As a journalist, I’m a media consumer by nature and get irked anytime I encounter blatant misinformation. There are consequences of genuinely fake news that risk trust in the media alongside its consumer’s health. However, I believe it’s important for us to be well-versed in political news, even when it’s false.

The concept of fake news became popularized around the 2016 election as major presidential candidates sought to bring awareness to media misinformation. Half of Americans actually trust the information they get from news and social media less than 12 months ago.

Even if you fact-check news you encounter, confirmation bias impacts everyone. If a piece of media supports a belief you already have, you’re likely to take this as confirmation of the stance being true — regardless of whether the news is actually supported by evidence.

For example, my own confirmation bias came into play while I was writing this article and looking for who is impacted by fake news. 

I often associate conspiracy theories with the far right due to historical affiliations. But people from both political extremes are shown to spread and take to unsubstantiated ideas. Liberal media also has a history of spreading conspiracy-laden claims with absolutely no supporting evidence.

This susceptibility is sneakier when it represents the statistics used to fact-check political media. 

Headlines can be true and misrepresent what the data actually is. The word “most” encompasses a huge range. Even at a level of 51%, “most people” is going to be much better in an attention-grabbing headline than “just over half.” Samples presented in misleading ways are representative of their context. 

For example, studies exist that allow me to technically make a claim like “Republicans are more susceptible to fake news than Democrats,” but this wouldn’t be a representative statement. The numbers actually show that both major political parties have similar levels of bias towards headlines corresponding with their own political beliefs.

Further, the battle against misinformation being spread is complicated by the rise of social media and the nature of mass-consumed content.

Platforms like TikTok have been shown to repeatedly feed misinformation to a young user base. When this encompasses political information, this can impact the lives of individuals. 

To combat this trend, the social media management company Meta introduced misinformation warnings in late 2019. Despite the effectiveness of these labels when placed properly, there are plenty of times it isn’t present.

It’s easy to explain the importance of misinformation exposure using a non-political example: the Tide Pod Challenge.

In 2017, youth began to bite into Tide’s laundry pods for a social media trend that encouraged the practice and ignored the dangers. The detergent inside these pods is toxic, causing children to be hospitalized when it is consumed. 

Awareness of the challenge allowed society to respond appropriately to the misleading health narratives associated with it, enabling parents to have educational conversations and prevent tragedy. A crackdown on the challenge also increased social awareness of the danger of consuming laundry detergent in general.

As a society, we have a responsibility to take a similar approach to fake news.

Since everyone is susceptible to misleading media and it’s not going away anytime soon, we have a responsibility to understand it and address it. 

I don’t mean people should start pointless fights for a rage-bait comment section under a social media post. Your time is more valuable than that.

Instead, don’t avoid news sources from political extremes you know to be biased. If someone’s exposed to an entirely different angle than you on an issue, their definitions and stances could literally be based on different information. Learn what types of information people are receiving to begin productive conversations.

As a journalist, I believe the news needs to hold itself more accountable when discussing biased stances. And as a media consumer, I believe I have an obligation to be aware of what misinformation is getting spread.

Exposure to all kinds of news is important for developing critical perspectives. A deeper look into these narratives will allow for a better direct response, tackling root issues where a need for actual, specific education is necessary. It takes actually understanding what people are being exposed to in order to develop appropriate responses.