False media, thanks to the digital era, have attacked the media and the public space. These media often do not have an impresum to express their ID, through which you can get to know the identity of the team that creates the news, as well as the editor who is responsible for their exposure to the public. This means that false media are irresponsible media that do not work according to professional journalistic standards and principles.
The absence of an impresum, or the anonymity of the working team, allows them to avoid the responsibility and the consequences that are caused as a reaction to their articles. For the public, they look like media, but for the professional journalism they are an attack and a devaluation of the journalistic work and professionalism.
The anonymous so-called “journalists” create articles in which they have freedom and democracy, but abuse them, using hate speech, speculation and disinformation, while not respecting even the copyright.
False media use the benefits of the real media as their right, but they avoid the responsibilities as part of the balance of that system. The real media have their rights, but also responsibilities.
In addition to spreading manipulative content and hate speech, false news often transfer or steal articles from other media. Typical of the false media is that also in this case, they skip the professional standards. So instead of a short piece with a link to the original content, they steal literally the entire article and cite only a source, while often leaving out the link to the original article. In this way, although they are pirates of other media’s content, unfortunately, the audience experiences them as informative media.
False media often spread by binding or reproducing themselves through several portals and pages on social networks in a single network system. It spreads through social networks. This is often edited by one person or small group. This network links the group’s content to the network system.
The sole purpose of this false media group is to gain personal earnings rather than aiming towards the basic goal of journalism – to make the public aware of the truth.
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This project was funded in part through a U.S. Embassy grant. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed herein are those of the implementers/authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Government.
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