Traditional Media
On April 18, Sport Lisboa e Benfica played Eintrack Frankfurt in the quarter-finals of the Europa League. On that occasion, two fans from the club traveled by car to the German city to support their club. However, the only problem was that they got the wrong city. The name was exactly the same (Frankfurt), but it turns out that there are two cities with that name in Germany.
The story quickly went viral and the traditional media were quick to make news with this curious story, to say the least. The only problem with this whole process is that, after all, it was all just an act. After all, the two Benfica fans had been hired by the magazine “11 freud” and the whole story was, as one of the fans said on his Instagram, “just a job”.
In addition to the comical aspect of this whole storyline, it also demonstrates how easily the so-called traditional media can be fooled. Admittedly, in this case, it's not an issue with serious implications, but doesn't this sort of thing happen when the subject matter is different?
The truth is that journalists today don't have the time to check the veracity of the information they are given. We can also argue that in the example we mentioned, the story was very well staged. However, what if the same thing happened, for example, with Brexit? Or in the Spanish elections last weekend?
It is difficult to reach any conclusions on this subject and we can always say that the fake news have been around for some time and that it's all a matter of perception. But is that really the case, or are we looking at a problem of information verification with more serious implications?