Have you ever considered the sources from which you consume your news? From the breaking news of terrorist attacks to local news of traffic reports, where do you personally receive your news? Some may say they find their news only on television. Some may report they find their news updates online. There are even a few who say they discover their news updates from friends who are having conversations about new events.
Social media, blogging, and even vlogging (video blogging), have affected the way we consume the news. I know that as a young adult who is immersed in this technology ridden society, I am guilty of searching for and finding news on social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and even The Odyssey. In all honesty, I rely heavily on these sites instead of watching the news on television. The generations before me would tell me that I am looking to inaccurate sources for news updates because I rely so greatly on social media, but I would beg to differ. While this may get me in trouble at times, having easy access to the internet while scrolling through social media news also allows me to quickly verify what I am reading and what I am hearing.
I have found that social media platforms allow for quicker delivery of breaking news, and in that, the breaking news reaches more people more quickly. News outlets can share breaking news faster than ever with their followers, and we no longer wait until the five o’clock news to hear breaking news throughout our city and our nation.
Sadly though, people misuse the quickness of this delivery method and will share information that is inaccurate or even false. According to a new survey by Pew Research Center, conducted in association with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, a majority of U.S. adults – 62% – get news on social media. In 2012, based on a slightly different question, 49% of U.S. adults reported seeing news on social media. When we consider that this many people are consuming news from social media, we must also consider that many of these people are receiving inaccurate news.
The ultimate question comes down to this: how can we, as consumers of the news, verify and make accurate the news we are consuming? In order to ensure accuracy in news reporting, there must be something to which we can compare the news report; whether it be another news report, a scholarly article or something else, there needs to be a comparison to find the validity of the source. Alongside that, as someone who has been part of an interview, the interviewer should first have a recorder ready. They should then have the interviewee spell his or her first and last name, and then begin the interview. It seems silly almost, to have a scripted interview, but it can be beneficial to ensure accuracy. Resources from the interview should also be collected and presented in the actual news report so that viewers can verify the information they are hearing.
Ultimately, one should challenge the claims they hear against other truths such as claims of experts and even claims of the Lord found in the Bible. Challenging these claims teaches us that we cannot, as a consumer of the news, take much of what we hear on faith, but that we must compare against many other sources to find accuracy and consistency, yielding validity.
