Media Literacy - The Power (and Responsibility) of Information | Lisa Cutter | TEDxCherryCreekWomen

Summary

The speaker passionately discusses the alarming spread of misinformation online and its divisive impact, from family gatherings to societal unrest. Emphasizing the importance of credible journalism, they highlight the decline in newsroom investments and the closure of small-town newspapers. The speaker advocates for discerning fact from opinion, understanding media bias, and using fact-checking resources to ensure the integrity of information that influences our lives and democracy.

Takeaways

• 🌐 The speaker emphasizes the significant impact of communication and the alarming spread of misinformation on the internet.
• 🗣️ Misinformation can lead to real-life consequences, as illustrated by the speaker's personal anecdote involving a family member.
• 📉 There has been a notable decline in trust in media and a decrease in investment in news media since 2004, leading to fewer journalists and newsrooms.
• 🏢 The closure of 1,300 small-town newspapers signifies a loss of community information sources, impacting local governance and accountability.
• 📰 Credible news sources employ professional journalists who adhere to a code of ethics, striving to provide unbiased and factual information.
• 📉 A 47% decrease in investment in newsrooms since 2004 has contributed to the erosion of trust in media.
• 🤔 The speaker encourages the audience to be aware of cognitive biases that can influence the interpretation of news and information.
• 🔍 To be a responsible consumer of news, one should verify news by checking for ethical principles, editorial guidelines, and fact-checking.
• 📊 Media bias charts can help consumers discern credible news sources by showing the political leanings of various media outlets.
• 🕵️‍♂️ Fact-checking websites like PolitiFact and Snopes are valuable tools for verifying the accuracy of news stories.
• 🌟 The speaker concludes by stressing the importance of education and informed decision-making for the health of democracy.

Q & A

What is the speaker's main concern regarding the internet?

The speaker is alarmed by the proliferation of false information on the internet, which has reached alarming levels, especially during the 2016 presidential cycle.

Why did the speaker's distant family member stop coming to Thanksgiving?

The family member stopped coming to Thanksgiving because of a disagreement over misinformation posted about Barack Obama that the speaker tried to correct.

What role does the speaker believe news media should play?

The speaker believes that news media, as the Fourth Estate, should hold people accountable, help understand what's important, and discern fact from fiction.

How has the investment in news media changed since 2004?

There has been a 47% decrease in investment in news media since 2004, leading to fewer news products and a reduction in the number of newspapers.

What impact does the closure of 1,300 small-town newspapers have on communities?

The closure of 1,300 small-town newspapers means that 1,300 communities are not getting the information they need to govern their lives, including updates on school boards and city councils.

What is the speaker's view on the barrier to entry for digital news platforms?

The speaker acknowledges that there is no barrier to entry for anyone to start a digital news platform, but emphasizes the importance of discerning credible sources from opinions.

What is the role of professional journalists according to the speaker?

Professional journalists adhere to a code of ethics, strive to provide unbiased and factual information, and are essential for credible news sources.

Why is it important to consider cognitive biases when consuming news?

Considering cognitive biases helps consumers of news media understand what's really true and not, as biases can influence how we interpret events and information.

What is the significance of ethical principles and guidelines in credible news sources?

Ethical principles and guidelines in credible news sources ensure honest, fair, and fearless news gathering, reporting, and interpretation of information, maintaining editorial independence.

How can consumers of news media verify the credibility of a news source?

Consumers can verify the credibility of a news source by checking if it adheres to a set of ethical principles, has editorial policies, and is transparent about potential conflicts of interest.

What is the speaker's advice on dealing with deep fake videos?

The speaker advises skepticism towards deep fake videos, suggesting that consumers should not always believe what they see and should verify the authenticity of videos.

Outlines

00:00

📢 The Impact of Misinformation

The speaker expresses concern over the spread of false information on the internet, particularly during the 2016 presidential election. They recount a personal anecdote involving the sharing of misinformation about Barack Obama, which led to a family dispute. The speaker emphasizes the importance of credible news sources and the role of professional journalists who adhere to ethical standards. They discuss the decline in news media investment and the closure of many newspapers, which has left communities without essential information. The speaker concludes by urging individuals to discern fact from opinion and to be responsible consumers of news.

