Judging Reliability
Lesson 1:2
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In the Stony Brook model of news (media) literacy, We define is as:
"The ability to use critical thinking skills to judge the reliability and credibility of news reports, whether they come via print, television, radio or internet."
"The ability to use critical thinking skills to judge the reliability and credibility of news reports, whether they come via print, television, radio or internet."
These skills are vitally important. Examples of it gone awry follow below.
As we come closer to another presidential election, we draw upon an example from the 2008 election season that still continues to come up as an example of how misinformation spreads and stubbornly sticks around.
Years ago, the “birther” movement alleged that then-candidate for President Barack Obama was not born in the United States. Purveyors of this idea attempted to prove the claim by presenting the following a birth certificate, showing the candidate as born in Kenya.
However, after further investigation it was found that the Kenyan birth certificate was faked.
Even after being elected, then-President Obama provided his actual live birth certificate, showing his place of birth to be the state of Hawaii. Even so, there were still Americans who continued to believe that the President was not born in the United States.
Reliable Information as Matter of Life & Death
Reliable Information as Matter of Life & Death
Another example that we label as an "oldie but goodie" from about 10 years ago also connects to our present moment. The COVID-19 pandemic has upended our lives in a plethora of ways, and we continue to hold out hopes for a vaccine soon. While we are quickly moving forward with candidates for one, there are a number of individuals who claim the virus is a hoax and over emphasized by the media. Experts worry that a flood of misinformation from these people and various peddlers of the anti-vax movement will make it difficult to propagate any vaccine throughout society.
In 2009, the country was also faced with a pandemic, that of the H1N1 flu virus (also called the “swine flu”). During that time, the video below was widely circulated online causing concerns about complications from getting a flu vaccine.
Watch for yourself and ask if it would influence your decision whether or not to get a flu shot.
cheerleader-1920.mp4Believe it or not, many were taken by the story of this young woman, and decided against getting the vaccine. Later, it was found to be a hoax. Read more about the outcome and see the follow up report here from knowyourmeme.com.
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