The media environment is changing because of digitalization and social media platforms, where the news is increasingly being consumed. Because the Report of the independent High-level Expert Group (HLEG) on Fake News and Online Disinformation from 2018 concludes, the new ways disinformation is being produced, circulated, and amplified on digital platforms remains poorly mapped and understood. In step with the identical survey, internet users were less likely to create checks on the factual information they find online in 2020 than two years earlier. In 2020, 29% didn’t make any checks on the data they found, up from 23% in 2018.
Digitalization and therefore the rise of social media cannot alone be held chargeable for the shifting media landscape, but they’re strongly linked to several of its changes. More and more people within the world have access to a web connection – in step with Statista, in January 2021 there have been already 4.66 billion active internet users worldwide, accounting for 59.5 percent of the world population. anybody of those people can become a publisher just by retweeting, sharing a meme, or writing a fast blog post. Simultaneously, the number of data and content being distributed and consumed online has exploded.
On the opposite hand, with modern technology allowing more sophisticated styles of distortion of what’s published, mis- and disinformation can even spread faster and wider than ever before. News organizations, long recognized for his or her credibility, must compete with a large type of free sources of data that may not adhere to traditional standards of quality journalism.
Globally, traditional print media has seen their profits disappear, and reductions in revenues have led to cutbacks within the workforce. This creates a cycle that may perpetuate the weakening role of traditional news journalism. Additionally, thanks to algorithms, uproar, exaggeration, or confrontation gain significantly more visibility on social media than the so-called plain duller news,” says journalist Hanna Visala.