Christrex L.

Capuno 12 – Skillful

Penalization for Spreading Fake News

News is defined as “noteworthy information about recent or important events”

and it is typically broadcasted through social media, radio, newspapers, and on
television. We can all agree that there are a lot of news that are being shared out there
every single day, but sadly, there are also fake news that are being distributed daily.
Fake news is described as “news that is filled mostly with opinions and false
statements” or “stories that aren’t true or aren’t 100 percent accurate” (Murphy, M.
2017). Media companies can’t filter out all of these fake news because there are just so
many of them, that’s why there are some that get through. Some are believable enough,
that’s why it easily passes through. There are a lot of media companies nowadays and
we are not sure where to get real information and what media company to trust. Some
media companies publish or broadcast fake news just to divide people and create
chaos. I don’t know why they would do such a thing, maybe they just want to watch the
world burn.

Should the media company be held accountable for damages caused by them
broadcasting fake news? Of course, not only the media company but also the source of
the fake news itself. They should have done their research first before believing and
actually publishing/sharing the fake news. It is a company after all, which means that it
is a big organization and there are a lot of people who are working in it. It should go
through a lot of people first and each person should research if the news given to them
is actually valid and 100 percent accurate before passing it onto another person. It
depends on the people who are actually working in the media company if the news that
was broadcasted was actually legit. There are a lot of people who depend on media
companies for news because where else would we get our news? If we get it from a
single person, we would automatically think that it’s not reliable enough because it’s
only from one source. But when we get the news from a news company, we would
assume that it is legit because it is a news company. We would jump to the conclusion
that they did their thorough research and they wouldn’t broadcasted it if it wasn’t true
and accurate.

Should they receive punishment for the damage that they caused? Yes, they
should. There is already an act that is known as “Anti-Fake News Act of 2017” and it is
listed there the punishments and fines that the person shall receive. They shall receive
a fine that ranges from one hundred thousand pesos to five million pesos and
imprisonment ranging from one to five years. They should also remove the fake news
within a reasonable amount of time or they will be fined ten million to twenty million
pesos and imprisonment ranging from ten to twenty years.

Although, I think that imprisonment is too serious of a punishment for spreading

fake news. I think that they should just pay the said fine and maybe take away their
credentials and shut down their company temporarily or permanently depending on the
degree of offense. Some people publish fake news by mistake because first of all, we’re
only humans and we make mistakes in our everyday lives but sadly, that’s not going to
hold up in court. Second, some fake news are actually believable and some of them are
supported by more fake news. Most of them can actually hide in plain sight and some of
them are supported by famous and well-known people so how will we see the
difference? We can’t if we don’t do our research first.

I support the fact that we should punish people who spread fake news because
we deserve to know the truth and the truth only. Not only should the source be
punished, but also the one who published/broadcasted the said news A.K.A the media
companies. Some people make mistakes but some people are doing it on purpose to
create confusion and chaos. There is nothing wrong with diversity, as long as the sides
are both valid and not filled with fake statements and such. People should also be
careful what to believe in, they should research first what they want to believe in and if it
really is reliable and safe.

Sources:

https://www.senate.gov.ph/lisdata/2624822593!.pdf

https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/fake-news.htm