Paranoia and disinformation: the influence of the mass media and "fake news"

The impact that the media have had on modern daily life is quite remarkable and hard to deny. In fact, several academic studies ensure that the mass media and social networks influence many social spheres, from politics to the perception of violence and "acceptable" behavior norms (Arias, 2019, p. 561). Regarding “fake news”, these could be considered as a by-product of the mass media. As its name indicates, "fake news" is news that is not true or is taken out of context, misinforms, and is disseminated on the internet and on social networks, such as "Facebook", "YouTube", or the Google's own search engine (UNAM, 2020, par. 1).

International organizations, see the European Union (EU), take all the dangers brought by the mass media, “fake news” and disinformation very seriously. According to the European Commission, democracies, the health sector, national security and the environment can be severely affected by "fake news" and disinformation, and, as a result of the above, strong measures are necessary to combat them ( 2022, pars 2-3). In short, it is extremely important to carefully analyze the influence and impacts of the media and "fake news" in the contemporary world.

"How do I perceive such a fact?": The mass media

For Walter Lippmann, the media are a primary source, although not the only one, of the images and fictions present in people's minds and with which they come to form the famous "public opinion" (Rubio, 2009, p. . 4). In other words, the media consist of a mechanism of influence which assigns to each of the realities perceived by society a mental image, stereotype, symbolic or narrative image, thus creating a "public opinion" about a particular fact (Rubio , 2009, pp. 4-5). For example, if a news outlet presents the killing of a person by a police officer as an accident and not as something tragic and frustrating, it is likely that the entire public opinion will not be outraged by what happened.

"The agenda setting theory" is related to the arguments of public opinion and the influence of the mass media. This theory emphasizes the power of the media to attract attention to certain issues or specific problems and, at the same time, create the frameworks for the interpretation of social events; the media can define the public agenda (Rubio, 2009, p. 9). If a social problem does not receive much attention from the government or the population, the mass media can make use of its high influence to make it relevant under the “agenda setting theory”.

Although the way in which the information media are transmitted depends on each case, the general way in which they define the public agenda is through the selection of the most important news for them, its length and insistence on bringing it up day after day. (Rubio, 2009, p. 9). Another sphere in which the mass media have a strong influence is that of consumer behaviour.

With the mass media, many brands and companies disseminate their respective information, through commercials or flashy advertisements, with the aim of achieving a position in the minds of the consumer and power over their actions and purchasing decisions (Golovina, 2014, p. 193). Depending on the type of mass media, certain advertising strategies or products will be used. Thus, the messages broadcast on the radio have a different language, structure, and products than their counterparts broadcast on television or published in newspapers or the Internet (Golovina, 2014, p. 193-194).

This has caused important changes in the mass media. Since they now serve large companies as a tool for collecting information on consumers, the media must use more intrusive strategies with the audience, such as forums, opinion polls on social networks, creation of user profiles, etc. (Golovina, 2014, p. 196). An additional sphere that is influenced by the mass media is social norms of behaviour.

Social norms are important because they delimit the acceptable behavior standards of people, which is based mainly on the shared beliefs in a particular population; They are so important that regulations can effectively control discrimination and violence (Arias, 2019, p. 563). Thanks to this, different governments have sought to use the mass media to try to influence these norms and achieve positive changes in society.

According to a study carried out with the help of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the mass media, given their public and broad nature, have the power to influence attitudes and social norms (Arias, 2019, 577). The evidence from this research showed that the mass media achieved positive changes in the studied society, such as rejection of gender violence and more support for gender equality (Arias, 2019, 577).

“Is that real?”: The “fake news”

The "fake news", as the years of the 21st century have passed, have become increasingly dangerous throughout the world, causing confusion in different governments and, in response, they have launched investigations and new legislation to combat the problem (Tandoc , 2019, p.1). Important recent events have been marked by "fake news", as happened during the US presidential elections in 2016. A study by the magazine "NATURE" argues that, during this electoral process, "fake news" and biased news gigantic are almost always propagated by "bots" and are the ones that generate the most public scrutiny, compared to news from traditional media or parties (Bovet, 2019, p. 10-11).

Another investigation, now carried out by BuzzFeed, found that the 20 most famous “fake news” of the 2016 elections generated more reactions, comments and spread on Facebook than the 20 most famous real and verifiable news (Tandoc, 2019, p. 4 ). Until now, "fake news" has shown to have more influence and popular dissemination than traditional or verifiable information media, however, the impact of false news on people is still unknown.

They generate paranoia, misinformation and mistrust. According to a study carried out by "MedLine" and "Virtual Health Library", "fake news" influences people too much by giving them important misinformation, so much so that it makes them distrust governments, researchers, health professionals, causing damage to indirect health (Rocha et al., 2021, p. 8). This distrust and paranoia materializes in affectations to mental health. Among all the ills generated, the most important are depression, panic, fear, fatigue, migraine, anxiety and emotional overload (Rocha et al., 2021, p. 8). The effects of the "fake news" mentioned above may remain only in feelings or affectations to mental health, however, there are times when the effects of "fake news" escalate too much.

In Mexico, due to "fake news" mobilized by WhatsApp about alleged kidnappers of minors, two innocent men were burned alive in the town of Acatlán, Puebla (Martínez, 2018, par. 1-2). And those types of cases are not only limited to Mexico, but exist throughout the world. Proof of this is the case where 23 men lynched 8 innocent men because they read “fake news” about an alleged child trafficking network nearby on WhatsApp (Martínez, 2019, par. 1).

Such is the danger of "fake news" that different governments and international organizations have tried various mechanisms to eliminate it as soon as possible. An example of this occurred in the Singapore government under the POFMA act in 2019 where any government minister can order the removal of a piece of news if they consider it to be “fake news” (Human Rights Watch, 2021, par. 4). An example of a less radical approach to the problem can be found with the digital strategy led by the EU.

With the aim of safeguarding European democracy, the EU created the European Digital Media Observatory in 2021 with the main objective of combating, through collaborations with the media and media literacy experts, the disinformation brought by "fake news" on the internet. (Official College of Telecommunications Engineers, 2022, par. 1-2). Although it is necessary to combat "fake news" to avoid catastrophes and damage to mental health, all actions aimed at it must respect human rights and freedoms. The Joint Declaration on the Independence and Diversity of the Media in the Digital Age, signed in 2018, emphasizes this, since sanctioning and prohibiting "fake news" is incompatible with international standards of freedom of expression (Commission National Commission on Human Rights Mexico, 2019, p. 25).

Conclusions

The influence that the mass media and “fake news” have on the contemporary world is clear. Regarding the media, they influence the definition of the public agenda, the way in which the population perceives a problem or issue, consumption patterns and acceptable social norms in a society. In the case of "fake news", these are very influential and shared by people, cause paranoia, mistrust and mental health problems in their readers, and can influence their actions. To combat the effects of "fake news" it is important to always remember human rights and freedom of expression since, when trying to solve a problem, an unintended one can be created. Due to the high influence that the mass media and “fake news” have, it is essential to take them seriously and develop conscious regulatory policies.