to treat sports articles with great importance, and started a Sunday edition that focuses on interest and entertainment. And in the process, yellow journalism was born by appealing to sensationalism to attract readers' attention.
Next, I will try to use an example of yellow journalism. It's an exaggeration of opinion polls. Polls have different results depending on which region and who. In some cases, however, the poll and the actual results are different. For example, during Trump and Hillary's presidential campaign, polls showed Clinton with an overwhelming majority. But when Trump was actually elected, there were more votes from Trump. This shows that the results could be different depending on which region the poll is looking at.
The deepening of Yellow journalism makes the exact reconstruction of reality impossible and increases the risk of factual distortion and misinformation in articles. Recently, there have been much fake news and biased reports through the media, which have become insensitive in deciding their opinions in the media and in the delivery of information. The most basic function of the media is factual delivery. If this yellow journalism is spread and neglected, it will at some point enter a society where the objectivity of information cannot be preserved. Yellow journalism is interpreted as a desperate measure to survive the competition amid the steep downward trend of the newspaper industry, but this is just a sweet poison that fuels the specification of the media market.
I've come to recognize the problems that are happening in the media as I see this deepening yellow journalism or fake news. Of course, because they are a person, I think it is impossible to maintain neutrality always. However, I think that when reporters tell people objective facts, they should make fact judgments and write articles. People have the right to know objective facts about events, not biased information. I think the reader's view is to make up their minds by reading various articles. There are also many articles that are provocative by using words that attract attention to the title, but when you go in there, there are many articles that do not contain much content. I don't think it's right in moral terms to write provocative articles for their own good. It is very important for a journalist to keep his press ethics. I also think that the person involved in the article should refrain from such provocative articles because they can be hurt and misperceived. These journalists in order to solve the problem should act according to media ethics. The ethics of the press are the moral standards that people in the media should follow in carrying out their daily duties. The media has many important social functions and its influence is palpable, so journalism ethics is especially important among many job ethics. Many people can get the wrong information because of the media's large influence. That's why I think the press should keep the ethics of the press. Readers also need to read many articles so that they can look at events from various perspectives and develop the ability to detect false information or exaggerated facts. If journalists and readers work together like this, I think we can make the right press.