Media Literacy—And taking caution when sharing news
Reading the news can be stressful, and these days it’s coming faster and hitting harder. We often want to share stories about things we care about, but it’s important to be careful when reading the news. There are a lot of “bad actors,” on the internet (and in print), who are trying to manipulate you to share their story, or adopt their views. The best way to keep yourself from getting overwhelmed and/or sharing false news, is to be vigilant and act defensively. Here’s a guide to reading critically, and understanding peoples’ motives in creating online news.

Headlines—Are they misleading? Are they “clickbait?”
News sites get paid by advertisers every time you click on a link, regardless of whether you read past the first line of a story. They are motivated to make headlines enticing, even if the story isn’t interesting, newsworthy, or even true.
News sites and advertisers often appeal to our emotions in their headlines. Fear and anger are especially powerful emotions, and news sites frequently mine that.

For example, if I wrote a story about how pollution affects the green frog, which headline would you click?
• Study Shows Polluted Streams Affect Frog Lifecycles
• Green Frogs are Dying Out Due to This Common Chemical
• Careless Chemical Industry is Killing the Green Frog

The first headline simply relates content of the story; the second taps into fears about species extinction; and the third stokes anger at chemical companies.
Watch out for your own “confirmation bias.” Think about who benefits from your click on an inflammatory headline.
For a deeper dive into the behavior of bad actors promoting fake news, check out the online game https://www.getbadnews.com/en, which pulls back the curtain.

Check Your Sources
When looking at a headline, notice who is publishing the story. Is it a news site that you recognize and trust?
For instance, here’s a screenshot from Google News:

The small text above each headline notes the news site that’s publishing the story. The biggest headline is “Saving Our Kids from Scrolling to Death.” That provokes fear and anxiety! Check out the other headlines and their sources. Do you recognize those news sites, and perhaps, their biases?
If you’re searching for a specific fact or story, it’s important to note that your answer may come from from “AI” (Artificial Intelligence). Examples include ChatGPT, Siri, and Copilot. AI responses are not necessarily true; they are predictive based on data collection, and often bias-based.

Read Before Sharing
Read the full article before you share it. Don’t just read the headline and skim the article, or read only the first paragraph – you don’t know if the third paragraph, for instance, contains something wildly inaccurate. Read the entire article.

Ask yourself:
1. When did this article first appear? Is it recent enough to be relevant? Is it covering a news story that’s still breaking, where changes might be imminent?
2. Who published the article? If you don’t recognize the news site, don’t trust it before verifying the publisher. Wikipedia shows its sources in the ‘References’ section. Double-check their accuracy yourself. Unbiased fact-checking services like Snopes, PolitiFact, and FactCheck.org are highly dependable.

Media Literacy in the Modern Era
It used to be that websites ending in “.org” or “.gov” were safe sources. This is no longer the case, and it’s getting harder to differentiate between what is true and what’s propaganda.
All of us consume media, and in order to share wisely, we need to verify what’s true. Check out the infographic below:

Your best bet for reliable information is the primary source; an eyewitness account, or scientific article. Secondary sources like opinion pieces interpret primary sources, and are, in fact, opinion.

Before sharing anything:
- Look out for headlines that sow anger and fear
- Read the whole article
- Check your sources; primary sources are best
Sharing news articles can help spread useful information, and make us feel less alone. Just make sure you aren’t spreading misinformation!

 

Rachael Cowan,

Systems Change Advocate