AN AUDIENCE ANALYSIS OF HOW THE YOUTH FACT-CHECK ‘FAKE NEWS’ CIRCULATED ON SOCIAL MEDIA IN OMBILI AND HOCHLAND PARK, NAMIBIA
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Date
2021-07
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NAMIBIA UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Abstract
The proliferation of "fake news” have massive implications, especially at the times of elections. People
who live in marginalised communities are the most exposed to fake news and least armed to decode
coordinated information campaigns (information disorders). As a result, it may affect the practice of
active citizenship by news consumers as their voting decisions may base on misconceptions. The net
effect of this is that, their voting behaviours are done on the basis of highly distorted information whereby
those who are most privileged are in a position to make voting decisions on the basis of truthful and
credible information. This study explored how the youth in Namibia fact-checked news and information
circulated on social media platforms during the 2019 electoral campaign. Firstly, it examined the major
forms or types of fake news produced in Namibia before, during and soon after the elections. Secondly,
it examined the criteria used by the youth in Ombili and Hochland Park to determine the truthfulness and
accuracy of news and information. Thirdly, it assessed the newsworthy factors that the youth in Ombili
and Hochland Park consider before sharing news on social media. This research employed virtual
ethnography, qualitative content analysis,to understand, and document the types of fake news produced,
and circulated in Namibia. Focus Groups Discussions (FGDs), and face-to-face interviews were then
employed to get a sense of how young people sift through fake news. Grounded in Hall’s Encoding and
Decoding model, fabricated contents, manipulated contents, misleading contents, conspiracy theories
and imposter contents were observed in 2019 elections. The study revealed that there was systematic
abuse of mainstream brands to spread information disorders to confuse and disorient voters. In addition,
these types of fake news were fueled by the poor coordination, and delays in communication from the
Electoral Commission. Most of the fake news were aimed at discrediting and casting aspersions on the
candidature of Dr Hage Geingob of the Swapo Party, and Dr Panduleni Itula, who was an Independent
Candidate at the time. This study found that young citizens’ ability to decode fake news is influenced by
the level of education, literacy skills, class differences and media exposure as pointed out by Hall’s theory.
Therefore, this study would add that availability of resources to fact check online news and information
and political affiliation are also key in fighting fake news. The study recommends that government should
ensure that its citizens have access to quality information through tasked institutions, to avoid
fabrications, and distribution of information disorders, and provide a room for media and digital literacy
campaigns in order to enhance skills of citizens of deconstructing coordinated information disorders,
especially on social media platforms. News consumers need to embrace the concept fact checking before
agreeing, and distributing information from social media as this would protect them from making
decisions that are based on misconceptions, which could affect others.
Description
Keywords
Youth, Fact-check, Social media, Fake news
Citation
Hangula, R. N. (2021). An audience analysis of how the youth fact-check ‘fake news’ circulated on social media in Ombili and Hochland park, Namibia [Master’s thesis, Namibia University of Science and Technology].