Sometimes the fake news that finds favour on social media is harmless but sometimes it can be alarming for people and erode their trust in society as a whole.
In Somerset recently, two well-read local news providers ran a story about a pregnant woman who was homeless in Highbridge and died shortly after giving birth. The outrage of all who read the story was understandable – I was outraged too. However when my team phoned the local councils, they had no idea what we were talking about. The council went off to make some urgent enquiries.
In the meantime, the story was being shared on social media and even caught the eye of some national news outlets too. It was only when it made it into print on the Thursday morning that Musgrove Park Hospital – where the woman was supposed to have died – was able to categorically say that this simply didn’t happen. It turns out the whole thing was fake – the woman wasn’t homeless and she hadn’t died either.
Our local journalists have an almost impossible job. Print circulations have declined to the point that online advertising is the biggest revenue stream for their editors. Each story is judged by the editor by the number of clicks it generates. Keeping pace with social media gossip means that corners are cut and multiple sources are rarely required to validate the story being reported.
Most of the time, this has no consequence. The gossip is often true or so harmless that inaccuracies don’t matter. Sometimes, however, it really matters.
In Parliament, there are proposals being brought by some – funded by millionaire celebrities – to impose even more stringent controls on the press. Our local papers have asked me to oppose them and I am minded to do so because a free press is an essential part of our democracy. My only ask in return is that our local journalists don’t resort to the print first, apologise later tactic that is so endemic as editors apply pressure to keep pace with social media.