What's News?

Yesterday, a dear friend posted on Facebook that she was angry because Obama was badmouthing Trump and America in his speech in Germany. I looked up the speech and tried to find any negative comments, but the closest I heard was "concern." I'm a fan of Obama and she's not. She voted for Trump and I don't think he's qualified. But we care about each other and accept our different political opinions.

The situation made me wonder, though, whether she was hearing an accurate broadcast of the speech? I still don't know what he said to upset her, and I'm still trying to find out. I'm one of those freaks who digs at an issue until I fully understand it. This may take a while.

Social media is becoming the window to the world for a huge chunk of the population. It's the easiest way to interact and to find out what people are talking about. But it isn't "the news." The ability for anyone to publish anything they like, regardless of truth, is a huge problem facing the education and enlightenment of America. The problem is exacerbated by selective feeds, from social media and from trusted news outlets -- they suggest the news they think we want to see based on our previous choices. (Obama mentioned this is his speech yesterday.)

When I do a Google search, I want to see unbiased information. I want my Facebook newsfeed to show me everything going on in my community and with my friends, not just the stuff I like. But that's not how they work. The result is that we have to question EVERYTHING we read and hear. 

Here are some pointers to identify biased, satirical, and otherwise untrue statements, compiled by Melissa Zimdars, a communication and media professor from Merrimack College in Massachusetts.

Tips for analyzing news sources:

• Avoid websites that end in “lo” ex: Newslo. These sites take pieces of accurate information and then packaging that information with other false or misleading “facts” (sometimes for the purposes of satire or comedy).
• Watch out for websites that end in “.com.co” as they are often fake versions of real news sources  
• Watch out if known/reputable news sites are not also reporting on the story. Sometimes lack of coverage is the result of corporate media bias and other factors, but there should typically be more than one source reporting on a topic or event.
• Odd domain names generally equal odd and rarely truthful news.
• Lack of author attribution may, but not always, signify that the news story is suspect and requires verification.
• Some news organizations are also letting bloggers post under the banner of particular news brands; however, many of these posts do not go through the same editing process (ex: BuzzFeed Community Posts, Kinja blogs, Forbes blogs).
• Check the “About Us” tab on websites or look up the website on Snopes or Wikipedia for more information about the source.
• Bad web design and use of ALL CAPS can also be a sign that the source you’re looking at should be verified and/or read in conjunction with other sources.
• If the story makes you REALLY ANGRY it’s probably a good idea to keep reading about the topic via other sources to make sure the story you read wasn’t purposefully trying to make you angry (with potentially misleading or false information) in order to generate shares and ad revenue.
• If the website you’re reading encourages you to DOX individuals, it’s unlikely to be a legitimate source of news.

It’s always best to read multiple sources of information to get a variety of viewpoints and media frames. Some sources not yet included in this list (although their practices at times may qualify them for addition), such as The Daily Kos, The Huffington Post, and Fox News, vacillate between providing important, legitimate, problematic, and/or hyperbolic news coverage, requiring readers and viewers to verify and contextualize information with other sources. ​

If you're a Chrome user, here's an extension that will notify you when your news is coming from one of the not-always-the-truth sites, including humor, satire, and opinion pieces: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/fake-news-alert/aickfmgnhocegpdbfnpfnedpeionfkbh
Please judge and share news responsibly. It's more important now than ever.

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