How to prevent fake news by Chinese publishers
By Zongjun (Tom) Jiang
News – whether published in print or digital newspapers or broadcasted on radio or television stations – is a critical form of information that documents up-to-the-moment changes in local, national, and global communities (Alejandro, 2010), and delivered to readers in both print and digital formats (Grimm, 2013). The news is characterized by authenticity, timeliness, conciseness, readability, and accuracy. Among all the characteristics, authenticity and accuracy are perhaps the main objectives of the press, and it is the baseline of professional ethics by which journalists and publishers must abide (Mirvajová, 2014).
While fake news has become an increasingly a global problem, it has been a significant issue in China for the last twenty years (Bandurski, 2007), misleading public opinion, weakening the credibility of the media and creating negative emotions amongst Chinese citizens. What is fake news? How is it manifested in Chinese journalistic coverage? And what has its impact been on Chinese society?
What is fake news?
In a recent publication, Allcott and Gentzkow (2017) worked toward a definition of “false news”. Their study defines this news genre as “A news story that has no factual basis, but it presented as news” (p. 213). Within China’s blog-sphere, journalists write about a lot of first-hand news items (Jin, Cao, Zhang, Zhou & Tian, 2017). However, more than 1/3 of these stories contain fake information or news (Zhao, Resnick & Mei, 2015). But unlike some fake news, that falsifies, misrepresents or omits facts to intentionally mislead readers, some fake news in China fabricates sensational and otherwise unbelievable stories for public consumption. Three stories, in particular, include the “Cardboard buns” hoax, a false report about a sighting of the extinct “South China tiger”, and farmer’s account of a flying saucer and electrocuting an alien on his property. In each instance, the stories were found to be false and the culprits fined for their lies.
Why does fake news succeed in China?
Research in the last 15 years has shown three main reasons for the success of fake news stories such as these in China. The first reason is a lack of legal consciousness (Cheng,2006) among Chinese media outlets, especially the local news publishers, who do not have a good understanding of the state's laws and policies and misunderstand or unilaterally understand relevant policies. The second reason is an abnormal level of competition between press agencies (Ogden, 2005). The benefit here includes two aspects of the spirit and the economy: on the one hand, publisher create fake news fora more prominent place in the industry. On the other hand, some reporters will offer a publisher “benefits” in order to have their stories published. The final reason is, quite simply, the curiosity of readers (Vosoughi, Roy & Aral, 2018). In China, a socialist country, news stories tend to focus on the Communist party. The content is relatively simple, or “too boring” to some readers. In this way, some reporters are interested in creating “sensational” stories to peak the curiosity of readers.
The rise of digital publishing compounds these issues, making it easier for publishers and reporters to fabricate and disseminate stories that an increasingly curious readership devours without critical reflection on accuracy and authenticity. Publishing fake news has the potential to significant danger to the credibility of the news agencies (Barclay, 2017). It can also destroy the guidance of public opinion and cognitive bias for the audience (Viña, 2017).
How to move forward?
It is hard to break a cycle of fake news without a broader social consciousness. But several things can be taken into consideration when trying to stop the occurrence of fake news:
- First and foremost, there must be a marked improvement in the system of accountability. Publishing agencies should be held accountable and asked to provide the source information released to the public, be responsible to the society and must bear the corresponding legal responsibility.
- Second, in the domain of the print-news, Chinese publishing agencies themselves need to improve the applicable develop standards and regulations regarding news publication – they need to ensure a system of authorizing the factual nature of their sources.
- Micro-blogs thus should use the real name system and it should be the editor and publisher name note like the paper news, so that the news can find the original from which person (Branigan, 2012).
- Perhaps most importantly, information literacy of the general population needs to be improved overall (Prescott, 2016) to ensure that the general population needs to question the validity of such salacious news stories through critical reflection on the contents of new items.
Video. Report on micro-blogging and "Real Name" registration in China
Conclusion
In China, fake news has been a significant issue over the course of the last twenty years (Bandurski, 2007), and it’s time that Chinese publishers accept responsibility for their role in disseminating accurate, comprehensive, and objective news. By working together, Chinese audiences and publishers have the power to improve the publishing industry, and work toward eliminating fake news in China.