When I was young, long before the Internet, social media, and smartphones, we got our news from radio, television, newspapers, and magazines. The broadcast media were, by and large, nonpartisan and (mostly) unbiased, to the extent that any institution run by human beings can be.
Newspapers and magazines were more apt to show prejudice. Still, it was usually clear when they were doing so, either because the outlet was forthright about their stance or, in the case of most newspapers, because they carefully walled off their editorial content from their objective news reporting.
There was a curious subculture of tabloid papers (a few of which are still around) that used to line grocery store checkouts, The National Enquirer being perhaps the best-known. In the pages of these publications, a mysterious world existed where “facts” were nonexistent, replaced by greatly exaggerated or entirely fabricated sensationalist stories designed to capture one’s attention.
“I had Elvis’ baby!”
“Aliens meet with the Clintons!”
“Man eats his own arm to survive an avalanche!”
“Bat child found in cave!”
Full disclosure: I loved reading those rags! They were fun and entertaining. But no one I knew took them seriously. It was a joke that everyone was in on.
But sadly, things have changed so much since those more naïve times. These days, trustworthy journalism is in a death spiral while digital media pumps out more biased, misleading, or plain false information than anyone can keep up with. Or discern from real news.
The trend was well underway by the start of Donald Trump’s first term as president in 2017. But the Trump administration made it clear from the starting block that they were about to take it into the stratosphere.
On January 17 of that year, the new president’s press secretary, Sean Spicer, held his first press conference to defend Trump’s statement that his inauguration had drawn the “largest audience to ever witness an inauguration—period—both in person and around the globe.”
Spicer’s first assignment was to balm the president’s wounded ego by falsely claiming that the “mainstream media” was intentionally under-reporting the attendance at Trump’s inauguration.
It was one of the most embarrassing performances by a White House Press Secretary in memory.
Facing pushback, the administration continued the assault on truth when five days later, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway went on Meet the Press to defend Spicer’s and Trump’s claims. It was then that she notoriously used the phrase “alternative facts” to respond to host Chuck Todd’s question about Spicer “utter[ing] a provable falsehood.”
(Todd smartly responded, “Look, alternative facts are not facts. They’re falsehoods.”)
We used to live in a world where most news was vetted and fact-checked by trained professionals before we ever had a chance to consume it. Today, we bear the responsibility of being our own editors and fact-checkers.
It was at that point that many of us realized we were entering a new phase of public life in America—one that was increasingly Orwellian in nature.
This phenomenon has only grown worse since then.
I was made startlingly aware of this recently by something I saw on Facebook. There are now hundreds—possibly thousands—of AI-powered websites that purport to be “news” outlets, but are in reality nothing but the 21st-century digital equivalent of those supermarket tabloids.
But with a crucial distinction.
Unlike the National Enquirer and its ilk, it’s not at all evident that these fake purported sources are entirely fabricated. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that these fake stories are primarily spread through social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and “X.”
They usually have an air of authenticity.
A celebrity known for their philanthropic efforts donates millions to a charity in their hometown.
(Kentucky country music star Chris Stapleton has raised millions in benefit concerts for people in Kentucky, Texas, and elsewhere. But he did not donate $72 million to build housing for unhoused people in Lexington.)
Stephen Colbert and Rachel Maddow are about to launch their own media empire.
(There have been speculation and rumors that the two are working on some sort of collaboration, but nothing—as of this writing—has been made public, despite numerous fake stories to the contrary.)
Unlike the old tabloid stories, these sound just plausible enough to get people to click on them.
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We’re not in on the joke this time; rather, the joke is on us.
How does one avoid being hoodwinked by all the fake news that’s out there? Here’s what I do.
- I don’t get my news from social media.
- When I do look for news, I go to trustworthy outlets that employ trained journalists and have rigid standards. Reuters is my go-to source.
- I try to quash fake information on social media, even though it’s an endless game of whack-a-mole that is probably futile, but it makes me feel as if I’m doing something about it.
- For all that’s holy and good, please do not share stories without at least doing a basic fact check. Here are six great places to check: The 6 Best Fact-Checking Sites for Finding Unbiased Truth.
We used to live in a world where most news was vetted and fact-checked by trained professionals before we ever had a chance to consume it. Today, we bear the responsibility of being our own editors and fact-checkers.
Let’s take that responsibility seriously, lest our slide into a world of “alternative facts” become a hole we cannot dig out of.
