Professor has Pro-Truth Pledge for all

Most humans refrain from shoveling food into their mouths with their hands. We learned that. Most humans know to follow traffic lights and signals to avoid a deadly pileup of cars and bodies when they get behind the wheel. We learned that. Most humans know to verify and fact-check information before accepting it and sharing it.

Eh, we're still working on that.

In an age of “fake news,” tweet storms and misinformation, one Ohio State University professor says humans need to train themselves not to haphazardly share false information, just as they learned other necessary behaviors throughout their lives.

Gleb Tsipursky, professor of history at Ohio State’s Newark campus and researcher with the university’s Decision Sciences Collaborative, hopes to build a culture of truth through what he’s calling the ProTruth Pledge.

Research shows that people tend to share misinformation, not to intentionally harm or deceive, but because it protects and bolsters our beliefs and the beliefs of our friends, Tsipursky said.

The Pro-Truth Pledge asks its signers to verify and factcheck information before accepting and sharing it, share the entire truth, share sources so that others may verify that information and clearly distinguish between

one’s opinions and facts.

It also asks that signers honor truth by acknowledging when others share true information even when they disagree, and defend others who come under attack for sharing true information.

The rise of social media has a lot to do with the spread of misinformation, Tsipursky said.

“Due to the disruption of social media, the information environment of our society is structured in such a way as to reward lying and punish truth-telling,” he said.

Society needs something like the truth pledge to keep people and public figures honest, in the same way it needs the Better Business Bureau to hold businesses accountable, Tsipursky said. Those who sign the truth pledge will be held accountable by others who sign it, and those who spot potential violations can file a complaint, he said.

One key component of the pledge is the promise to re-evaluate information and retract it if it cannot be verified, celebrating individuals who admit to providing incorrect information and update their beliefs toward the truth. That “goes against a really problematic

tendency in our society to criticize people who change their minds as flip-floppers,” Tsipursky said.

“We tend to see individuals as strong when they double down on their statements,” he said. “When they make a commitment to the pledge, they’re making a commitment to behavior change.”

Tsipursky is spreading the truth pledge message to community groups and is encouraging the general public, public figures, elected officials, candidates for office and journalists to sign it.

So far, a little more than 2,300 citizens have signed the pledge, as well as 24 organizations, 54 government officials and 173 public figures.

Locally, activist group Yes We Can Columbus and its five candidates for Columbus City Council and school board have signed the pledge and will encourage supporters to sign it, too, said Madeline Stocker, director of communications for the group.

“Will a pledge necessarily change the way that local officeholders serve their constituents? Not necessarily,” she said. “But if it comes hand-in-hand with a larger public push for accountability and for transparency ... that sort of can transform the way politics works for people.”

While the idea of the pledge is well-intentioned, traditional journalists shouldn’t need one, said Andrew Alexander, a visiting professional at Ohio University’s Scripps College of Communication, longtime journalist and a former ombudsman for The Washington Post.

“Seeing truth is what journalists do every day of their professional lives,” he said. Journalists seek balance, fact-check and cite their sources, and traditional news organizations have extensive policies in place centered on ethics and truth, he said.

Though Tsipursky’s Pro-Truth Pledge seems well-intentioned, it may be unwise for journalists to sign it or other similar pledges, Alexander said.

“I worry that it’s taking a very small step toward the idea of registering or regulating who should be considered a legitimate journalist and who shouldn’t,” he said. “Those determinations are best left to the marketplace.”