Real news reaching absurd levels has had the effect of raising the bar for fake news. For fake news to stand out, it has to reach the stars
Real news reaching absurd levels has had the effect of raising the bar for fake news. For fake news to stand out, it has to reach the stars
My friend wished me “good morning” via text a few days back. I immediately fact checked his message. It has now become my conditional response to everything I get on WhatsApp. Whatever be the message, I feel the need to check its validity before responding. Whether a casual greeting, a cricket update, a polite inquiry about my health, or an invitation to dinner, my immediate response is “probably fake.”
While some might assume that this is due to the massive spread of fake news on social media, I beg to differ. On the contrary, I believe the primary reason is that it has become nearly impossible to identify real, genuine news these days. In fact, it has become so difficult that even editors of mainstream newspapers seem to struggle with it, even if one assumes it will be their primary skill. Every morning, my news feed gives equal importance to the war in Ukraine, some tweets exchanged between Irfan Pathan and Amit Mishra, the economic collapse of Sri Lanka, the events of the latest episode lock up, Possibility of a fourth COVID 19 wave in India, Riots in New Delhi, and How good Mouni Roy is looking in a lehenga. I suspect some of these are more important than others, but it’s hard to tell now.
This is why people are so ready to believe anything they read online, especially on WhatsApp. “India offers to assimilate Sri Lanka”, “Penguin rescues puppy from ninjas”, “Nirmala Sitharaman moves to China for talks”, and “Modi beat Putin in 3 hours” dawn of war II Multiplayer Battles” will all be read, believed and forwarded to with world-class naivete and an almost charmingly reckless disregard for common sense.
The news channels on television have, in fact, turned this blurriness of lies (er… lines. Sorry.) into high art. It’s bad enough that most news channels argue remarkably like a fiery three-way Warhammer fight between Adeptus Astartes, an orc Warboss and a Tyranid swarm, but when the screen overlays together it informs us that things make sense. What gets really tough is that petrol prices are at an unprecedented high, BYJU is now offering live tuition, and Ajay Devgn has a new film coming out in July.
In fact, real news reaching such levels of absurdity has had the effect of raising the bar for fake news. For fake news to really stand out these days, it really has to reach the stars. “The man bites the dog” or “Rishabh Pant plays a technically strong defensive stroke” will no longer work. we need more. “Yogi Adityanath Changes His Name To Chapter Master Gabriel Angelos, Recommends Translating Entire Black Library Catalog Into Sanskrit”. “Jawaharlal Nehru rose from the grave to revive the fortunes of the Congress Party”. “Big Bollywood stars admit ignorance, refuse to comment on budget”. that sort of thing.
I’m actually of the opinion that we should stop calling real news completely real. Maybe we can call it “Fake Fake News”. Or maybe “poor’s fake news”. Or “alternative fake news”. This would at least then absolve the news media from the responsibility of ensuring that the news they publish is relevant, important or true, and move on with the more important task of ensuring that it is entertaining. Is. And complete the blissful cycle of irony where we can treat news channels as entertainment, and movies like k files Gospel as truth.
Anand Ramachandran is a Chennai-based writer and game designer who loves to play games with his writings.