All:
While reading the WSJ this week I came across the above editorial by
Jeffrey Herbst in the issue of 12 December 2016, page A17. I found it
to be of interest and hope that other readers of this site will
experience the same.
* Opinion <http://www.wsj.com/news/opinion>
* Commentary <http://www.wsj.com/news/types/commentary-u-s>
How to Beat the Scourge of Fake News
Facebook and Google can’t do it alone. Better educating consumers is
crucial.
ENLARGE
Photo: iStock
By
Jeffrey Herbst
Dec. 11, 2016 4:21 p.m. ET
203 COMMENTS
<http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-to-beat-the-scourge-of-fake-news-1481491264#livefyre-comment>
This was supposed to be the information age. Instead, we find ourselves
in a swamp of disinformation, rumor, innuendo and fake news. To cite a
few examples: A false endorsement of Donald Trump by the pope on
Facebook <http://quotes.wsj.com/FB> went viral, along with a story that
Ireland was accepting anti-Trump refugees from the U.S. On Dec. 4 a man
was arrested
<http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2016/12/04/man-arrested-with-gun-at-comet-ping-pong-washington-eatery-subject-of-fake-news-hoax/>
after firing an assault weapon in a Washington, D.C., pizzeria after
reading a fake online news story claiming that Hillary Clinton and her
campaign chief John Podesta ran a child sex ring in the restaurant’s
basement.
What can be done to provide Americans with better news during this
wrenching transformation of the information ecosystem? Some want to
foist the responsibility on the very tech companies that started the
revolution. Yes, they can do a better job by, among other things,
developing algorithms that identify and block fake news. And as this
newspaper reported
<http://www.wsj.com/articles/google-pulled-into-debate-over-fake-news-on-the-web-1479159867>
last month, Facebook and Google are taking steps to “prevent fake-news
websites from generating revenue through their ad-selling services.”
But hoping that the tech companies can be the sole or even primary
answer to the question of improving the quality of news is quixotic at
best. These companies have achieved commercial success beyond anything
seen in human history because they excel at giving consumers exactly
what they want.
This is hardly the first time that fake news has been controversial. The
“yellow journalism” of the late 19th century featured fake news, false
interviews, and an obsessive focus on crime. As William Randolph Hearst
and Joseph Pulitzer engaged in an energetic race to the bottom, many
believed that the hyperbole found in the dailies helped determine the
American entry into the Spanish-American War and was at least partially
responsible for the assassination of President William McKinley.
Concerned, at least in part, about the excesses of journalism that he
helped spawn, Pulitzer gave the funding for what became the Columbia
University Graduate School of Journalism to help elevate the profession.
Today, those looking for a supply-side solution to the news
misunderstand what has happened to the information ecosystem. As the
forecaster Paul Saffo has noted, in the past, information was
scarce—there were few reporters, it was hard to unearth facts, and
difficult to transmit information quickly—so traditional gatekeepers
like the national newspapers and the television networks could control
the distribution of news. Now that anyone with a smartphone can be a
reporter, blogger and photographer with the ability to transmit to the
whole world almost costlessly, there is a hyper-abundance of news and no
one can control how the information flows.
Therefore, the demand side is where the fake news problem will largely
have to be solved. If the customer wants higher-quality news, the
algorithms that shape social media will relentlessly ship excellent
journalism. The question is how to convince customers to demand
high-quality news that may come at a price when they are swamped with
low-quality news that is free, and often more entertaining.
Lessons can be drawn from cases where people essentially have begun to
move away from hyper-abundant goods to more costly ones because they
began to value qualities other than price. For instance, organic food is
the fastest-growing segment of the food market despite its expense.
Demand for more expensive food did not just materialize. It was the
result of long campaigns of persuasion by advocates who were able to
make a direct connection between what people ate and health.
At the Newseum, we work to change consumer taste in news by showing
citizens that the jeers and jabs of 140 characters may be protected free
speech, but they prevent the serious consideration of new ideas. Each
year, we teach media literacy to millions of students through our free
online NewseumED program. They become better citizens by learning how to
discern what is true and what is not on social media by analyzing
sources and making evidence-based arguments.
This is one area where the U.S. education system can make an immediate
and important impact. Social-studies and journalism programs in
secondary schools and colleges should be adapted to improve media
literacy and help students become responsible citizens in the digital
age. Prompting citizens to become intentional news consumers will also
be an excellent way to resurrect civics education.
Journalists, educators and social-media executives must all work to
ensure that consumers understand why demanding better news is essential
to the future of our democracy. Simply complaining about tech companies
won’t cut it.
/Mr. Herbst is the president and chief executive officer of the Newseum
in Washington, D.C./
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