FAKE NEWS HAS GONE INTERNATIONAL!

The issue of fake news is getting out of hand. Unlike before, when fake news had boundaries, it has now gone international. Reporters are writing news not only about their countries but about other countries as well, which turns out to be 'false'. Is their purpose to make money out of it like the yellow journalists do? Certainly not! To them, they are reporting based mostly on information available to them, which might not be true all the time and this makes the news fake.

Amnesty International, a non-governmental global organization that seeks to protect human rights and justice, on February 7, 2017 said in a report that the Syrian authorities were killing thousands of people allegedly 13,000 at Saydnaya Military Prison since 2011 through murder, torture, enforced disappearance and extermination as an attack against the civilian population. The Amnesty International, therefore, called for urgent investigation into the crime.

Photo Credit; Business Insider 

In an interview between the Syrian President Bashar Assad and Yahoo news's Michael Issikoff,Assad said that the Amnesty International had not been to Syria and that they are basing their report on alleged information from former prisoners, guards and judges, among other officials. 

 "We are living in an era of fake news and that it is a shame for Amnesty International to publish a report without a shred of evidence". Says Assad.

The Amnesty International published a 48-page document showing the research conducted to bring out this alarming information. In the methodology section, the amnesty admitted it had no physical evidence whatsoever to substantiate what were admittedly only the testimony of alleged inmates and former workers at the prison, as well as figures within Syria’s opposition.

The Amnesty International had been barred by the Syrian authorities from carrying out research in Syria and so did not have access to the prison neither did the witnesses interviewed. The photographs taken were from an outer space using satellite imagery. The only other photos included in the report were of three men who allege they lost weight while imprisoned and a photo of one of eight alleged death certificates provided to family members of detainees who died at Saydnaya. The alleged certificates admittedly reveal nothing regarding allegations of torture or execution.

This questions the credibility of the report by Amnesty International should it turn out to be false after the investigation, as people never suspected it would publish fake news. There is no conclusion to this case as investigations are on going. Fake news is becoming more serious than we thought. Some trusted sources could sometimes publish fake news. It is up to readers to discern which information is really true and should be acted upon. These fake news that circulate are near-truths and very difficult to identify at a glance. Readers should be vigilant!