Does fake news mislead the public?

Over the past weekend we were assigned a reading on an issue questioning whether or not fake news misleads the public. Julia R. Fox, Glory Koloen, and Volkan Sahin examined the political coverage of the first presidential debate and the political convention on The Daily Show and on network nightly newscasts. Their study found that the two newscasts either has more hype or humor than the substance. To compare to that study, Barry Hollander examined the learning from comedy and late-night programs. He used a national survey to examine whether exposure to comedy and late-night programs actually inform viewers, focusing on recall and recognition. Some support is found for the prediction that the consumption of such programs is more associated with recognition of information.

I found this issue so interesting in the sense that in this age of the internet, the simple descriptions of news are no longer accurate. The shifting trends in media usage see young voters turning to comedic sources for information, rather than traditional media. This new age of the internet has completely changed our society, in terms of the way we view things, the information we receive, etc.

I personally am torn between fake news misleading the public and not. I think it is important that the younger generations have found an interest in some form of media to gather information. Although, there are studies on fake news having more hype, it at least keeps the viewers entertained, and wanted to keep watching for more information.
But on the other hand, traditional newscasts are more straight and to the point, unlike fake news. Instead of focusing on the important message and information, fake news manipulates and dumbfounds the point of discussion.