If you’re over the age of 21, you likely never took a class on media literacy. That’s because, until recently, no one truly realized how important media literacy is. Media literacy and critically thinking about the news are important tools to maintain our democracy.
As it turns out, Donald Trump was elected largely through the spread of fake news. All it took was a few untrue stories to support people’s preconceived notions, and became president of the United States. Fake news publishers took advantage of conservative readers, as well as misogynists on both sides of the political spectrum. As a result, they were able to keep excitement about Hillary Clinton to a minimum, while firing up Donald Trump’s base. Targeting on Facebook and Twitter, as well as geographical targeting of important states, combined with this fake news, was enough to allow a man to win the election.
This isn’t just an American problem, it’s a problem all over the world. Countries with nefarious intent, such as Russia, plant seeds of doubt in an electorate, furthering the divide between liberals and conservatives. Furthermore, “journalists” with extreme bias publish articles to influence people to their way of thinking, without regard to facts. We see this in news organizations like Breitbart, Occupy Democrats, Fox News, Forward Progressives, The Blaze, The Daily Caller, or the Daily Kos seek to intentionally mislead their readers.
Now Apple’s working with organizations to put a stop to that. Rather than simply install a browser extension and put your trust completely in that, Apple has a better idea. They’re partnering with organizations seeking to teach media literacy, so people can seek out factual news for themselves.
In This Article:
Apple’s New Partners
In the United States, Apple partnered with the News Literacy Project and Common Sense. In Europe, Apple’s working with Osservatorio Permanente Giovani-Editori, Italy’s leading independent organization for media literacy.
The News Literacy Project’s education platform helps educators teach their students vital skills for differentiating between real news and propaganda, fake news, and media bias. Common Sense, a larger project, supports K-12 education with their Digital Citizen Curriculum for teachers. Osservatorio Permanente Giovani-Editori has been serving Italy for over 18 years. They help educate and prepare young students to become better educated citizens.
These three organizations all share the same goal: teaching children critical thinking skills. They hope this will help stem the tide of fake news flooding social networks.
How Can This Help?
As it turns out, media literacy is quite rare. It’s especially rare in students. A Stanford study found students, especially, struggle to find trustworthy information online. That translates into misinformed voters and the spread of fake news.
Being a student means doing a lot of research. It means searching through more sources than you care to count. Sometimes, it means grasping at straws to find a source that supports your thesis. As a result, students care more about finding information than ensuring they’re finding the correct information.
Adults and graduates do this as well. However, learning at an early age how to detect fake news and misleading stories means these students will become more educated voters. They’ll spread real news and information, and make more informed decisions. Every little bit helps. As with all things that require a large cultural change, this will take time, and it’s best to start with the people who will shape the future.
Does Apple Have an Interest In This?
Rumor has it, Apple will release a video streaming subscription on Tuesday. However, there’s another rumor. Apple’s subscription service will also involve news. Apple will add a subscription aspect to Apple News to help make up for poor ad revenue. Apple could want to increase news literacy because increased news literacy means putting more trust into newspapers and websites that are reputable… the kind you’ll find on Apple News.
Of course, we could believe Apple is simply standing up for democracy across the planet. But it’s hard to ignore that Apple will profit from more people using reputable news websites rather than propaganda and biased garbage.
What Should I Do?
You probably aren’t young enough to get get these courses yourself. However, you can still try practicing critical thinking about your news sources every day. In fact, I can give you a crash course!
What are my qualifications? I write about Apple news. Apple leaks and rumors are highly valuable. An exclusive leak can give a website traffic and ad revenue. If you end up to be close to the mark, you can expect subscribers and future traffic to boom. As a result, people like to fake Apple news a lot.
I spend far more time reading about tech and Apple than I do writing about them. That’s because I have to sort through so much. So, here’s a super quick crash course in detecting fake news from someone who does it as a hobby.
1. Trust No One and Verify Everything
Now, I’m not saying you should don a tinfoil hat, but you should always be skeptical online. There are websites that intentionally make themselves out to look like other sites to spread fake stories. Check URLs.
Also, websites may have their own minor biases. It’s always good to get a second opinion. If you’re hearing the same narrative, the same facts, and have a good idea as to what happened from two different stories, it’s more likely that both sources are trustworthy.
Basically? If a story seems really big, make sure you’ve read about it from at least two well known and reputable sources. Links you got off of Facebook or Twitter to a website you’ve never heard of or seem over the top are not trustworthy.
2. Know Biases
Every website has some bias. I’ll tell you right now, while my stories are always well vetted and speak only truths, I am a liberal person. Those beliefs filter through my narrative. That’s why, when it comes to controversial subjects, I always make sure to share many sources, including those with views that I may not completely agree with, as long as they’re factual.
The New York Times, while highly factual, is slightly left of center. The Washington Post is slightly liberal. The Washington Examiner is right leaning. As is the New York Post. Fox News is so far right wing that it’s virtually a propaganda network. BuzzfeedNews is usually factual, but also significantly biased.
And what about you? What filter are you reading the news through? Because, even if you’re just given a chart of values, you’ll still see the patterns you most want to see and derive the data you wanted to uncover.
So, know the biases of your media. I recommend Media Bias Check. But also be sure to formulate your own opinions and use multiple source verification techniques. Remember rule 1: trust no one and verify everything.
3. If it’s Too Good to be True, it’s Not True
Does a story linked to you from a friend seem to align perfectly with what you expected? Does it “prove” Hillary Clinton hid emails as part of an evil conspiracy, just as you believed? Fake news plays into your own biases. It exaggerates and confirms biases you already hold. In doing so, it pulls you further from the center of the political spectrum, and makes discussion far more difficult.
Civil discussions are the very basis of our democracy. Without them, we’re doomed to repeat our faults, furthering a divide until unrest becomes too strong to support a free nation.
Trust your gut. If it’s too good to be true, search some of the central ideas. Don’t search the exact headline, it’s likely across other fake news sites. Instead, search for some of the “facts” from the article. Run the headline through a search and add “snopes,” “factcheck.org,” or “politifact” to the end of your search, to figure out if the story has already been debunked.
4. Look for Over the Top Headlines and Reporting
Did Ben Shapiro “Own Feminist College Liberal?” Did Trump’s “Peepee Tape Leak?” No. These are clickbait headlines. They’re crafted to stir your curiosity. You know it’s probably an exaggeration, you know it’s likely just trying to reel you in, but you can’t help but click. Maybe you share it right away, hoping others will approach it skeptically. They won’t, and you didn’t either.
The right thing to do when you see these kind of over the top headlines is just scroll away. If they had anything worth saying, it would have been in the title. There’s a rule of thumb we have in journalism. It’s right about 90% of the time. If a title has a question mark in it, the answer is likely no, or the author had their doubts about the authenticity of the story. It’s not a perfect rule. I know I’ve used a question mark headline before. But, usually, if you see it, it means the subject matter is highly suspect, and should be approached with caution.
5. Always Be Learning
Here are a few sources you can use to learn more:
- Snopes.com
- Eugene Kiely and Lori Robertson, FactCheck.org
- Lori Robertson, FactCheck.org
- Victoria Pasquantonio, PBS News Hour
- The News Literacy Project
- Common Sense Education
The greatest thing you can do is never accept a limited data set. You should always be learning, always improve. You can look back on your past and understand that you didn’t know then what you do now, and, yes, you’d react better if given your current wisdom. But you didn’t have it. Accept the past for what it is: something that will never be again. Always strive to be better and forgive your past self so you can move forward. Never give up on learning.
Sources:
- Apple Newsroom
- Mike Wuerthele, AppleInsider