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By Shin Freedman
Information is abundant nowadays. Thanks to the internet, information is available at the fingertips of anyone with a smartphone, not just from print materials, blogs, streaming, podcasts, mainstream news media, and multiple TV channels. Googling has become accepted vocabulary. You can look up for yourself whatever is out there in cyberspace. You can even find out the salary info of acquaintances if they work for public government organizations.
For the convenience and quantity of information available, I feel grateful. The vast amounts of academic, medical, science, research and government information are good examples. However, I also feel concerned about the public availability of private information including home addresses and phone numbers.
It is not such a simple task to sort out what is useful information and what is not. As information bias, hoaxes, propaganda, parodies, advertising, misinformation, disinformation, and fake news grows by leaps and bounds, how do you know what you know about? Do you think critically about the information source? Does it make sense? Truth is not the same as fact. Misinformation is false and misleading information that gets the facts wrong. To make matters worse, there is a blurry line between news and entertainment. For example, CBS News reports to the entertainment division of the network.
A former U.S. president known for speaking from the hip most often produces misleading or false statements. His cabinet members used to defend his style by saying that he was not lying. Rather, he had alternative facts. One might ask what the difference would be. The Washington Post fact checker compiled over 30,000 misstatements originating from the former president over his four years in office.
Fake news is news based on false information packaged to look like real news to deceive readers either for financial or ideological gain. Disinformation is a deliberate act ― the spread of false information as an act of deception. Disinformation is particularly troublesome in the era of information abundance. How much disinformation can an average person consume? Although it is not new for reputable news media to have in-house fact-checkers, it seems the role of fact-checking is ever more imminently important in this digital information era.
Fake, false, or misleading websites are shared on Facebook and other social media platforms. These websites are largely motivated to generate likes, shares, and profit. As consumers of media and information, we must be attentive in discerning what information is important and be careful about the information we absorb. Most importantly, we must recognize how the medium of that information influences our thinking and sense of reality.
Facebook has become a major platform for news consumption. It is no surprise that many news organizations have become so very active on Facebook, promoting their stories there and chasing likes, shares, and comments. Senior citizens and older groups are the most likely to click on fake news. According to Facebook referrals, over 50 percent of traffic goes to fake news where only twenty percent are directed to legitimate news sites. Obtaining and using information responsibly by critically sorting through misinformation, disinformation, and fake news is our 21st-century job. Accurate information still matters!
Shin Freedman (shinfreed@gmail.com) is an author, writer, and educator.
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