Abstract:
The core of fake news has surrounded itself amongst the greed for power and politics. It
has become a political conspiracy in using technology, predominantly social media and
fake news websites masked as authentic sources. Whilst fake news is largely about
politics rather than journalism, the industry is becoming seriously tarnished (Daniels,
2017).
The African National Congress (ANC) in South Africa has taken serious strain over the
past decade with the political unrest in the nation. This is due to, but not limited to, the
perceived poor leadership as well as rise of opposition parties within the country (Green,
2017). The rise of fake news in South Africa could further deter the brand image of the
ANC with unfounded news articles circulating amongst the publics. The ANC has also
been accused of using fake news as a weapon to undermine their opposition (Hansrod,
2017). But what is true and what is fake?
The purpose of this study was, ‘to explore the influence of fake news on the ANC whilst
assessing the correlational relationship between the ANC, consumer perceptions and
behaviour of their brand’, which will be put under the spotlight in order to create a strong
foundation for further research to be conducted.
The main theory used in this study was the Media Dependency Theory. This theory is
based on the Uses and Gratifications Theory and ties into the Agenda Setting Theory
(Communication Theory, 2015)
From the literature reviewed, the researcher discovered that as time has evolved,
technology has revolutionized the world we live in and has impacted the political sector
in the majority of the countries around the world. When reviewing the theories used within
the study, it is ever apparent that individuals and political parties can take advantage of
platforms such as social media to persuade large populations with carefully crafted
messages. Fake news has become ever more apparent within the last year and its impact
on society could be extremely detrimental in the short term by corrupting voter’s minds
and misleading them.
The study has proven that since the inception of Fake News, individuals are susceptible
to articles across all forms of mainstream media. Most individuals use the news to make
important life decisions and can easily make the wrong decision based on an alleged
Fake News article that they come into contact with.
