Social Media Case 3: Tom Petty’s “Death” and Death (2017)

Tom Petty's "Death" launched confusion across the country. The internet is a space where anyone can share their opinion on anything and if we trust the wrong sources we can be led astray. The biggest confusion surrounding Petty's death was because people trusted the sources who were sharing the news. It is important for us to not only find credible sources, but to check several platforms to find accurate information. There are many ways to tell if a source is credible. Such as, checking the date, author, layout of website, the website's accuracy in the past, etc. When "credible" sources share fake news, they lose a lot of trust from the consumer and that can be difficult to come back from.

Especially now, us consumers need to be aware of the effects of fake news. Currently, news source's integrity is being questioned and consumers don't want to be persuaded by fake news. This has forced journalists to work even harder to stay objective. Therefore, we live in a time where fake news is at an all time high, while some of the top journalists are writing. It's hard to navigate who is good at deception and who is being an effective and ethical journalist. The reason why fake news is so dangerous is because it usually spreads fast. Something like Tom Petty’s “death” created a lot of emotion across the country, but imagine if the fake news was something that impacted individuals, like a fake missile crisis. It is the media’s job to inform the people, so when that is compromised by false information, trust is lost from the consumer. It is our job as consumers to follow credible news sources, not just sources that mirror what we want to hear. Furthermore, we must check several sources, especially when our opinions are being swayed. The media isn’t perfect, so we must educate ourselves.

Comments

  1. chad.artistFebruary 7, 2018 at 3:49 PM

    I agree that when things like this happen the company loses a lot of trust in customers which can be a big issue. great job!

    ReplyDelete
  2. SammyFebruary 7, 2018 at 7:06 PM

    I completely agree with you that it’s important to check multiple sources to receive the most accurate information. I also like how you said the media isn’t perfect and the Tom Petty case is a great example of that.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Emily HeatonFebruary 8, 2018 at 10:00 PM

    I agree that we need to be critical of the information we take in, but this case seems a little different to me because the sources honestly seemed pretty credible. I mean, it was based on a LAPD report! But, if people had checked more than one source, it probably wouldn't have spread like it did.

    ReplyDelete

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