Fake news is all around us. Quite honestly, it has been around for a long time, even before technology. If you think about it, in the olden days, such as the classical era, there were no newspapers or any modes of communication, the only way information spread was through each other. I’m not saying that it was impossible for the rumor to be misinterpreted by accident, but who knows if old miss Leonarda in the corner house didn’t add a few extra spices in the story to make it juicy before she passed it on. Some people call it exaggeration others call it manipulation of the truth, whatever it is to you, fake news has somehow worked its way into our popular culture.
During the 1890s, there was a lot of yellow journalism going on, specifically during the Spanish-American war. Spanish and the states were under a lot of tension for many reasons, one being over Cuba becoming an independent country, another being that Americans were craving war. The Spanish conceded and gave the Americans everything they wanted, such as independence to Cuba, paying Cuban debt and many more. However, that was not enough for the Americans because they were craving war. During this period of tension, one of the American ships exploded, everyone immediately began blaming the Spanish. Every major newspaper headlined that this was the “Work of the enemy” the enemy being Spain. This was quite contrary to the evidence because it pointed to the fact that the explosion was due to internal problems and that it was the capstan's fault. However, Americans liked the sound of the fake news because it gave them an excuse to declare war. This shows how impactful fake news can be, it gave an excuse to declare war which resulted in many casualties and made history. The little alterations in diction or tweaking up the cited evidence and statements of witnesses can somehow deeply alter the public's perception of an issue which can result in drastic effects.
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