When I was in grammar school, I got the Weekly Reader. It was a kid’s newspaper that we received at school.
I loved the Weekly Reader because the editor chocked it full of facts. There were articles about space, history, geography and other interesting facts. It was news I could use. My grandmother Willie Watson also got weekly newspapers. Her papers were the National Inquirer and Weekly World News. A headline that stuck with me through the years was, “Legless Boy summersaults two miles to save dad.” Even though she read it religiously, she knew it was fake news.
It is part of human nature to look for horrific news. Misfortune and the societal underbelly draw the reader’s attention. Bad news sells. A newspaper or magazine can have headlines for ten inspirational stories on the front page with one scandal. Most of us will read about the scandal first.
We can also observe this behavior in drivers when they pass a bad wreck on the highway. Drivers instinctively slow down – not to be safe, but to have a look at the carnage.
These days it is hard to get on Facebook without seeing questionable news. When I scan the comments, I see that everyone’s undies are in a wad. I saw a news article that accused Matt Lauer and the Today Show of deleting the word Christ from an interview with the widow of a Navy Seal. Christians were appalled and rightly so, had the story been true. But it was not. It was fake news, and it spread like wildfire on Facebook. Following each share were threads of comments from outraged readers.
Trying to let someone know that what they are posting is untrue is risky. I have had people turn on me and say that they did not care whether it was true or not.
Fake news and alternative facts reached a new level since the presidential election. I have seen fake news coming from both camps.
Back when Walter Cronkite was on CBS Evening News, there was no question about a story being true. If Walter said it, I could take it to the bank. That is not the case these days. Both conservatives and liberals have news sources they trust. I usually like to read news from the British Broadcasting Corporation. I have found that it covers stories fairly. I do not always like what it is saying, but I have found it to be reliable source for news.
I developed a method to help me navigate Facebook and online news.
Rick’s Rule
If a news item comes across my Facebook timeline and it galls me...I mean pushes ALL my buttons, there is a better than even chance it is a lie.
If I see one of these stories and want to share my outrage with my friends, I ALWAYS look on a fact checker site to see if it is true or false. There are several sites where I can verify stories.
If it is FALSE, I do not share it, no matter how badly I want it to. Just because a story fits with my point of view, that does not make it true.
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Rick Watson is a columnist and author. His latest book Life Changes is available on Amazon.com. You can contact him via email at rick@rickwatson-writer.com
