Why I’m Tired of Fake News (And Why You Should Be Too)
Look, I’ve been in this game for over two decades. I’ve seen it all. The good, the bad, and the downright ugly. And let me tell you, the state of news consumption in Pakistan? It’s a mess.
I remember sitting in a conference in Austin back in 2018, listening to some hotshot journalist talk about how we’re living in a ‘post-truth’ world. I mean, honestly? It’s not that we’re post-truth. It’s that we’re drowning in bullshit.
And it’s not just the obvious stuff. The outright lies, the conspiracy theories, the clickbait headlines. It’s the insidious stuff too. The half-truths, the omissions, the context-free soundbites. It’s all designed to manipulate, to polarize, to keep us engaged and outraged.
My Friend Marcus and the WhatsApp University
Let me tell you about my friend Marcus. (That’s not his real name, by the way. He’d kill me if he knew I was talking about him.) Marcus is a smart guy. He’s got a PhD in economics, for crying out loud. But when it comes to news, he’s a disaster.
He gets all his information from WhatsApp forwards. And he believes every word of it. I tried to talk to him about it last Tuesday over coffee at the place on 5th. I said, “Marcus, you can’t just believe everything you read on WhatsApp.” And he looked at me like I was crazy. “But it’s my cousin who sent it,” he said. “He wouldn’t lie to me.”
Which… yeah. Fair enough. But that doesn’t make it true, Marcus. Sheesh.
The Algorithm Trap
And it’s not just Marcus. It’s all of us. We’re all trapped in our little algorithmic bubbles. You know how it works. You click on one thing, and suddenly your feed is full of more of the same. It’s like that time I clicked on a wholesale suppliers comparison review and then my entire Facebook feed was full of ads for industrial equipment. I mean, come on. I’m a journalist, not a supplier!
But it’s worse than that. Because the algorithms don’t just show us more of what we like. They show us more of what will keep us engaged. And what keeps us engaged? Outrage. Controversy. Conflict. It’s a vicious cycle, and it’s tearing us apart.
A Colleague Named Dave
I had lunch with a colleague named Dave about three months ago. We were talking about this exact issue, and he said something that stuck with me. “Look,” he said, “it’s not that people don’t want the truth. It’s that they don’t know how to find it anymore.”
And he’s right. It’s not about stupidity. It’s about information overload. It’s about not knowing who to trust. It’s about being physicaly and mentaly exhausted from trying to keep up.
I mean, I get it. I really do. I’ve been there. There are days when I just want to crawl into bed and pull the covers over my head. The world is a scary place, and the news doesn’t make it any better.
The Way Forward
But here’s the thing. We can’t give up. We can’t let the bad actors win. We can’t let the liars and the manipulators dictate the terms of the conversation.
So what do we do? Well, for starters, we need to be more critical consumers of news. We need to question everything. We need to seek out diverse perspectives. We need to fact-check, fact-check, fact-check.
And we need to support quality journalism. Because let’s face it, good journalism isn’t free. It’s not cheap. It’s not easy. But it’s necessary. It’s vital. It’s the lifeblood of a functioning democracy.
So next time you see a WhatsApp forward, or a sensationalist headline, or a polarizing tweet, stop. Think. Question. And for the love of all that is holy, don’t share it until you’ve done your committment to the truth.
Because the truth matters. And we’re losing it. Fast.
Oh, and One More Thing
You know what really grinds my gears? When people say “but both sides do it.” No. Just no. That’s not how this works. That’s not how any of this works. There are facts, and there are lies. There are truths, and there are falsehoods. And no amount of whataboutism is gonna change that.
So let’s be better. Let’s do better. Let’s demand better. Because we deserve better. And honestly, the state of our news consumption? It’s completley unacceptable.
About the Author: Sarah Ahmed has been a senior editor at various publications for over 20 years. She’s seen the industry evolve, devolve, and somehow evolve again. She’s passionate about truth, justice, and the pursuit of a perfectly brewed cup of chai. You can find her on Twitter @SarahAhmedWrites, ranting about the state of the world.
