Ask yourself: Can I trust this source?

Emma Dollenmayer 

ed569918@ohio.edu 

Opinion pieces are integral to journalistic publications, magazines, and journals. Without a platform where one (who is not a reporter) and in most cases is a columnist is allowed the opportunity for their voice to be heard, one's right to free speech is oppressed. Consequently, we risk endangering American democracy. 

However, the line between opinion and fact is becoming blurred. Without the content of a piece being labeled correctly, the public will continue to argue over what should be objective facts. 

                                                         Photo provided by Giving Compass 

In a study conducted by Pew Research Center, only 26% of adults could correctly classify the five presented factual-based statements and 35% opinion. Suppose consumers of news cannot distinguish a factual statement from an opinion-based one. How is society expected to identify a whole article without proper attribution correctly? 

Journalism's first obligation is to the truth, meaning the press needs to be more clear about what is fact and what is an opinion, especially with on-air content. However, fake news will always persist. The media will never get rid of it entirely; therefore, reputable news sources need to fact-check and be transparent about their content and reporting more than ever. Resultantly, it's often up to the public to decide whether or not a news piece, social media post, or video is accurate before sharing and spreading falsity and fake news simply by conducting individual research. 

According to Dalhousie University, there are six criteria a website should meet to be considered credible: Authority, purpose, coverage, currency, objectivity, and accuracy. 

For starters, when reading a post or article that seems misleading or like it might contain misinformation, first check what source published it. If it is not a reputable one or is known for spreading misinformation, it's probably better not to trust it. 

On the contrary, if it is a typically reliable source, look further into the reporters themselves and see their experience within the journalism field. 

Other tactics include looking for plot holes or grammatical mistakes within the article. If there are several grammatical errors, likely, the copy-checkers didn't do their job thoroughly and failed to fact check additional information. 

Essentially, to be considered trustworthy and truthful, the site a story comes from must have proper authorship with credentials qualifying journalists to write and publish news. Additionally, the site should serve a purpose, be intentional, and be geared toward a specific audience. Coverage needs to be diverse, thorough, and unbiased. Finally, a site should cover timely topics and be honest about mistakes.

To put it simply, we are not sure that the public can play a part in debunking unreliable and unethical news sites and ultimately limiting the spread of misinformation by only sharing what a reader is sure is accurate.