The Emotion Behind the “Truth”
Written by: Xinyi Yuan
These days, in digital media environment, fake news has become more than just misinformation. It has turned into an emotional experience that shapes how people understand reality. I have noticed that in many cases, what feels true now matters more than what actually is true. Audiences do not simply receive information, they react to it with emotions that affect their beliefs. This change challenges how we define truth in digital storytelling. Fake news is not only a problem in communication, but also in emotion culture. Here are two perspectives we can look into: emotional manipulation and social participation. They help explain why fake news spreads so widely and why people find it so believable.
When Feeling Replaces Fact
A widely spread opinion is that fake news uses emotional strategies to make false stories look real. Through extremely strong emotions such as anger, fear, or admiration, these stories build what researchers call “emotional truth.” Frequently, even when readers know something might not be accurate, they still believe that it is. This emotional connection is powerful because it reflects personal values and social identity. In my view, this shows how emotion can sometimes take place of logic. Fake news turns facts into feelings, and as a result, people probably respond to what touches their hearts instead of what informs their minds.
The Carnival Effect in Social Media
Let’s approach the same issue from a cultural perspective. Bakhtin’s idea of “carnival” describes how social media allows people to express rebellion in a playful way. On these platforms, users make jokes, share memes, and use humor to challenge authority. This behavior creates a sense of collective freedom and emotional release. Spreading fake news can feel like a form of participation, especially when it expresses anger or frustration that people already have. Besides, some studies mentions “kitsch,” which means the tendency to believe comforting illusions. Many people share fake stories not because they are naive, but because those stories provide emotional comfort and satisfy their hopes.
Regulation and Responsibility
While emotions help fake news spread, society continues to find ways to manage it. Fact-checking systems, platform algorithms, and media ethics represent attempts to bring discipline back to information. However, platforms such as Facebook still focus on engagement and visibility instead of truth, which makes emotional content travel faster than verified facts. Although legal systems and journalistic guidelines can help, emotional habits are difficult to control. Audiences share emotional content in fission-style dissemination, spreading much more rapidly than serious news. I believe that to truly address fake news, we must first understand the human desire to feel involved, comforted, or validated.
Finding Balance in the Post-Truth Era
Fake news reveals the position between emotion and discipline, and between free expression and social order. The emotion itself is not the enemy. It becomes harmful only when it replaces reason completely. For us, digital media students, as future storytellers and designers, we need to create works that move people emotionally while maintaining honesty and responsibility. In a world where feelings can easily override facts, finding the balance between empathy and accuracy may be one of the most essential skills for the next generation of media professionals.
References
Liu, Xinyu & Zhu, Hongqiang. The Emotional Illusion of Truth in Digital Media: A Discourse Analysis of Fake News from 2010 to 2021. (2021).
Luo, Kunjin. Carnival and Discipline: The Spread and Governance of Fake News in the Social Media Era. Modern Communication, Vol. 271, 2019.
Bakhtin, Mikhail. Rabelais and His World. Indiana University Press, 1984.
Foucault, Michel. Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. Vintage Books, 1977.