‘Mr. Marcus, did you hear that the “Black Lives Matter” people destroyed the Lincoln Memorial?” This is an actual question that was asked in my class. Even worse, before I could respond, two or three others chimed in that they had heard that story and believed it as well.
At the time, I hadn’t heard about the doctored photo that had been circulating on the Internet, but on its face, this sounded like a ridiculous story. Why would people that support the “Black Lives Matter” movement deface the great emancipator? So, after explaining why this story did not seem to make any sense, I went to my old stand-by response: “What is your source for this story?” The student didn’t know the source. I looked it up and found the manufactured meme and a credible source that debunked the story.
I’ve been teaching about the role of the media in civics classes for some time now. In the past, most of the focus was on the role of the media as the “fourth branch” to check on the government. We still talk about Watergate and the Pentagon Papers, but in recent years, more of my focus has been on teaching my students how to find credible sources and information.
We live in a time where technology puts the world’s information in our pockets. Unfortunately, there is a whole world of disinformation there as well. It has become easy to spread false information and narratives and make them look credible. It’s hard for me to navigate this at times and I believe it is even harder for a young person who may be more easily swayed by false information.
There are two sources (that can be easily accessed on YouTube) that I think give students some great tools for becoming savvy media consumers. Perhaps you may find them to be helpful as well.
The first is “Online Verification Skills with Mike Caulfield” (shout out to our school librarian, Ms. Gadwah, for letting me know about this one). This is a series of four short videos that teach simple, but effective, techniques to determine if a website is a good source. One of the significant points is that you don’t rely on the website itself to determine if it is credible. Instead, good fact-checkers research the questionable site using other, trustworthy sources.
The other source I like is a TEDx talk given by a young lady named Hannah Logue called “How to Spot Fake News.” Ms. Logue created an acronym that gives students (and others) a way of approaching sources — FABLE. Here’s my breakdown of her technique:
F – Find the original footage. Try to avoid someone else’s spin by going to the original media. In my class, we watch a video that shows how Fox News and MSNBC reacted to Michelle Obama’s speech at the Democratic National Convention in 2012. Based on the commentary, if you watched just Fox, you probably thought it was an ineffective speech. If you watched just MSNBC, you probably thought it was a wonderful, inspiring speech. I think it is better to watch the speech without the commentary and decide for yourself what you think.
A – Analyze the headline. If the headline is trying too hard to get your attention, then the focus of the article may not be truth, but rather sensationalism. Proceed with caution or maybe search the topic of the article using a trusted source (see “L” below).
B – Bias. This one is hard but so important. If you really want to get to the truth, you have to try to check your own biases so that credible facts that don’t fit your worldview can be received. This is crucial to remember not just when consuming media, but when looking for it. If you seek out only news that reaffirms your outlook, you will never get a full rendering of the truth. This, I believe, is at the core of why we have become such a divided society. (If you haven’t already seen it, “The Social Dilemma” on Netflix explains how people are lured by social media algorithms down politically right or left rabbit holes. Definitely worth a viewing.)
L – Look to fact-checkers. Sites like snopes.com or Factcheck.org have earned a reputation for being truthful, but you don’t need to rely on the reputation alone because they show you the research they do as well. (Snopes is what I looked to in order to debunk the Lincoln Memorial story.)
E – Exert self-control. If you cannot verify that the story is truthful, then don’t share it with other people. According to an AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research study, about 60% of people admitted that they don’t go beyond the headlines when reading the news. If you are one of that 60%, but you still are sharing what you “know” with others, I’m sorry, but you are part of the problem.
It is disheartening to see the amazing technology that we have being used to mislead, and it saddens me when I see it manifest in my classroom or anywhere else. A little time and effort to seek the truth is, I believe, time well spent.
Keep in mind that those who mislead you are doing it for their benefit. They have an agenda that may or may not be good for you. Also, consider that if they had a good argument based in the truth they would not be using deception to garner your support.
Without the truth, our discourse is at best flawed but could be meaningless or even harmful.
At a more basic level, nobody likes to be lied to or manipulated. Don’t let them do it to you.
(Dan Marcus teaches civics at John Stark High School)