7A- Testing the Hypothesis

1)

The opportunity I would like to pursue is regarding the credibility of news in the modern era.

2)

News around the world, but more specifically the United States, is often skewed, exaggerated, or even made up, and people around the world suffer from receiving and believing fake news that pursues a certain agenda, is designed to create division, or simply meant to mislead and misinform.

3)

The Who:
     There are many people in the United States who share this need for the elimination of fake news on the internet. Mainly citizens who use the internet as the main way of acquiring news, as well as businesses, people, or different things, that the fake news affects.
The What:
      There are many news sources and news pieces that provide accurate, viable, and legitimate news and news stories, so not all online news sources are completely false and misinforming their audiences.
The Why:
       The need for honest and ethical media reporting is something that has been long debated throughout mankind's history. There are laws that prevent such unethical reporting, such as laws prohibiting libel and slander, and even though the first amendment provide the defense of free speech, libel and slander which are all qualified under misinformation are illegal in the United States. Many blame the rise of fake news on the dominance of social media and news outlets that target social media users and are highly publicized but contain no viable news. I believe there needs to be a filter for what exactly is deemed news and what is deemed an ad or an opinion.

4)

Interview 1:
     I interviewed my father, Martin Mercado, who is an active citizen of the United States and works as a project manager, and reads the news via all platforms. I asked him about the problem of fake news and whether he thinks it is an issue in todays world. He was very aware of what exactly fake news was, and what it entailed, but he did not say that he himself had ever read or believed an article that he read or saw that entailed fake news. I asked where he most commonly sees these made up stories and he replied that in his daily usage of Facebook, many times he sees advertisements that post as news stories. Lastly, I asked if he feels like there is a need for a system that alerts news readers and media users as to which posts contain opinions and misinformation and he proceeded to agree that such a concept and opportunity needs to exist because more and more of todays youth is believing and being misinformed.

Interview 2:
    I interviewed one of my friends who attends UF, Lucas Irimia, and is majoring in biomedical science and is a freshman. I asked about the problem of fake news, and oddly enough he was not very informed of what exactly the entire entity of fake news entailed, and believed it to be a myth but was intrigued when I began interviewing him about the issue. When asked about whether or not he has seen fake news and where he believes it is prevalent, he began to mention how when he uses instagram and twitter, he sees posts by accounts and advertisements that are formatted and framed to be news stories about World News, Politicians, Celebrities, Global Issues, etc. and reads these posts and simply believes they are news because of their appearance of being credible, without really taking into account the source and the information. Lastly, when asked about if he thinks there should be an immediate solution to this issue he proceeded to say that if there is an issue there needs to be a solution.

Interview 3: 
    For this interview I chose to interview my older brother's girlfriend Laura, who is a college student and works part time at a chiropractic office. When asked about her opinion on the problem of fake news, she was very aware of the problem of fake news, but proceeded to explain that she did not believe in the issue of "fake news" being a true problem and thought it was something that Donald Trump created to attack news outlets who publish stories that criticize him. I asked about where she saw fake news prevalent, and made it clear that I was not referring to the news that President Trump is referencing to, but was referring to social media news and advertisements that pose as news media outlets and reported news and she mentioned that she sees posts on twitter and instagram but does not pay any mind to them. Lastly, when asked if there should be an immediate solution she said that the problem is not as prominent in her opinion, and that the problem of fake news is not very dominant in today's culture.

Interview 4:
   I interviewed my roommate Armando, who is a 20 year old political science major at UF and very avidly participates in politics and watches and reads the news daily. He was very passionate about the subject, and immediately began speaking on how prominent of an issue the misinformation of American people is i todays society. He believes that fake news is an attack on the ignorance of American people, since they do not know any better than to get their news from outlets they use everyday. He states that although social media does provide a great deal of communication to people throughout the world, it is not a very reliable resource for receiving news. He believes that a solution to this issue comes from a culmination of education American people and awareness of citizens as well as computer programs and softwares that can fish out news articles that are phony and misleading.

Interview 5: 
    The last interview I conducted was on a complete stranger I met at a Starbucks in the library on campus. This student's name was Morgan, and she was a Junior studying finance. When asked about fake news, she was very aware of what exactly fake news was, and what it entailed, but he did not say that he himself had ever read or believed an article that he read or saw that entailed fake news.but continued to say that she may be able to identify a fake news article if she saw one. When i showed her an example on facebook, she told me that she had seen many articles of that nature and was always skeptical of their nature. She believes there should be an immediate end to these articles and other misinformation that is provided by these articles.


5)
It is clear after these interviews and analyzing the opportunity of a Fake News Identifier and Filter  that this would be a very useful opportunity. The general consensus is that it is a problem that people very much are aware of and believe that there should be a solution to this issue.