Mass Media and Challenges of Fake News

a Focus on Security in Nigeria.

Abstract

Mass media are the conventional media of mass communication before the emergency of the new media. The conventional media are empowered and are regarded as the members of fourth estate of the realm whose work among others is to keep the people abreast of information, providing clues on security matters and divulging information leading to insecurity in the country. Since the dream of marshall Mcluhan came through in the late 20th century, the globe has been hit with many positive technological transitions which have transformed society in virtually every facets of human life. The product of the dream (new media technology or Internet) has conquered  the barrier of time and space or distance in Communication. However, the indiscriminate use of the new media over time due to divergent interest in many quarters, becomes the brainchild of fake news in contemporary society. In Nigeria, fake news has added to the current challenges of insecurity, leading to the series of social unrest and tensions – violence, conflict and crisis of different categories. Employing a Library research technique( qualitative research design), secondary data was used in the data collection for the study.  The researcher utilized four theories for the research: Conspiracy theory, Inoculation theory, Media literacy theory and Social responsibility theory, forming the theoretical framework to guide the study. This paper finally calls on all the stakeholders; every individual and government to put all hands on deck to nip the distribution of fake news in the bud.