Circular Repoting
The dangerous fake news phenomenon
Circular Reporting is a situation when a piece of information appears to come from multiple independent sources, but in reality comes from only one source. This is often the way in which fake news in spread.
What exactly happens ?
It can occur when, for example, publication A puts out a piece of false information and publication B reprints it. Publication A then cites B as the source of the original information. It is also considered to be a form of circular reporting when multiple publications all report from the same piece of false information. This information then appears, to another author, to be verified by multiple authors. This can make the tracing of sources nearly impossible. Satirical articles are also mistakenly picked up and published as factual.
Example
‘A man told me that the village headman keeps gold under his car shed’ is a completely different prospect than ‘Seven different sources indicate that the village headman keeps gold under his car shed’.
So far so simple, right? But what happens if six of those people only ‘know’ this information because they were told by the seventh? That, in a nutshell is the problem known as circular reporting.
Who does circular reporting affect?
Every individual is directly or indirectly affected from circular reporting as these reporting make up the news and thats what keep us update about the nearby happenings. But namely people related to professions like journalists, media houses, information consumers, investors, and even governments.
Why is it so Dangerous in Modern Era ?
As time changes today most of news broadcasting company are reducing foreign and national correspondents as they relay on technology and allies for information on news. The same activities are shown by most of the news broadcasting company gradually it comes to happen that most of them are actually relying on the same source. For instance if source A publishes a news and it comes to source B & C. B publishes the same information then for source C information appears to come from multiple independent sources, but in reality comes from only one source. Which is a big reason to worry as in todays world is connected and even a false news can lead to big problems for governments, trade and business.
“Lastly Globalisation is in Increase but news correspondents at Redundant”
Download PDF copy.
