The Curious Person's Guide to Fighting Fake News by David G. McAfee

Author:David G. McAfee
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pitchstone Publishing
Published: 2020-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

It’s important to point out that there are also many sites that fit into a middle ground between the two categories above. Normally, these are news sites that have generally good reporting, but also a political bias that tends to lead to some unintentional exaggerations or even inaccuracies.

Become Someone Others Can Trust

Learning the ins and outs of quality journalism, as well as its ethical norms, common pitfalls, and standard operating procedures, can help readers learn who they can trust and who they probably shouldn’t. But it can perform another function, too. Namely, it can make the reader themselves more informed, and therefore more trustworthy as a participant in our advanced society.

We talked at the beginning of this chapter about how the trust between readers and reporters must go both ways, and it’s an important point that shouldn’t be passed over. What I mean by this “two-way street” concept is that consumers of content must act in good faith just as much as the reporter. Just as it is the writer’s responsibility not to mislead or misconstrue facts, it is the reader’s task to listen with an open mind—without intentionally misrepresenting the reporting or data they see. It’s also the reader’s job to take more than a cursory look at what they’re consuming, and make sure it’s not the work of bad actors who imitate real journalists.

By being educated on the processes of journalism and paying closer attention to what we read, we can become knowledgeable members of the general population, and are in a better place to advocate for the changes that we deem necessary. And by only sharing the highest-quality content, it’s possible to become the solid information source we all seek, and help friends and loved ones find their way, too.

The first step to getting there is becoming well informed.

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