05:00

🚨 Dangers of Social Media Misinformation

The speaker discusses the ease with which misinformation can spread on social media platforms and the potential for it to cause significant harm. They cite 'Pizzagate' as an example of how false information can lead to real-world violence. The speaker stresses the importance of looking for ethical principles and guidelines in news sources to determine their credibility. They also mention the role of cognitive biases in interpreting news and suggest strategies for responsible news consumption, such as understanding biases and verifying information through fact-checking sources.

10:01

📊 Evaluating News Sources and Media Bias

The speaker provides guidance on evaluating news sources by referring to media bias charts that categorize news outlets based on their perceived bias. They advocate for seeking out news from the 'middle lane' to avoid echo chambers and to make decisions based on facts. The speaker also suggests using fact-checking websites to verify the accuracy of news stories. They emphasize the importance of being informed and educated citizens in a democracy, quoting Franklin Roosevelt on the necessity of wise choices for democracy to succeed.

Keywords

💡Communications

Communications refers to the process of sharing information, ideas, or messages through various mediums. In the video, the speaker emphasizes the transformative power of communications, suggesting that it can change the world. The theme is that while communications can be positive, it can also spread misinformation, which is a central concern of the video.

💡Misinformation

Misinformation is false or inaccurate information that is spread, regardless of whether there is an intent to mislead. The video discusses the alarming proliferation of misinformation on the internet, particularly during the 2016 presidential cycle, and the speaker's personal experience with its negative impact on relationships.

💡Fourth Estate

The Fourth Estate is a societal institution that acts as a watchdog or guardian of the public interest. In the context of the video, it refers to the news media's role in holding power accountable and helping the public discern fact from fiction. The speaker expresses concern over the erosion of this role due to declining trust and investment in news media.

💡Journalists

Journalists are professionals who gather, verify, and report news. The video highlights the importance of professional journalists who adhere to a code of ethics to provide unbiased and factual information. The speaker contrasts this with the decline in newsroom investment and the closure of newspapers, which impacts communities' access to reliable information.

💡Bias

Bias refers to a preconceived opinion or preference that can influence the way information is interpreted or presented. The speaker discusses how cognitive biases, such as confirmation bias and stereotyping, can affect how we perceive news and information. Recognizing these biases is crucial for discerning credible news.

💡Fact-Checking

Fact-checking is the process of verifying the accuracy of information. The video encourages viewers to fact-check news stories and articles to ensure they are based on facts rather than opinions or misinformation. The speaker provides examples of fact-checking sources that can be used to verify the credibility of news.

💡Deep Fakes

Deep fakes are hyper-realistic, AI-manipulated videos or audio recordings that can be difficult to distinguish from genuine content. The video warns about the prevalence of deep fakes and the challenges they pose to discerning truth in digital media, urging viewers to be cautious about the authenticity of what they see and hear.

💡Echo Chamber

An echo chamber is a situation in which information, ideas, or beliefs are amplified or reinforced by communication and repetition inside a closed system. The speaker advises against living in an echo chamber, preferring to seek out diverse sources of information to avoid having one's beliefs continually reinforced without challenge.

💡Credible News Sources

Credible news sources are those that adhere to ethical principles and guidelines for news gathering and reporting. The video provides an example of such principles from The Economist and suggests that credible news sources have checks and balances to ensure the accuracy and objectivity of their reporting.

💡Media Bias Ratings

Media bias ratings are tools that help consumers understand the potential bias of different news outlets. The video suggests using such ratings to evaluate the credibility of news sources, with the speaker advocating for a balanced approach that avoids extreme viewpoints on either side of the political spectrum.

💡Democracy

Democracy is a system of government where power is vested in the people, who exercise it by electing representatives. The video connects the importance of accurate information to the functioning of a democracy, emphasizing that informed citizens are essential for making wise choices and holding leaders accountable.

