THE PHENOMENON OF FAKE IN THE CONTEXT OF COMMUNICATION PRACTICES

The article is devoted to the problem of fake news which is understood as fabricated messages to discredit a person or an organization, designed for viral distribution in social media and other media platforms. The author examines the psychology of perception of fakes, the sociology of the dissemination of such reports, as well as pseudo-conflicts, false attacks and other modifications of fakes that divert public attention from real problems. Fake news is one of the main subjects actively discussed in recent years by the community of journalists and media researchers. Fake news is not so much a professional problem of journalism as a test for the democratic organization of society. Political polarization and radicalization of the public sphere create suitable conditions for promotion of fabrications and spreading fakes in social networks. Fake is a deliberate use of fictitious and specially fabricated news, the main purpose of which is to undermine someone's reputation. Fake is a communication strategy and the practice of organizations that are struggling with an unpleasant ideology and seek to discredit individual politicians, companies and even whole countries, while receiving political or financial dividends. Journalists and editorial offices of the media are used as a platform or advertising equipment in these practices. To infiltrate into the mind of the reader, a fake needs to dress up in its own way, that is, to take the appearance of a familiar site, a well-known genre, habitual stylistics, attribution to a trusted source. Any repetition of fake information (even in the context of refutation) is detrimental to communication. Falsifiers tend to fill readers' minds with fake life, which supersedes the reality and calls into question the existence of objective facts as such. The most effective measure of fighting against fakes has been and remains the introduction of mass media literacy in the masses. Users of social networks, at their own volition, should receive vaccination from fabricated news and recognize a fake, understanding who benefits from its spread. A journalist, due to the professional duty to protect a small person in the face of Leviathan and due to the pursuit of justice, should not participate in the fabrication of fake news, no matter how politically expedient this production was. Scholars must understand the threat of fake news for the trust in the media and formulate recommendations for journalists in the search for sources, in building accurate headlines, in spreading the culture of verification of facts. If the academic community continues to ignore the phenomenon of fake and the ideology of post-truth, not engaging in the fight against these phenomena, the public will again and again be deluded by pseudo-conflicts, false attacks and fake characters designed to distract people from real problems, immerse them in social apathy and helplessness.