Three Solutions To The Problem Of Fake News

PHOENIX, March 16, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Once again, the issue of fake news is front and center and, this time, takes aim at celebrity and TV host Whoopie Goldberg.

Recently, the website the Underground Report posted a story claiming Ms. Goldberg had accused Carryn Owens, the widow of Navy SEAL Ryan Owens, of attending President Trump's speech to Congress in order to get attention.  Ryan Owens died during an attack on a terrorist target in Yemen.  The website's creator has admitted that his story was false and that he simply wrote it to see how quickly it would spread.  The story has since been taken down.

However, Ms. Goldberg argues that the damage caused by the accusations made in the article has already occurred.  She called the story a "horrible lie" and has publically stated that it impacted her relationships with veterans and their families, and endangered the lives of her family and herself.

The Underground Report posted last week that the site doubts Ms. Goldberg or her family faced any real danger.  It stated "Few people who didn't already harbor negative feelings towards Goldberg believed the story, and how many people believe that such comments would lead an otherwise harmless person [at least to Goldberg] over the edge and push them to violence or murder."

So who's position is correct?  Does it even matter?  Or should this "Fake News" simply stop. Three steps towards putting an end to the fake news problem are discussed below:

1. Check the most suspect stories before they are disseminated on social media platforms or on media websites.
2. Fake news sites need to be branded as fake by people.  Currently there is a web extension named Decodex that is linked to a database and, when added to your browser, gives you a warning when you are on a fake news site.
3. Teach children how to read more critically in this new age of media because a recent Stanford study found middle school, high school and college students are easily duped by what they read in social media.

The author of this article, Doug Zanes, a Phoenix car accident and personal injury lawyer:  http://zaneslaw.com/arizona-personal-injury-attorneys/arizona-injury-attorney/

For more legal tips, visit: http://zaneslaw.com/  or http://zaneslaw.com/z-blog/

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Casey Hamm 
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SOURCE Zanes Law