You’ve all heard the expression “You’re full of crap.” Well the truth is you may be. And so may I. And so may anyone else who pays even moderate attention to the news today. Correction, those who pay moderate attention to the news today are even more likely to be full of crap than the rest of us. A recent Bloomberg View article cited evidence that many people get their news and views from reading headlines that are designed to be attention grabbers rather than from reading and reflecting on the information under the headlines. A recent survey of millennials, for instance, revealed that only 1 in 5 read past the headlines This is true even when they choose to share or comment upon an article on social media.
With the proliferation of fake news stories and headlines like “Pope Francis Shocks World, Endorses Donald Trump for President” and “FBI Agent Suspected in Hillary Email Leaks Found Dead of Apparent Murder-Suicide,” we are more likely to get into trouble with “what we know that ain’t so” unless we take steps to verify the headlines and news stories we are reading. To avoid some of the false information we are in danger of being filled up with these days, we are going to have to develop what Ernest Hemingway described as “a built-in, shock-proof, crap detector.” And for parents and those who work in schools, it is imperative that they teach young people, who are even more susceptible to swallowing falsehoods, to develop their own ability to detect and discard fabricated information.
Well how can we do this? How can we develop our own shock-proof lie detectors and help our own children and our students develop theirs? The answer lies in asking good questions, questions that will help us as readers or viewers or listeners assess the credibility of the information, the reliability of the source of that information, and if there is a hidden agenda behind the information that is being presented?
Here are a series of questions from the website Crap Test that will help build capacity to filter in reliable, and filter out unreliable information.
* Currency -
How recent is the information?
How recently has the website been updated?
Is it current enough for your topic?
* Reliability -
What kind of information is included in the resource?
Is the content of the resource primarily opinion? Is it balanced?
Does the creator provide references or sources for data or quotations?
* Authority -
Who is the creator or author?
What are her/his credentials?
Who is the publisher or sponsor?
Are they reputable?
What is the publisher's interest (if any) in this information?
Are there advertisements on the website?
* Purpose/Point of View -
Is this fact or opinion?
Is it biased?
Is the creator/author trying to sell you something?
It is particularly critical that we check what is being shared on social media because there are influential people who put stories up there that they know aren’t true but do it anyway.
Here is one more resource that you can use to check on the validity of a news story you may have read. It was created by Melissa Zimdars, an assistant professor of communication and media at Merrimack College.