Be a Savvy Consumer of News & More—Evaluate Your Sources!
Jan 06, 2017 03:00PM ● By Pamela Johnson
Bellingham Public Library Director Bernadette Rivard
“Truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains taken to bring it to light.” ~ George Washington
In a year when the Oxford English Dictionary has selected “post-truth” as the word of the year, we librarians have a lot of work to do and we need your help.
One of the major reasons I decided to become a librarian in 1999 was that I saw the explosion of the Internet as a source of information. Sure, I loved books (although I wasn’t a prolific reader as a child; I was the teen who read the Cliff Notes in high school for things I just couldn’t get into), but I saw the Internet as new and different and somewhat instinctually knew it could simultaneously be a wonderful way to spread valid news and information as well as be used to spread rumor, lies and vitriol.
A recent study (2015-2016) from the Stanford Graduate School of Education that evaluated students’ ability to assess information sources described the results as “dismaying,” “bleak” and “[a] threat to democracy.” It may have taken decades to get as bad as it has become, but here we are.
So, what can we do about it? How can we all do our part to not exacerbate the situation?
In the changed Internet world, the following additional or expanded steps should be considered. To avoid sharing false or misleading information, consider taking these additional steps outlined by factcheck.org in their November 18, 2016, article “How to Spot Fake News” by Lori Robertson and Eugene Kiely, summarized below:
Coler was amazed at how quickly fake news could spread and how easily people believe it. He wrote one fake story for NationalReport.net about how customers in Colorado marijuana shops were using food stamps to buy pot.
“What that turned into was a state representative in the House in Colorado proposing actual legislation to prevent people from using their food stamps to buy marijuana based on something that had just never happened,” Coler said.
The Washington Post found that 6 out of 10 people are sharing stories that they have not read beyond the headline. In fact, according to a new study quoted in that article, computer scientists at Columbia University and the French National Institute, 59 percent of links shared on social media have never actually been clicked. In other words, most people appear to share news and other stories without ever even reading them.
“People are more willing to share an article than read it,” The Washington Post study co-author Arnaud Legout said in a statement. “This is typical of modern information consumption. People form an opinion based on a summary, or a summary of summaries, without making the effort to go deeper.”
In the past, if you read a false story, you might have told a few people about it. With social media, one “share” can reach hundreds, if not thousands, of people. And if it goes viral, millions will see it within hours. So let’s all take the time to be better news and information consumers, and, more importantly, think twice about the stories we choose to share. When in doubt, don’t share! Who is with me?
Let us honor George Washington’s wish that truth prevail by taking the pains to bring it into the light.
Article author Bernadette Rivard is the Director of the Bellingham Public Library, a position she has held for the past 8-plus years. She has held a variety of positions in public and academic libraries and has been teaching evaluation of Internet resources since 2003. To learn more about evaluating web sources, contact the library at [email protected] or sign up for a “Book a Librarian” session—see the library calendar for details on dates and times.
Robertson, Lori, and Eugene Kiely, “How to Spot Fake News.” Factcheck.org. Factcheck.org, 18 Nov. 2016; Web, 05 Dec. 2016.
Sydell, Laura. “We Tracked Down A Fake-News Creator In The Suburbs. Here’s What We Learned.” NPR. NPR, 23 Nov. 2016; Web, 05 Dec. 2016.
Dewey, Caitlin. “6 in 10 of You Will Share This Link without Reading It, a New, Depressing Study Says.” The Washington Post. WP Company, 16 June 2016; Web, 05 Dec. 2016.
In a year when the Oxford English Dictionary has selected “post-truth” as the word of the year, we librarians have a lot of work to do and we need your help.
One of the major reasons I decided to become a librarian in 1999 was that I saw the explosion of the Internet as a source of information. Sure, I loved books (although I wasn’t a prolific reader as a child; I was the teen who read the Cliff Notes in high school for things I just couldn’t get into), but I saw the Internet as new and different and somewhat instinctually knew it could simultaneously be a wonderful way to spread valid news and information as well as be used to spread rumor, lies and vitriol.
