In recent weeks, much has been made of fake news. Facing fire on the subject, as well as alleged Russian hacking efforts to help him, President-elect Trump recently held a meeting with many of the nation’s tech executives. Although many hold views in opposition to Mr. Trump, the leaders of Amazon, Facebook, Google and many others still decided to make their voices heard on a number of issues. Calls have also been made for these companies to take steps on their own to reduce the spread of disinformation on their sites.
While fake news and propaganda certainly may have played a part in the outcome of the presidential election, it would be wrong to name those as the only factors. Both candidates were considered to be two of the most disliked in history. This manifested itself in the massive third-party vote last year. Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson garnered more than 3 percent of the popular vote in November. This is the highest third-party vote share since Ross Perot in 1996. There is clearly dissatisfaction with both the Republicans and the Democrats, which fake news and other alternative media outlets will continue to capitalize on.
As I’ve mentioned in a previous column, there are two main sides to the political Internet, the liberal side and the conservative side. The bridges between the two are few and far between. Like it or not, every news source has some sort of bias, intended or not, in the reporting and writing. This bias affects how different events are covered, and what information is shared with the public. The liberal and conservative sides of the Internet often have completely different takes on the exact same issue. They even have statistics and statements to corroborate their claims.
Fake news sites take this divide to a whole new level. Some admit they are fake, but often they will not. Others have some truth within them but distort the facts to prove their point. So what is the solution? There is always a chance efforts to curb fake news, while well-meaning, could mistakenly classify true stories as false. They could also serve to censor stories that go against an editor’s or website’s biases. I feel giving people the skills they need to defend themselves against deceptive stories is a much more effective strategy. Fake and deceptive news can be spotted with little effort, using a few tips you should know.
First, as with anything in life, if it sounds too good (or bad) to be true, it probably is. This is the first line of defense against falsehood, and it should work most of the time. Internet revenue is driven by page-clicks and advertisements, so outlandish headlines are used to draw you in and make money for websites. Often, once you have clicked on the article, there is very little substance to prove the point because they’ve already done their job by getting you to go to the page.
Second, read multiple sources. This helps to weed out realistic-sounding stories that seem a little fishy. Always be sure to cross-reference articles with another news source, preferably from the other side of the political spectrum. If two sources from opposite sides on the political spectrum have similar details, the story is most likely true.
Third, do some research on the source. If the news site seems a little suspicious, put its name into a search engine and check out some articles or web encyclopedia pages. If it’s a reputable news organization, it most likely has some sort of history or research that has been done on it. If you can’t find anything about the organization besides its own site, be wary in trusting it.
From the founding of our nation, the press and news have played a vital role in keeping citizens informed about issues and keeping our leaders accountable. Sensationalistic or false journalism has been with us for a long time, and it’s a shame it hurts the image of the many news people working every day to bring the public accurate information. Ultimately, it’s up to us as citizens to work together and figure out what sources of information we should trust. Inaccurate news, when exposed by vigilant and informed citizens, will cease to be an issue.
