Learn how to discern fake news
As a college professor teaching journalism, I butt heads daily with students who get their news from Facebook and Twitter. They believe they’re too digitally agile and active to fall for any fake news stories put out by money-hungry news media conglomerates.
But they’re miserable. They’re confused by social media messages that bombard them with “facts” about the Florida school-shooting survivors being crisis actors.
After showing them how to factcheck, I get them to understand they’re being duped by their iPhone messages.
When they learn about Russian bots posing as American news providers, they see how Russia is undermining our legitimate media and using our freedoms against us. Bots reached out to some despicable American subcultures, which resulted in Americans attacking Americans.
In Veles, Macedonia, teens invent stories such as The Pope Endorses Trump. They’re getting rich from the three-cent clicks on their site.
When my students understand this, some resolve to try to trust legitimate media. But some say no young person will ever trust. Their comments go from: “I’m scared thinking the Internet is only getting more powerful.” to “I don’t trust any big media. Period.”
Imagine distrusting legitimate news media, the Fourth Estate developed to give the people power and a voice. Imagine saying, “Take away my power, it’s fake.”
My job as a journalism professor is to get my students to trust those devoted to protecting their rights, not those who prostitute themselves for clicks.
Fake news will grow if we click on it. But it’s not put out by journalists so devoted to truth they risk their lives to get it. Learning the difference, that’s the real lesson.
Mary Loporcaro
Associate professor of media and communication
St. John Fisher College
Rochester, N.Y.
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