By Jose Marquez-Diaz
The internet is filled with so much information and other things but unfortunately the internet also has tons of fake news. Bias and misinformation are being spread daily at all times and it can be easy to notice sometimes but some people don't know how to fact check this misinformation. If you want to learn more about fact checking bias and misinformation you can read this article “Why you stink at fact-checking” to help you learn how you can fact check the misinformation that is being spread on the internet. The article written by Lisa Fazio goes a bit into depth about why we fail to notice what we know what's wrong using the Moses illusion which has been repeatedly studied since the 1980s. “It occurs with a variety of questions and the key finding is that – even though people know the correct information – they don’t notice the error and proceed to answer the question. In the original study, 80 percent of the participants failed to notice the error in the question. This failure occurred even though participants were warned that some of the questions would have something wrong with them.” This is an example in the article that goes into detail about our failing to notice what we know is wrong, the article also talks about why we miss mistakes the article states, “people have a general bias to believe that things are true. After all, most things that we read or hear are true.” This part of the article talks about how since most things we read or hear are true we immediately think that the misinformation is true it then states, “In fact, there’s some evidence that we initially process all statements as true and that it then takes cognitive effort to mentally mark them as false,” going further into depth about how our brain just processes everything we hear as true and not misinformation. With all this I can now tell you how you can improve at fact checking misinformation. Luckily with misinformation and media bias becoming more and more common there are more and more people becoming aware of it and many ways to fact check it. One amazing way to help detect media bias is something called a media bias chart which is a giant chart that has multiple news sources on it. If the news source is more liberal based it is put on the lower left part of the graph, if the news source is more conservative based it is put in the bottom right of the chart and finally if you want find a news source that has little to no media bias and misinformation you would find it at the top middle section of the chart. One example of this is “Palmer Report” and “US Uncut” being on the bottom left of the chart meaning that they are more liberal based and biased, Another example of this is “InfoWars” and “The Blaze” being on the bottom right corner of the chart meaning that they are more conservative based and biased, One last example is “Bloomberg,” “The Hill,” “BBC,” and “ABC News” which are in the middle top if the chart showing that they are some of the most unbiased new sources, and if you need a visual example to help you better understand the concept and idea of how a media bias chart works you can use the image below as a reference. If you feel like the media bias chart is not thorough enough or doesn't give a clear idea on how to detect media bias and the spread of misinformation then you can read this article “How to Detect Bias in News Media,” which goes into a thorough step-by-step process on how you can detect media bias. The steps listed in this article are not only thorough but are also extensive. For example, step one is “Who are the sources?” It talks about how you should be aware of the political perspective at all times. It also states “To portray issues fairly and accurately, media must broaden their spectrum of sources. Otherwise, they serve merely as megaphones for those in power.” Step three: “From whose point of view is the news reported” where it states “Political coverage often focuses on how issues affect politicians or corporate executives rather than those directly affected by the issue.” This shows how even though an issue impacts a certain group of people it will be reported on from the perspective of someone who it won't really affect like politicians or high-ranking members of a business. With all that the final thing I will tell you, Younger Scholar, is that the internet is an amazing place where you can find entertainment, look for the answers to all your questions and a dozen of other things but be careful because people are constantly spreading media bias and misinformation and you don’t want to be fooled or manipulated by them!
1 Comment
Lynn Girven
2/28/2023 03:59:51 pm
Media is a wealth of knowledge, but on the other hand you must corroborate your news!
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