Data Privacy & Security Service
Issue 11
FAKE NEWS & NEWS LITERACY
FEATURE INTERVIEW ON FAKE NEWS & NEWS LITERACY
Dr. Jonthan Anzalone, Assistant Director and Lecturer for the School of Journalism, Center of News Literacy at Stonybrook University, re- cently answered some questions on the topic of fake news and news literacy– here is what he had to say:
Define news literacy:
News Literacy is the ability to use critical thinking skills to judge the reliability and credibility of news reports, whether they come via print, television, the internet or social media.
Why do you think fake news is becoming a growing trend today?
A number of reasons.
The first is that technology makes it much easier to create disinformation, and then to spread it quickly and widely. Not long ago, if you wanted to create a fake New York Times, you would have had to pay to print it and distribute it. Now, with little effort and no cost, it's possible to create a fake story that masquerades as the Times or any other news outlet, and then tweet it or post it to Facebook for hun- dreds and even thousands of people to see and share. Purveyors of fake news have capitalized on the public's eroding faith in mainstream news outlets by offering alternatives, and also on the fragmentation of the news-consuming public by offering them fake news that affirms their beliefs. At a time when partisans retreat to their corners and consume information that conforms to their personal biases, purveyors of fake news have found receptive audienc- es. Finally, there are incentives in spreading fake news--not only attention but also money from advertisers. A teenager in Macedonia, where a lot of fake news originates, can make thousands of dollars a month from his fake news website in a country where the average monthly income is a few hundred dollars. For the reasons mentioned above, fake news is far more common and the problem is growing worse. Also, as more people access news on social media, fake stories blend in with credible journalism so that it's hard to tell them apart. We've seen fake news have an impact. BuzzFeed found that in the months before the 2016 election, fake news stories outpaced credible journalism in user engagement (clicks, likes, shares). No matter who one supported in the election, this was an alarming trend. Also alarming: An armed man drove from his home in North Carolina to Washington, D.C., to investigate claims of a child trafficking ring in the basement of Comet Pizza. This was the nonsensical Pizzagate conspiracy theory that falsely implicated Hillary Clinton and a num- ber of her associates. Though no one was harmed when the man opened fire in the pizzeria and he was quickly arrested, his actions illus- trate what can happen when fake news circulates on the internet and social media. Stakeholders have proposed a number of ways to address the problem of fake news. Some have targeted the supply side and invested in programs to train future reporters and fund the work of journalists. This is great: the more high-quality journalism the better. But news stories would still compete with fake news and other misleading information. Such journalism programs do not help the average con- sumer sort fact from fiction. What good is great journalism if it gets lost in all the noise? Since a growing number of consumers access news (and other information) on social media and through search engines, what they see is often determined by an algorithm rather than by an editor or expert. Often search results, as determined by algorithms, appear at the top of the screen because they are popular or they match the consumer's interests--not because they are reliable. For more than ten years News Literacy teachers have had students type "Martin Luther King" into Google, and every time the website martinlutherking.org appears in the top ten search results. The problem with this site is that it's run by a white supremacist group called Stormfront. Better journalism and better algorithms may be part of the solution, but our goal as a society should be to cultivate the critical thinking skills of students so that they can evaluate information for themselves. The responsibility for generating, evaluating, and sharing reliable information is ultimately on the consumer. The goal of News Literacy is to help the public not only spot fake news, but also to distinguish between news and opinion, between journalism and advertising, and between high-quality journalism and weak reporting. A public that is equipped with News Literacy skills will be better informed and more active as citizens. If fake news had always been around, why is it such a concern today? What is news literacy and why is it the answer over better journalism, algorithms?
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