Acoording to Brian Douglas Williams an American journalist at NBC

Acoording to Brian Douglas Williams. an American journalist at NBC News, he commented that truth is always secondary to the spectacle,especially in media.

lbIllustrative anecdote? Recently , I read that chinese censors are working hard to erase or block news of the Hong Kong protests on social media and search platforms amid a surge in interest from mainland internet users.Reports and images of clashes this week between Hong Kong police and demonstrators protesting against an extradition law with mainland China have circulated world wide.

At the same time, Beijing has been working to keep the news away from people on the mainland or at least filter the content.Albeit the Western powers support for the fight for democracy,

China publicise these protests as a unlawful and violent riot for the citizens to condemn Hong Kong citizens' actions.Beijing has further tightened censorship in a wider "rectification" effort that has ensnared foreign media websites and thousands of domestic news accounts on social media.

Get quality help now

writer-Charlotte

Verified writer

Proficient in: America

4.7 (348)

“ Amazing as always, gave her a week to finish a big assignment and came through way ahead of time. ”

+84 relevant experts are online

Hire writer

Startling fact?According to Niklas Luhmann ,a German sociologist, philosopher of social science was very clear that in his view mass media do not lie on purpose. In fact he would disappoint most conspiracy theories. Finding new facts is hard work and isn't predictable. Therefore, if there is a need to deliver news on a regular basis, inventing them is a pretty reliable way to come up with new stuff.If you want to get attention, only few things beat a blatant lie. In fact, the simpler, cruder and more obvious a lie is, the more people engage emotionally.

Furthermore, after this lie is told ,there may be many things for the media to connect to, denial, different positions, comments the list is endless.

Problem?The problem may be that the difference between truth and lies is not essential for mass media unlike for instance in scientific systems, where verification is vital. The existence of a mass medium is not based on truth, it is based on attention.

Shared context? There is a shared consensus that fake news are becoming more prevelant in our society. This is either due to media company boosting their sales or receiving false information. This may be especially true when politics come into the picture. For example, when Donald trump, the US President made his trip to Japan, he met his Japan counterpart Shinzo Abe, the Japan Prime Minister.A photograph showing President Donald Trump dumping a box of fish food into a koi pond at the Akasaka Palace in Japan it was frequently shared with messages stating that Trump's decision to empty his box of fish food into the pond was somehow rude, rash, or disrespectful, that he was ignoring Japanese customs, or that he was somehow putting these fish in danger by overfeeding them. These egregious accusations ommitted that Trump was