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Caroline Bast
Nisbett
EN 102
1/31/19

The Truth

Like any other person in today’s society, it is nearly impossible to refrain from being on

the internet. We use computers for basically everything; homework, surfing the web, online

shopping, and so much more. When we don’t have access to our computers, we are able to do

everything on our tiny touch screens without even a single wifi connection. Everyone is

constantly reading. Whether it is something on our technological devices, a sign that someone

may see while driving or walking, reading is unavoidable. However, how much of the stuff we

read is actually true?

In the article, “The current state of fake news: challenges and opportunities” both authors,

Álvaro Figueira and Luciana Oliveira, discuss the newly popular issue of the accuracy within

online articles and how much of what we read comes from a trustworthy source. After

immediately getting into the article, Figueira and Oliveira mention how detecting fake news is

extremely difficult to even those who would be considered advanced when it comes to

technology. Throughout the article, there are multiple examples on what to look out for when

detecting fake news including advice on how to fight back. Figueira and Oliveira effectively

persuade their audience to avoid fake news and how to detect the accuracy of sources through the

use of ethos, by providing multiple examples and quotes from outside websites. While pathos

and logos are prominent as well, their significance is not as prioritized as ethos, but both are still

used in effective ways to backup the author's message of knowing between fact and fiction.
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The use of ethos is prominent throughout this entire article as the authors clearly state the

authentic sources of where they got their research, facts, and information. For example, when

explaining a beneficial way to detect news that might not contain credible evidence. One major

thing that the readers are recommended to look out for is a website's URL and the ending that

goes along with it. When looking at the popular website, ABC, ​“the official URL of the station’s

website is abcnews.go.com and this type of fake news are available at the URL

abcnews.com.co.” (819). ​In this particular essay, ethos is used to persuade the audience, which is

the vast range of people who are constantly using the internet, but may not always be able to tell

the difference between what is real and fake, to be careful with what is read online and to check

the source carefully. Attentive reading gives those the best accuracy with news and information

that is constantly being released. The main introduction piece of this essay contains most of the

content where the appeal to ethos is found. Multiple accurate sources are cited including

Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee as well as Common Sense Media. Both sources

have conducted research about how easy it is to fool society with “propaganda and untruths,”

(819), as well as the confusion behind every piece of knowledge printed. It is clear that ​Figueira

and Oliveira have experience in this topic and made the main issue of detecting fake news their

main message to the audience.

Fake news, which is “​the prediction of the chances of a particular news article (news

report, editorial, expose, etc.) to be intentionally deceiving,” (818), is the first appeal to logos

found in the article. This direct definition allows the readers to obtain a better understanding on

the topic they have indulged themselves in. When working with technology and trying to detect

the credibility of a source, “it has been widely noticed that, in a network, rumors gradually
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acquire more credibility as more and more network neighbors acquire them,” (820). Therefore, if

today’s society continues to us our methods of just scanning words on a paper rather than

“adopting a posture of deep monitoring,” (819), then eventually, the only headlines that will be

shared universally are defaults as well as “propaganda and untruths,” (818).

While the appeal to pathos may be the most difficult one to look for considering this

essay is filled with facts and statistics, ironically, reading carefully will present pathos in less of

an obvious way. The authors make an important point to note that is it not ammature technology

users faults if they don’t know the difference between real and fake news. The audience are not

the ones who produce the information and instead, when they see a catchy headline the default is

to share,” (819). The third paragraph, which focuses on fighting back fake news, relates to pathos

because it gives the audience personal connections to this issue and gives them a way to display

their own stories on how this particular issue has affected them. Working together based on our

emotional state caused by how the amount of people being tricked daily into sharing something

that is not one hundred percent valid, could result in a major difference in what is and is not

released online to the public. Now, fortunately, “the necessary settings and resources to attack

this problem are available,” (284). Fake news is presented everywhere. For example, when in

line at the grocery store, people tend to look around and may come across a magazine headline

that might read something to get an immediate reaction out of the audience. Most of the time, it

is easy to tell how valid these articles are. However, the question of who lets this false

information out into the world still comes into play. With “the hardware to cope with big data,

[and] access to big data for training the algorithms,” (284) this issue has plans to gradually

decrease as more and more people become aware of the severity of it.
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Ultimately, the main message of this article is to not believe everything that is put on the

internet. Even those who may consider themselves tech savvy can still easily get confused by

manipulated information. As we start to become more aware of this newly popular issue, it is

important to figure out the credible resources before believing and copying the words that truly

never came out of someone’s mouth. Ethos, pathos, logos allow the readers and future audiences

to effectively interpret knowledge which will then lead to successful sharing of social media

news while steering clear of all things fake.

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Works Cited

Figueira, Álvaro, and Luciana Oliveira. “The Current State of Fake News: Challenges

and Opportunities.” ​ScienceDirect​, 2017,

ualearn.blackboard.com/bbcswebdav/pid-4108460-dt-content-rid-36655564_1/courses/12849.20

1910/The%20current%20state%20of%20fake%20news%20challenges%20and%20opportunities.

pdf.