News and Online Content in the Fight Against Fake News

the effects of media on political knowledge have been an interest for many scholars (e.g. Cho & McLeod, 2007; Roberts, 2000; Shah, Kwak & Schmierbach, 2000). Political participation, which is a reflection of political knowledge, is a cornerstone for democracy (Mayer, 2011). Prior to the internet, citizens formed their political opinions and based democratic decisions primarily on information provided by the conventional media (newspaper, radio and television news). The emergence of new media and communication technologies empowers citizens not only to read information, but to produce content as well (Melkote & Steeves, 2014). This new function in the media has led to mass amounts of information, some of which is accurate and some of which is not. These new outlets do not undermine the importance of traditional media, they offer ways for consumers to expand the communication range (Woodly, 2008). Of specific interest to this paper is the new media as an alternative to conventional media. Some scholars have criticized the epistemological merits of the new media on grounds that it reduces accuracy of public opinion (Goldman, 2008) while others have argued that it does not have this effect but may actually improve accuracy of public opinion (Coady, 2011). This paper focuses on David Coady’s argument in his article “An Epistemic Defense of the Blogosphere. As we will see, the main flaw in David Coady’s case is that his central arguments are drawn through examining the collective content of the new media versus the collective content of the conventional media. This article argues that the collective contents tell us almost nothing about whether the internet actually improves the accuracy of public opinion. This article also argues that the virtues of the new media depend on the conventional media, so any value brought forth by it can be traced back to conventional media. Therefore, as the new media grows and the conventional media shrinks, much of the value of the internet diminishes. Ultimately this will lead to a less informed public. Filtering and Virtuous News Goldman (2008) emphasizes the importance of filtering the news. Filtering involves a gatekeeper, which is a third party that decides what information will be published and which will not. The filtering process, that Goldman (2008) emphasizes, is important in order to promote more accurate public knowledge. Goldman (2008) argues that the new media is unfiltered, which threatens the accuracy of public knowledge. His view on news and information is that conventional media is necessary in order for the public to make informed decisions: It is the responsibility of reporters and editors to seek and publish the truth about matters of state 655 Mohammad Hatim Abuljadail