Considering the history of literacy that we have learned in class, it can seem pretty obvious that we regard the printed word very highly. I have had numerous professors tell me over the years about how the printed word is more established and more well-trusted. I remember being taught by some teacher as a child that books and other published works printed in text were some of the most trust-worthy sources to use as they had to be verified. Weirdly enough, I still believed that up into my second year of college.
However, there are multiple books out there that are filled with false information and being printed does not magically make them correct. Yet, I still trust print in a way that I cannot explain. Weirder still is that I do not even read printed works that often, (besides some fiction books and the text books for this one class) as most of my information can be acquired through a computer screen. Like my title says, I get my news from Facebook.
To be fair, I follow BBC, NPR, and other respected news organizations. Yet, I have found that multiple posts from less reputable to almost unknown sources are often the first ones to break a story. I wait a day or two or maybe even a few hours and then the other news outlets share a similar story. My guess is that they took time to verify what had happened, which makes me happy. My other guess is that the big news outlets only heard about it through a similar Facebook post or maybe even the same Facebook post that I saw, which is oddly frightening.
I know being printed does not magically make a text correct or factual, but I’m still uneasy trusting non-printed sources. It’s almost like it’s too easy…
Where do you get your news from? What type of news do you focus on and how do you judge for authenticity?
I do believe it’s healthy to be weary of news from e-articles. As of late, publications strive to be the first one to report on a subject in order to get the most clicks on an article. This practice has made news coverage very rushed and unpolished, often times resulting in false or hyperbolic news coverage. The problem perpetuates as many news coverage platforms are openly biased, only covering things that support their agenda–politically mainly–while simultaneously forcing their opinion heavily into what was supposed to be an objective reporting of news. Printed text may have some of the same flaws (such as heavy bias), but at least it’s typically well polished, knowing all of its information before it’s released. Personally, I usually read several different e-articles before I formulate an opinion on what’s being covered. I believe this is the safest way to get adequate knowledge as you can usually cipher through the bias and horrid journalism with cross-analyzation.