Combating Fake News through Digital Media Literacy: Study on Digital Media Users of Bhopal City of India
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Abstract
Dissemination of fake news with fast pace through various digital media platforms is growing concern among policymakers, journalists, educators and digital media users worldwide. Some scholars believe that glaring example of U.S. presidential election of 2016 depicts, that Trump’s victory was a weak political decision made by the American voters under the influence of fake news which confused American voters. Some are concerned that Trump’s extravagantly untruthful assertions on digital media platforms also initiated a serious discussion on ‘post-truth era’. Trump’s victory was also a result of fake news impact. Researchers observed that Pakistan deliberately uses fake news in a propaganda war against India. Several morphed photos and fake videos started floating on social media after dilution of Article 370 and 35A in Jammu and Kashmir. On one hand, several cases of mob lynching were identified in India due to dissemination of fake news while on the other hand several mob lynching cases were also found fake. Fake news has created a lot of confusion. Researchers selected this topic for their research as fake news has been identified as a new challenge and threat to society. Aim of the study was to find out how Indian digital media users identify fake news and level of cyber wellness among them to use digital media platforms efficiently. Data was obtained through a close-ended questionnaire from n=109 respondents using descriptive research design. Data has been organized and analyzed on SPSS using percentage and frequency distribution. Result of this study shows that fake news not only pose threat to trust in society but has also decreased trustworthiness on media. Even though social media has been identified as the main source of fake news dissemination still a majority of respondents use social media as a tool for getting information. Majority of respondents agreed that digital media literacy is direly needed to combat fake news.