How we navigate the news
At a time when it’s never been more difficult to tell the difference between credible and fake news, I sometimes wonder if everyone is clear on exactly what they’re reading and viewing.
What I mean is, if you read news online, do you go straight to a media organization’s website, or do you click on headlines of interest that you see on social media? Do you consider the source? Do you know the source?
If you’re reading this in print or on Saltwire.com, then you’re getting it straight from the horse’s mouth, as it were. But these days, many people get their news from other sources — including posts shared second or third hand on Facebook or Twitter — and it can be difficult to discern legitimate sources from questionable ones, let alone tell news from opinion.
Unless you do your due diligence.
Print headlines were proclaiming the news centuries before both radio and television. But things have changed enormously since the days when newsprint dominated the landscape.
Now, radio, television and print news organizations all have a presence online, blending audio and visual elements with the written word.
The earliest newspapers to go online did so in the 1980s. The first, according to the Poynter Institute, was the Columbus Dispatch in Ohio, on July 1, 1980.
“Electronic Delivery: The Newspaper of the Future,” an American newspaper headline of the era proclaimed.
Back then, I was still in high school, rocking out to Pat Benatar’s “Hit Me With Your Best Shot,” but even in the early days of my newspaper career in the 1990s, we were still doing paste-up paper layouts and using stick-on photo frames.
Now, I can hardly remember those pre-digital times.
Online news is quickly accessible, its reach is immediate, it costs less to post than to print, it can be updated constantly and it is extremely convenient — available practically wherever you are, on cellphones, tablets and laptops.
But has something been lost in the translation between traditional media and online news?
It’s not that news websites don’t delineate between the types of content they offer. On Saltwire.com, for example, opinion pieces are clearly labelled as columns, letters to the editor and editorials, just like they are in print. Content is separated into categories: local news, business, sports, opinion, culture.
But when articles are shared on Facebook or Twitter and stripped of any context, some people might not realize that what they’re reading is someone’s opinion and not the news organization’s objective reportage.
Not only that, but it’s all too easy to create and post something that looks like a news article when, in fact, it can be a deliberate ploy by internet trolls to further an agenda, or to undermine one.
Is there a media literacy gap? Are children in schools learning to identify the credibility of what they’re reading online and to differentiate news from other information (or misinformation)? Are they learning that certain websites that purport to report the news are agenda-driven propaganda machines?
Are newsprint terms like “column,” “editorial,” “news story” self-explanatory to readers anymore, or have their meanings fallen to the wayside like vehicular detritus scattered along the social media highway?
It’s a complicated world when it comes to the media, with modern readers needing the equivalent of an old-time prospector’s gold-panning skills to separate nuggets of factual information from the less-valuable bits.
But there are things a reader can do to ensure what they are reading is credible. Click on the “About us” section of Saltwire.com, for example, and you will learn about our news organization — who we are and our mission statement. Most reputable media outlets provide similar information.
Is media literacy emphasized enough in our society? How should it be taught? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Email pam.frampton@saltwire.com