The real effects of fake news

A story that has been in the news a bit during the past few weeks is about how a journalist in Russia was reported dead, reportedly killed by the Kremlin, and was then found to be completely fine.  An article from the New York Times detailed the news. Although the man had been reported dead, he turned up soon after at a news conference, alive and well.  It became clear that the whole thing was an elaborate stunt, one meant to catch a killer, and Mr. Babchenko, the man who had supposedly died, was in on the whole plot. No one had expected this result, and most were chocked. Obituaries had already been written, and the Kremlin had been blamed.  After he turned up alive however, his fellow journalists weren't pleased. They were greatly upset, mainly due to the fact that journalists in Russia are often subject to persecution when they share news that the government doesn't want them to, and Mr. Babchenko simply ignored all of that and worked with a government agency and lied to all the people in Russia.   In essence, the outcome that no one would have, or even could have guessed, had happened.
This news story shows exactly the problems that we have been having with fake news in the media.  We hear the term fake news all the time, but most of the time its used for something that doesn't seem to be that big of a deal, is obviously fake, or is just something we don't like.  However, in this story, we clearly see the type of fake news that truly is fake, but also isn't something that isn't a big deal.  Someone was said to be dead, killed by the government, and this created more, stronger emotions, directed towards a party that, at least in this case, was innocent.  The media allows these stories to be spread quickly and easily, and the results can be hugely detrimental. 
If we continue to spread these fake stories, and the media allows it to happen, we begin to believe stories that are completely untrue. And as we belive these falsehoods, our own beliefs and perceptions about the world change as well, and most likely not in a positive way.  We must prevent falsehoods from governing our news stream but the question is how.  There is no clear cut simple answer, but we can all look for one, and make sure to start doing our research and truly know what is true and what isn't.