By Henry Omoregie
(First Published May, 2020 in Sisi Port Harcourt)
It is not about being educated or intelligent or skilful, it’s about being in the know about things happening around us.
Those who are knowledgeable about impending disasters are more likely to carve out escape routes when danger comes knocking. Those who are oblivious or ignorant of the same danger most likely get caught in the confusion with trouble lurking around.
The speed, quantity and quality of information disseminated by dozens of media types also renders 9 to 5 (or 8 to 4) employees daft as regards staying informed.
Other self-employed people who are constantly busy with customers or some instruments of work, can also look foolish when a 48 hour-old news item becomes ‘Breaking News’ in their eyes and ears.
SPEED
The speed of news these days is lightning fast. With mobile telephony, news from virtually every corner of the planet can be accessed when required, any second, minute or hour.
A bank teller who is busy with clients, receiving or paying cash, transfixed on the computer or calculator for hours in the banking hall, will surely miss out on breaking news that may affect driving back home. If the breaking news is about a riot on the street leading to the bank teller’s street of residence, some of the prompt actions required to escape trouble may not be taken as at when necessary.
Sometimes, text messages sent directly to mobile devices are left unread for hours. If such messages are intended as early warning for impending dangers, an ‘ignorant’, very busy and job-focused bank teller may experience unpleasant consequences of such ignorance.
Efforts must be made by people in the same categories as the bank teller’s, to take quick peeks at message notifications.
Messages can then be filtered in order of urgency and importance. This act of periodic checks on news sources or other sources of information, can save lives and salvage property promptly with quick responses.
QUANTITY
The quantity of news churned out globally every second can be likened to the catch in a fisherman’s net. In most cases, not everything that sticks onto a fisherman’s net is edible or of commercial interests. Some are seaweed, or waste materials dumped in the river or sea.
Not every information invading the superhighway is useful or even correct. Not all information are authentic. That is a notorious fact. The surer or safer way to be sure of authenticity of information is to do a quick search with a line of sentence on any search engine. If the message has not been published by notable mainstream media on their websites or apps, do not swallow the information hook, line and sinker. You could be swallowing fake news if you do not do a quick search for replicated stories.
Lots of these potentially fake news are spread via messaging apps like WhatsApp. To control the incidence of possible unauthenticated news and messages, WhatsApp cut down the number of contacts news can be shared to, to 5 at time. Forwarded messages can be sent only once at a time.
QUALITY
The characteristics of authentic news items are numerous and eclectic. One of them is the quality of presentation. Another is the quality of grammar used. Poorly woven tenses are representative of purveyors of fake news in Nigeria.
Headlines are also sensationalized to hit at the subliminal levels of human thought processes.
Those who are bereft of critical thinking skills usually get caught in the web of fake news. Bad news sells and spread faster to the ears. Agreed. But that does not make the news authentic information.
More people will be interested in reading about a man who bit a dog than a dog biting a man.
These types of gullibility for fake or unconfirmed reports have made voters choose wrong candidates or taken wrong investment decisions that consequently affects lives and livelihoods of the ignorant public.
People have hated whole races or discriminated against other people because of ‘yellow journalism’.
According to study.com, “Yellow journalism is an exaggerated, exploitative, sensational style of newspaper reporting. It emerged at the end of the nineteenth century when rival newspaper publishers competed for sales in the coverage of events leading up to and during the Spanish-American War in 1898.
The growing turmoil in Cuba between the Spanish imperialists and Cuban revolutionaries gave William Randolph Hearst, publisher of the New York Morning Journal, and Joseph Pulitzer, publisher of the New York World, an ongoing story to cover in their newspapers.
To keep Americans entertained and coming back for new developments, these yellow journalists would often exaggerate events, sometimes fabricating the truth and would present information in a way that was intended to excite the public and provoke interest, even if the story’s details were not true.”
With the advent of social media and thousands of online platforms, yellow journalism has now been digitized. Fake news has thus, taken root and living a saprophytic life with regular mainstream media. Only a critically curious mind can spot fake news.
According to a BBC Monitoring ‘disinformation specialist’, Shayan Sardarizadeh, the rise of social media and online platforms means misleading information can rapidly go viral. It is good to always be sceptical about news until one is doubly sure of what we are reading, hearing or seeing.
To spot potential fake news, first off, check the source of the news or information. Who has shared it? Who has published it? Does the online publication source have a mainstream media building, a brick and mortar structure with fixed address and phone number contacts?
Next, check the language used in the headline? Is it sensational or full of loaded terms? These questions are pertinent to ask oneself because social media platforms are fraught with misleading images and memes.
According to the Oxford English dictionary, a ‘meme’ is an image, video, piece of text or other graphics typically humorous in nature, that is copied and spread rapidly by Internet users, often with slight variations.”
Memes featuring a public figure and a quote can look very convincing to even the smartest of intellectuals who do not corroborate things they see hear or read. Double check the quote. Did the person in the meme actually say it? That can be justified by cross-checking one or two phrases or sentences in a search engine like Google or Yahoo.
Confirmation can be sought if the curious reader or information seeker zooms in on the image or videos to see if there is any hint about its location. Using a reverse image search engine can ease things for the inquisitive reader.
With image search engines, the original sources and dates of images posted on social media, messaging apps and online platforms can be determined.
Presenting a meme or image originally created 10 years earlier is a clear indication of mischievous information. That is the first red flag that should not be ignored while seeking to authenticate the information contained in a news item or private message.
Videos have also been shared purporting to be a particular location in an English speaking country. With further scrutiny, a zoom in on the shared video showed police signs written in Spanish. That’s a tell-tale sign that you may have be reading fake and exaggerated news items.
Yes, some of the information contained may be true , but the attempt at sensationalism and distortion of facts puts the entire news item in doubt.
News items seen and heard on television and radio seem the most likely to be more authentic to people.
However, written or printed matter is more likely to be laced with unconfirmed reports especially if the audience is research- lazy. With increased interest to cross-check information for similar messages, people will surely assist themselves in getting qualitative data from overloaded sources or media.
“When we think of the skills required to spot and understand misinformation, we tend to think in terms of journalists and researchers. What we don’t always pay enough attention to is how important it is to teach these skills at an early age.
In one write-up of a recent webcast hosted by the School Library Journal and the International Society for Technology in Education, disinfo experts Peter Adams, Renee DiResta and Jennifer LaGarde offer a collection of tips for school teachers to help children navigate information disorder.
This includes familiar practical tools such as reverse image searching or geolocation, as well as broader skills such as thinking critically about how and why an image was taken.”
Efforts must be made to acquire critical thinking skills required to appraise news critically so as to avoid numerous pitfalls associated with succumbing to the vagaries of information overload.
Copyright: Henry Omoregie (May, 2020)
