Be careful of what is on the internet and the stories that circulate. Fake news has been increasing and it has not gotten any better. Fake news has risen because of the presence of online journalism and the fact that people can write without having the necessary credentials. This is surely dangerous to the common good. In the end, it is disgracing journalism and the power that it brings, along with the help it brings to the public.

The other aspect to battle fake news is for reporters and journalists to double-check their work. Finding multiple articles about the same story is essential because some stories can be inaccurate.

There is no shame in fact-checking and finding other sources. The pen is mightier than the sword and business billionaire Elon Musk knows it and he has attacked the media for spreading fake news. What does he plan to do about it? He wants to punish journalists for it and create a database that would rank journalists online.

The solution

The reason this all started was due to negative publicity for Tesla. To be more specific, according to an article in The Atlantic, "criticized news coverage of recent Tesla crashes and delays in the production of the Model 3."

According to the article, Elon Musk's war on the media has been well-documented. Musk believes that journalists are writing about his brand to get views or "general increase of misleading clickbait." He criticized journalists and news outlets by going on a Twitter rant.

The businessman even blamed the media for Donald Trump becoming president. But what might be his solution or plan to ending fake news and punishing journalists for it? By creating a database ranking system for journalists and scoring them on the authenticity and accurateness of the articles. He would be naming the website "Pravda," which was the name of the Soviet propaganda news agency.

Is he right?

There is no question that Elon Musk is a genius and successful businessman and his brands have only continued to soar.

But he's wrong because journalists are just writing about the news toward his brand and the problems it has faced. The article states "Because production delays are newsworthy. Because the firing of 700 employees is newsworthy. Because fatal crashes of autopilot-equipped vehicles are newsworthy." And this is indeed the truth because Tesla has had these issues in the past just as Uber has had. Moreover, Elon Musk is wrong to blame journalists and the media for coverage of Tesla because they are just doing their jobs. The media and journalists in the present day have a tough job at hand and are being stripped away of their rights. He is right that fake news is real, but is unfairly criticizing the media and reporters for working and covering news on Tesla.

If his website comes alive and starts rating journalists on their work and accuracy, it would not be a bad thing because it would crack down on fake news and punish individuals for spreading inaccurate information to the public. The rating could harm their careers, though, with people seeing the number and looking elsewhere. Ironically, many are in favor of the website with "Musk's poll on his proposed media-credibility rating site records 88 percent in favor and 12 percent out of more than 630,000 votes."

We must not forget how great of a country that America is, as other countries put journalists in jail for simply doing their jobs. Freedom of speech is an undeniable right, but Musk is right about one thing.

Something must be done about the fake news because it is only continuing to hurt journalism and spread inaccurate information to the public. And that should not be happening.

Others have chimed in support of Musk, for example, Stan Lee, who believes that he is right that the media should not be spreading lies and keep reporters or news outlets responsible for their own actions.

The website could very well happen according to the article with "Mark Harris, a reporter for IEEE Spectrum, shared a document that showed a Musk agent filed a notice to create 'Pravda Corp.'" The race for accurate journalism rages on.
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