Highlights

The power of communications to change the world

Alarm over the proliferation of false information on the internet

The impact of misinformation during the 2016 presidential cycle

Personal experience with the harm caused by misinformation

The importance of discerning fact from fiction in the media

The role of news media as the Fourth Estate

The erosion of trust in news media and its consequences

The decline in investment in news media since 2004

The closure of 1,300 small-town newspapers in the last year

The importance of journalists adhering to a code of ethics

The ease of starting a digital news platform and its implications

The deliberate campaign to misinform and divide society

The Pizzagate incident as an example of misinformation's real-world impact

The criteria for a credible news source

The role of cognitive biases in interpreting news

The importance of being a responsible consumer of news media

The difference between news and opinion on cable news channels

The prevalence of deep fake videos and their impact on trust

Using media bias ratings to discern credible news sources

Fact-checking sources as tools for verifying news

The importance of accurate information for democracy

The responsibility of citizens to be informed and discerning

Transcripts

[Music]

[Music]

I believe deeply in the power of

communications to change the world and

as a communications professional i've

been alarmed over the last several years

at the proliferation of false

information all over the internet you've

maybe seen it as well and about during

the last presidential cycle in 2016

it really reached a fever pitch people

were sharing and posting things that

were patently untrue and really alarming

about this time one of distant family

member of mine posted something about

barack obama that was easily disproved

it wasn't true and now mind you everyone

has their opinion in your entitled to

your opinion and there's lots of reasons

not to alike or agree with someone but

let's not get our knickers in a knot

about information that's not even real

things that aren't true so i had made

mistakes on the internet before i'm

posting things that weren't necessarily

true and people had kindly pointed it

out to me so i believed that this woman

would feel the same way as I did welcome

the welcome the redirection and I was

wrong

and she no longer comes to Thanksgiving

so that's what misinformation can do and

how it can harm us and I think that we

live in a scary time people don't know

who they can trust they don't know what

they can trust and when that happens

it's easy to manipulate people so I

believe in the for news media as the

Fourth Estate I believe like our

forefathers that the news media is here

to hold us accountable and to help us

understand what's important and discern

fact from fiction so the the media has

been eroding over the last several years

and there's a lot of reasons for that

there's is sort of a circular thing

right

fewer people read and listen to to media

the less news product they can put out

and then the fewer people you know fewer

people read and listen so it's become a

real problem and yet news media is here

to help us here to provide the

information we need to make the

decisions that govern our lives most

credible news sources will employ

professional journalists journalists who

adhere to a code of ethics because of

their profession they do their very best

to provide information that's unbiased

and factual they're all human people

make mistakes but that's that's for the

most part that's what they do there's

yet there's been about a forty seven

percent decrease in investment in news

media since 2004 47 4 in news excuse me

newsrooms

TV there's been thirteen hundred fewer

newspapers this last year 1,300

small-town newspapers shut their doors

that means that 1,300 communities are

not getting the information they need to

govern their lives they aren't hearing

about the school board they're not

hearing about city council they're not

the the reporters aren't asking tough

questions of county and city officials

people that are in charge of things that

impact lives and I think that's

important I think that's very scary so

there's there's plenty of ways to get

news right you might be saying well I

there's plenty of news online I can turn

you know go on the internet and find

something right away well I will have

you consider that there's no barrier to

entry anyone can start a digital news

platform and that's okay I mean I think

that we I believe deeply in the power of

you know expression anyone should be

able to to be out there and say share

their opinions and say what they believe

in but the problem is is that we can't

wait that as credible as we would a

normal news source the power is within

us it's really important that we pay

tension and learn to discern what we can

count on is fact versus opinion and so

we have we have that power and it's

important that we claim that so

information and misinformation

especially with some of these social

platforms can really cause some problems

because it's so easy to to have a social

media platform there's been a deliberate

campaign to misinform and divide us by

governments individuals entities that

are seeking to create divide in our

country and we can't keep letting that

happen so not only can it mess with

family dinners but it can also cause

real problems pizza gate is an example

the passed a few years ago people were

trying to discredit Hillary Clinton and

said that she was put out stories on

several platforms and really made it

