November 3, 2021
Fake News 2021: Combating Misinformation & Disinformation In a Polarized World
The growing problem of fake news – specifically, misinformation and disinformation – isn’t going away. If you’re not convinced by your own experiences, just ask a journalist you know.
In recent months, that’s exactly what we did – 103 journalists, to be exact, in our second Fake News survey. For the second straight year, the results aren’t pretty. Here’s a quick sampling of journalists’ sentiment when it comes to fake news:
- 93% say they strongly believe or somewhat believe that fake news negatively impacts journalism
- 84% agree that the term “fake news” is contributing to the delegitimization of traditional journalism/news sources
- 56% believe that fake news is more dangerous than no news
- 14% think their own work has had a significant impact when it comes to combatting fake news
- 9% think media literacy efforts have had a significant impact
- 6% think Big Tech’s monitoring of social media has had a significant impact
Like we said, it’s not a pretty picture. The following report analyzes this year’s results, provides important context for our current moment and – we believe – offers some hope that journalists might be overlooking.