A recent study (2015-2016) from the Stanford Graduate School of Education that evaluated students’ ability to assess information sources described the results as “dismaying,” “bleak” and “[a] threat to democracy.” It may have taken decades to get as bad as it has become, but here we are.
So, what can we do about it? How can we all do our part to not exacerbate the situation?
In the changed Internet world, the following additional or expanded steps should be considered. To avoid sharing false or misleading information, consider taking these additional steps outlined by factcheck.org in their November 18, 2016, article “How to Spot Fake News” by Lori Robertson and Eugene Kiely, summarized below:
- Consider the source—for example, abcnews.com.co is a fake site that is not ABC News. The “.co” after the “.com” indicates that the site is from Columbia.
- Read beyond the headline—if the headline is shocking, read further before sharing.
- Check the author—Google the author’s name; does he/she have an authority on the topic about which he/she is writing?
- What’s the support?—bogus stories often cite official or official-sounding sources. Google those sources directly to verify the claim.
- Check the date—some false stories aren’t completely fake, but distortions of real events that are twisted to relate to current events.
- Is it a joke?—Remember that there are parody and satire sites!
- Check for bias—what other stories have been posted to the site that is the source of the story?
- Consult the experts—debunking takes time, but there are reliable fact-checking sources; use them: FactCheck.org, Snopes.com, the Washington Post Fact Checker and PolitiFact.com. Most of the time one of these sources has evaluated a viral claim.
Coler was amazed at how quickly fake news could spread and how easily people believe it. He wrote one fake story for NationalReport.net about how customers in Colorado marijuana shops were using food stamps to buy pot.
“What that turned into was a state representative in the House in Colorado proposing actual legislation to prevent people from using their food stamps to buy marijuana based on something that had just never happened,” Coler said.
The Washington Post found that 6 out of 10 people are sharing stories that they have not read beyond the headline. In fact, according to a new study quoted in that article, computer scientists at Columbia University and the French National Institute, 59 percent of links shared on social media have never actually been clicked. In other words, most people appear to share news and other stories without ever even reading them.
“People are more willing to share an article than read it,” The Washington Post study co-author Arnaud Legout said in a statement. “This is typical of modern information consumption. People form an opinion based on a summary, or a summary of summaries, without making the effort to go deeper.”
In the past, if you read a false story, you might have told a few people about it. With social media, one “share” can reach hundreds, if not thousands, of people. And if it goes viral, millions will see it within hours. So let’s all take the time to be better news and information consumers, and, more importantly, think twice about the stories we choose to share. When in doubt, don’t share! Who is with me?
Let us honor George Washington’s wish that truth prevail by taking the pains to bring it into the light.
Article author Bernadette Rivard is the Director of the Bellingham Public Library, a position she has held for the past 8-plus years. She has held a variety of positions in public and academic libraries and has been teaching evaluation of Internet resources since 2003. To learn more about evaluating web sources, contact the library at [email protected] or sign up for a “Book a Librarian” session—see the library calendar for details on dates and times.
Sources cited:
Domonske, Camila, “Students Have ‘Dismaying’ Inability To Tell Fake News From Real, Study Finds,” NPR. NPR, 23 Nov. 2016; Web, 05 Dec. 2016.Robertson, Lori, and Eugene Kiely, “How to Spot Fake News.” Factcheck.org. Factcheck.org, 18 Nov. 2016; Web, 05 Dec. 2016.
Sydell, Laura. “We Tracked Down A Fake-News Creator In The Suburbs. Here’s What We Learned.” NPR. NPR, 23 Nov. 2016; Web, 05 Dec. 2016.
Dewey, Caitlin. “6 in 10 of You Will Share This Link without Reading It, a New, Depressing Study Says.” The Washington Post. WP Company, 16 June 2016; Web, 05 Dec. 2016.