look look real that she was behind a sex

trafficking ring out of a operating out

of a DC pizza parlor with with kids of

all things and how scary right of course

it was untrue and it was easily debunked

but people really bought into this and

one individual actually went in and I

can only assume that you know he was

doing what he thought was heroic and

went in and shot up a pizza parlor where

people go to eat pizza for goodness sake

go to have dinner and could have really

hurt someone and it's only it's a

miracle that no one was hurt or killed

so that's pretty scary so it's up to us

to look for the things that make

information and make news credible so

one way we can know and we can check

things is that a real a real credible

news source is going to have a set of

ethical principles and guidelines that

they adhere to this is an example from

The Economist and they for example say

honest fair and fearless and news

gathering reporting and interpreting

information they want to maintain

editorial independence reporters use

objective data

and research to support their work and

on the other side they have policies

around conflicts of interest one thing

new employees that previously worked in

partisan positions are forbidden from

covering politics so credible news

sources are going to have those kinds of

checks and balances have policies

governing editorial and how they gather

and share information so there's a lot

of things that you can do to be a

responsible consumer of news media you

can understand the role that

confirmation bias stereotyping and other

cognitive biases play in how we

interpret events news and information we

all have a framework that how we view

the world and that's just normal we're

all human families our education where

we grew up all these things influence

how we look at news but if you recognize

that bias that can help you in

understanding what's really true and not

so if you see a headline for example

that really elicits a strong response to

you or for you that might be because you

have an existing bias so go look it up

research it a little bit and see where

else that newsroom was reported so you

understand and consider your role as a

citizen in a democracy and your

responsibility as a civic participant

and a citizen watchdog that is so

important the things that we share and

we talk about with our friends and our

neighbors and the people that trust us

in turn influence them these things

matter in making decisions in our lives

so be responsible and consider yourself

as a participant in democracy understand

the standards of quality journalism that

are designed to minimize the influence

of individual and group biases like the

slide the previous slide I just showed

you that's any any credible news

organization is going to have those

kinds of things and develop strategies

for verifying news and information and I

would I would add as well there's

there's a difference between

an opinion when 10 people are talking on

a cable news channel about a Pete 1

piece of news for 20 minutes that's not

news that's their opinion about that

piece of news so I like to stick to the

facts and make my decisions accordingly

and also deep fake videos you can't

always believe what you see and you can

do is believe what you hear

deep fake videos have become rampant

people will be talking on a video and

you're certain it's the words are coming

out of this individuals mouth and it's

not necessarily true there's some very

sophisticated techniques for

manipulating video so here's another

example of a tool that you can use in

discerning what's how to evaluate your

news this is news media bias ratings and

there's a whole bunch of these charts

online they're pretty easy to find media

grid I think you can search and this one

in particular has you know the center

these sources USA Today Wall Street

Journal NPR Christian Science Monitor AP

there's some great sources in the middle

and that's really where I tried to stick

I tried to stick to the middle lane I

don't want to live in an echo chamber I

don't want to have my beliefs

continually reinforced I like to just

have this the facts and they make my

decisions accordingly so and then it

shows you know far right far left

different sources so there's several of

those that I find really helpful then

there's another thing you can also check

there's fact-checking sources where you

can check a news an article that you or

a story that you saw and you want to

check into it there's several sources

and this is a source it actually checks

the fact checker if you will so these

are they've claimed are pretty credible

PolitiFact Snopes Snopes is a good ol

iView Snopes a lot truth or fiction

these are great sources for checking the

facts of a story so you you're armed

with that these are more biased sources

so there's fact checker from the

Washington Post fact myth check your

- zebra fact so not all fact checkers

are created equally apparently

and I would would contend that this is

so important to our democracy and to the

divides that are in our country is to

have the right information and be able

to share and discuss things

intelligently and not worry about things

that don't even matter that aren't even

true there's plenty of things that

divide us and we can't continue to let

that happen

that's our responsibility as Franklin

Roosevelt said democracy cannot succeed

unless those who express their choice

are prepared to choose wisely

the real safeguard of democracy

therefore is education information is

power let's take back our power

[Applause]

[Music]