Lilah Gagne
lmgagne1123@gmail.com
The social media landscape is rapidly changing the way we consume media, as well as how we interact with society online. The online conversation surrounding the Coronavirus pandemic is constantly evolving as new updates are released.
The "Stay at Home" orders across the country have led to increased activity on social media as a way to interact with each other since social gatherings have come to a screeching halt.
Social media is a great place for official agencies and experts to share important information about the outbreak, however social media is a two-way-street meaning non-experts have the ability to share information just as rapidly as world organizations, health agencies, and government officials.
He said what?
A screenshot of a Tweet made by Joe Biden.
One major source of false information has come from President Donald Trump and other public figures relating to testing availability and treatment.
President Trump suggested researching whether Coronavirus might be treated by injecting disinfectant into the body. He also proposed irradiating patients' bodies with UV light. Both of his proposals were dismissed by doctors.
Disinfectants are considered hazardous substances and can be poisonous if ingested. This prompted Joe Biden to release a tweet telling the public to ignore Trump and not ingest bleach as a way of solving Coronavirus.
There are many other pieces of fake health advice that have gone viral on the internet.
One example is eating garlic. News that garlic was the cure for the virus began to circulate on social media. The World Health Organization stated that while garlic is a healthy food with antimicrobial properties there is no evidence to suggest that eating garlic can protect you from getting the virus.
How can I distinguish between fake news and the truth?
In a time of high stress, fears, and uncertainties relating to COVID-19 it is easy for false narratives regarding the pandemic to spread.
Many people are having a hard time distinguishing between the truth and fake news in a time of crisis because we are all so desperate for information.
In a highly technological environment, people have the ability to create their own news using photoshop, video editing, changing headlines, and by word of mouth.
One way we can help consumers distinguish between what is true and what isn't would be to fact check sources. Is the source credible? We should also be questioning the speakers in an article and whether the quote is a direct quote. Is the speaker qualified to make this statement? Is the speaker knowledgeable on the topic?
Finally, news organizations like The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, NPR, and The Wall Street Journal are a few examples of credible news outlets. Relating to COVID-19, the CDC, the United Nations, and the World Health Organization are three excellent organizations to rely on for updates.
Lilah,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you regarding a great deal of false information about the virus has come directly from our commander in chief.
Another way to ensure it's a credible news sources is to check whether or not data and statistics were provided, and if so, verify the sources, of course. The reason I am saying this is because it is uncommon for fake news to provide any legitimate statistics, charts, data, backing up their claims. If it is reliable, the author will have no problem crediting the source of the information as expected.
It is troublesome in this age of information overload that so much of this "information" turns out to be invalid and insignificant.
I firmly believe gradeschools need to stress now more than ever the importance of verifying sources and credible information.