Jaelyn R. Smith
js105916@ohio.edu
Edward O. Wilson said, “we are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom. The world henceforth will be run by synthesizer, people able to put together the right information at the right time, think critically about it, and make important choices wisely.”
This quote depicts a community of people who will end the cycle of junk news. The phenomenon has become more prevalent as technology and social media have evolved. Free-for-all news organizations have increasingly begun to report on what’s trending to create revenue. This type of journalism not only lacks transparency, but also lacks accountability and credibility because they are typically hyper partisan groups that promote political agendas and gossip. America and the political agendas that exist in our government have attributed to the increasing cycle of junk news; people will believe this type of reporting because it matches their beliefs, thus creating a more divided America.
PBS News produced a series regarding the junk news cycle and how Facebook alone has played a large role in dividing American citizens. Individuals interviewed by PBS claimed that Facebook has had a tendency to take up multiple hours of their day, as they get lost in social media algorithms that provide an endless stream of content that re-affirms that individual user’s beliefs. This is problematic given that many hyper partisan sites are created by Russian spies, intended to commit espionage and collect research on America’s political patterns and governing body as a whole. Facebook’s filter bubble allows room for error and has provides no immediate resolution for identifying Russian espionage sites.
Because Americans are consistently viewing content that is one sided and information that is only confirmed by what is being said online, middle ground between American’s has been buried. Most individuals reported, Facebook did not sway their opinions, but it did harden them. This has lead PBS to ask the question, does Facebook reward polarization?
Heba Aly gave a TedTalk that addressed the issues with polarized journalism. She compared junk news to junk food. Over the past decade many Americans have become more aware with the health risks junk food can have, thus we have seen an increase in health food stores and vegetarian/ vegan options on restaurant menus. Aly claimed that if we take consciousness to what we put into our bodies, why is it that we do not want to do the same with our minds.
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| Picture source: Bēhance |
Journalism that is over opinionated, one sided, superficial, and lacks evidence is junk news and even more so “junk” for American minds. It was said that junk news can be considered more harmful than fake news because fake news is known to be fake, but junk news offers simplistic and uninformed narratives. Such narratives don’t offer truth or the entirety of a story, both of which should be upheld as strict values for journalists. Journalists who produce simplistic narratives and the readers that follow those narratives created and allow room for a warped view of conflicts, which lowers prospects for peace among allies and foreign affairs in general.
Aly presented three reasons why should not want to acknowledge those simplistic narratives.
1. We live in an interconnected world: People, politics, environment, culture, technology, economics, and trade.
2. Tax payer money: American citizens pay taxes and in the spirit of democracy we should want to know where our money goes and more importantly what it is accomplishing.
3. Common humanity: Communities are being pushed the edge by unemployment, climate change, urbanization, and violence. In all of this, American needs a united front.
This being said, Americans should want to eradicate junk news; it prohibits us from preventing, responding to, and resolving crisis’. Junk news fails democracy because it fails to provide the proper information to participate as informed and active citizens. Society has become immune to entertainment over information. It is up the next generation of journalist to end the cycle and abolish simplistic narratives that create a hyper partisan and divided America.
Hi Jaelyn! I love the quote by Edward O. Wilson that you included at the beginning. Being the synthesizer of our never-ending news cycle is arguably one of the most important role of journalists. This blog post reminds me a lot of a Netflix Original that I watched recently called The Social Dilemma. The film covers how social media and phones in general have manipulated our lives and created a cycle of addiction to the flow of information. The producers claimed that research has show that the polarization of recommended content and personalized feeds has created the most divided election in history. I think that this is essential to acknowledge as a journalist and shows how important it is increase research in the field of technological ethics.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your post, Jaelyn! The quote by Edward O. Wilson and your post as a whole reminds me of the idea that people are talking, but nobody is really saying anything. When nobody is saying anything, nobody listens. The media is often the root of this dangerous cycle of poor and ineffective information.
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