POPE CALLS OUT PURVEYORS OF FAKE NEWS: SAYS THEY ARE SNAKES

Fake news is a sign of intolerant and hypersensitive attitudes, and leads only to the spread of arrogance and hatred. That is the end result of untruth. Spreading fake news can serve to advance specific goals, influence political decisions, and serve economic interests. 

This false but believable news is ‘captious’, inasmuch as it grasps people’s attention by appealing to stereotypes and common social prejudices and exploiting instantaneous emotions like anxiety, contempt, anger and frustration. 

False stories spread so quickly that even authoritative denials often could not contain the damage done and many people run the risk of becoming “unwilling accomplices in spreading biased and baseless ideas. There is need for “education for truth” that would help people discern, evaluate and understand news in order to recognize the “sly and dangerous form of seduction that worms its way into the heart with false and alluring arguments. 

Fake news is like the Bible story of the devil, who, disguised as a serpent, persuaded Eve to eat the fruit of the forbidden tree. She was fed wrong information by Satan. She was given  a fake news that the fruit would make her and Adam as all-knowing as God. We need to unmask what could be called the ‘snake-tactics’ used by those (purveyors of fake news) who disguise themselves as journalists in order to strike at any time and place. 

The role of journalists was “not just a job, it is a mission” and they had particular responsibility to stem fake news. Amid feeding frenzies and the mad rush for a scoop, they must remember that the heart of information is not the speed with which it is reported or its audience impact, but persons. Journalism should be “less concentrated on breaking news than on exploring the underlying causes of conflicts ...a journalism committed to pointing out alternatives to the escalation of shouting matches and verbal violence. - Culled from Papal document on Fake News:- The truth will set you free - fake news and journalism for peace."

ICHEOKU says this certainly touches and concerns the known purveyor of Fake News in chief, CNN. Hopefully they will do some introspection, change and mend their ways, after reading this papal opinion aka admonition of what they do to falsely mislead the gullible. Yes, fake news is damaging indeed.