Fake news should be a serious topic in the political economy of communication because it brings into sharp relief a critique of the news industry and journalism from a critical theory perspective.

—  A Handbook for Media Literacy and Citizen Journalism

What  are the risks for public figure or person in a position of trust?

As a public audience in social media, people need to distinguish between fake news and truth, because the article “A Handbook for Media Literacy and Citizen Journalism” states that fake news has the advantage of a focus on unequal power relations in the field of communication (news and journalism). In the media ecosphere, fake news exists period-specific. In addition, fake news is no doubt at the heart of a profoundly political debate in the North America.

How would people address negative replies and critiques reflective of your personal values and employer social media policy?

In social media, negative replies and critiques reflective are the most common thing in the public topic. In my opinion, those have two different categories to distinguish:

    • truth or objective comment
    • emotional reflective or “cyber-bulling”

When the blogger or people who use social media to express their idea always need to face hard words or criticism, they may care about those words which affect their mood.

In my opinion, as for public audiences, they need to read and comment rational, even though some audiences “enjoy” to comment with hard words; as for authors or publisher, they need to analyze and treat negative replies and critiques reflective. Due to culture, education background, world outlook, view of life and values, people would have different observations. The publishers should absorb the essence and discard the dross, after all it is said that there are a thousand Hamlets in the eyes of a thousand people.

How do notable individuals use social media?

The individuals as celebrity, educator, lawyer, politicians and government officials need to pay attention to their manner of speaking, because they do not represent themselves only, but also the public. Normally, they have professionals to evaluate and analyze their words and expression.

It does have benefits of being those kind of people who are mentioned above. In some ways, they can lead the trend of the world, also can bring some effect to the public. That is why the celebrity cachet is applicable to the current era of technology and science.

Reference:

Navigating Social Journalism: A Handbook for Media Literacy and Citizen Journalism by Martin Hirst Chapter 4. The Political Economy of Fake News – pp.78 http://ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/login?url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781315401263