The Truth Never Stands in the Way of a Good Story: The Distortion of Stories in the Service of Entertainment

Can we really say what type of story has impact on us, and what type of story does not? Evidence suggests that we can. But we need to better understand the way that stories work on us, at a neural and empathetic level, and better understand the ways that the elements of stories, such as structure and metaphor work. By combining scientific research with the deeper wisdom of traditional storytelling we have both a deep knowledge married to scientific evidence — which can be very powerful tools for science communicators.

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Is “Letting the Truth Get in the Way of a Good Story” Enough? Journalists’ Perception on Fake News

Journal of Media Research ◽

10.24193/jmr.41.4 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (3 (41)) ◽

pp. 63-79

Author(s):

Elena-Alexandra DUMITRU ◽

Keyword(s):

New Media ◽

Time Pressure ◽

Point Of View ◽

Fake News ◽

Traditional Media ◽

East European ◽

Good Story ◽

The Media ◽

Fact Checking ◽

The Way

While numerous scholars have studied the role media has in the fake news phenomenon, journalists’ perception on disinformation has been insufficiently approached, and only from a US and West-European point of view. Based on interviews with eight traditional media and new media professionals, this study seeks to add to the understanding of the way journalists from an East-European country see fake news in an environment influenced by time pressure and external immixture in the media. The findings show that even though all interviewed journalists place great value on fact-checking, they happened to publish information that later was demonstrated to not be trustworthy. While journalists perceive disinformation in a deeply negative manner, many of the things that add to the spread of fake news cannot be controlled by journalists as a part.

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