JOURNALS

ABSTRACT

Fake news and misinformation are two factors that are capable of rousing tension and creating chaos in a community. With the invention of the internet and other digital information and communication technology, purveyors of fake news and misinformation have found the means of reaching a large audience within a short space of time and, thereby, increasing the speed and rate of causing fracas and chaos. This conceptual study reviewed related literature and discovered that fake news and misinformation are designed to manipulate the emotions of their audience. It reflected on Jamieson and Cappella's Echo Chamber Effects and Boehm’s Validity Effect and concluded that when people continue to receive fake news and misinformation, they may act irrationally and become a security threat. As a result, it suggested that teaching rhetoric in Nigerian schools can help the audience discover the intention behind fake news and misinformation by uncovering the persuasive tools their creators employed. By so doing, fake news and misinformation may lose their potency and, in turn, reduce the speed of their spread.