The world of news is an absolute disgrace, with no clear distinction between what is fact and what is opinion. This modern era of technology means false information can be shared to millions of people and the big tech giants such as Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Twitter are NOT doing enough.

I propose a two part solution to this problem. 

1) Opinion vs Fact banner

Every news outlet (newspaper, TV or social media) company should be required to sate clearly at the top of every post, article or topic during a TV show with a banner (blue for opinion and green for fact) that says Opinion or Fact so that the reader can distinguish clearly between articles that are based on evidence and data and those that are just an opinion of the reporter. Articles based on "facts" must provide their sources to the data.

2) Consequence

If any of the above publishes or posts an article that they label a "fact" and it is proven to not be accurate at the time of posting the organisation should be fined £100,000. The writer should also be fined 25% of their monthly wage or 7 days rate if they are freelance. 

Social media companies should be fined £250,000 for any posts that are being advertised on their platform that are labelled as "facts" that are proven to be false at the point of posting. 

If any news outlet/writer makes more than 1 false factual post per year the fine doubles. 

Conclusion:

The proposal is simple, base your articles on facts that can be accessed and site your sources or label it as an opinion.

If any of the organisations responsible for sharing news don't want to abide by this they can respectively take their business elsewhere. If an organisation doesn't want to provide reliable information or update their platform to be able to support this change then they are not morally responsible enough to operate on a national level. 

Many thanks 

Charles Hartley