How good would you say you are at deciphering truth in news pieces you find on the Internet, especially social media? Most of us don’t worry too much about whether the content we’re finding online is credible. If it seems legit, it must be true, by our esteemed college-minded expertise and judgement. Not so fast. Aside from the abundance of misinformed Facebook posts I find on my own feed, there is further evidence to support the idea that people today lack Internet skepticism and don’t possess the research tools necessary to accurately confirm their beliefs about information found online. However, the majority of the population remains efficient when it comes to posting selfies that get thousands of “likes,” and tweets that get celebrity-like praise. This poses even greater concern in a world where false news and media incredibility seem more apparent than ever before.
Stanford came out with a study recently that, according to Sue Shellenbarger of The Wall Street Journal, says, “Some 82% of middle-schoolers [today] couldn’t distinguish between an ad labeled ‘sponsored content’ and a real news story on a website…” The study addressed 7,804 students, middle school through college, and reported that rather than looking for legitimate, trustworthy sources and properly fact checking, students based credibility on factors like the levels of detail within articles and the sizes of attached photos, nevermind that some photos were of sites and subjects irrelevant to the topics at hand.
At this point, Twitter, Facebook, and Google executives are acknowledging the problem and attempting to take action against vast Internet misinformation and public gullibility. Facebook executives have claimed to have started monitoring what ends up on the site more closely, pledging to block users who post misinformed or fabricated messages. Some examples addressed by The Journal include the false proclamation that Pope Francis endorsed Donald Trump, and that the Clinton Foundation bought $137 million in illegal firearms.
Recently, at the 2017 Golden Globes, Meryl Streep acknowledged the media’s role in generating misleading and harmful information, calling the press one of the “most vilified segments in American society right now.” She went on to assert a call to action, inviting the American press to hold greater account for the messages and news being advertised and spread through the web. Streep acknowledged that journalism has long been one of the most vital and respected professional fields of our nation, speaking through one of our most important and dearly held Constitutional right: that to free speech. However, at this point, our journalists and those producing media content are gaining a bad rep, which seems to be encouraging those in high standing, like President Donald Trump, to exhibit a greatly unwarranted ill-respect for the journalistic field and everyone involved.
So, while Internet giants and famous actresses do their part to help in supporting properly informing the public, we need to step up as well to realize the misinformation we see may not entirely be the result of failed journalism, but of an even bigger problem. Today’s society needs to learn how to be skeptical of information and where it comes from, understanding which sources are producing content through intentions of honesty and integrity. Not every journalist is producing with the malicious intent to misinform, and it’s the responsibility of the press, producers, and the general public to save the media’s reputation.