Is 2018 the year to defeat 'fake news'?
In an annual Marist Poll, released in December, 鈥渇ake news鈥� ranked as the second-most annoying phrase Americans hear (鈥淲hatever鈥� is the perpetual winner).
But however overused or misused the term has become, fake news isn鈥檛 likely to go away soon. Instead the questions 鈥淗ow do we spot it?鈥� and 鈥淲hat can we do about it?鈥� are likely to loom even larger in 2018.
Social networks such as Facebook and Twitter are pledging to police themselves more vigorously. France and Germany, with strong concerns about the attempts of 鈥渇ake news鈥� to influence recent elections, are taking legislative action.
Beginning Jan. 1, online posts on major German social media sites (Facebook, etc.) deemed to contain 鈥渙bviously illegal鈥� material, such as hate speech or fake news, risk fines of as much as 鈧�50 million ($60.4 million). Individual citizens can report content they think qualifies.
Earlier this week French President Emmanuel Macron proposed new legislation that he said would 鈥渆volve our legal system to protect our democracy from fake news.鈥� The law would make more transparent the sources of online content, and would have the power to block or remove anything determined to be 鈥渇ake.鈥澛�
鈥淚f we want to protect liberal democracies,鈥� Mr. Macron said, 鈥渨e have to be strong and have clear rules.鈥� The French leader has claimed that Russian sources spread misinformation about his 2017 election campaign.
The European Commission has also set out guidelines for social media sites, prodding them to act faster to identify and delete hate speech online.
Both countries need to proceed cautiously. Government-based efforts, however well intentioned, run the risk of impinging on citizens鈥� rights of free speech.聽
More desirable would be an empowered citizenry, alert to detecting, and rejecting, fake news when they see it.聽
Several US states have begun to fight fake news by ramping up the teaching of news media literacy in schools. 聽
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 a partisan issue to appreciate the importance of good information and the teaching of tools for navigating鈥� news online, said Hans Zeiger, a Republican state senator in Washington State who cosponsored a bill on the topic last year. 鈥淭here is such a thing as an objective source versus other kinds of sources,鈥� he told The Associated Press, 鈥渁nd that鈥檚 an appropriate thing for schools to be teaching.鈥�
Media literacy is being encouraged to be part of courses on subjects from civics to language arts. The prevalence of fake news during the 2016 US presidential campaign seems to be driving at least some of these efforts.聽
Students from middle school to college can be 鈥渆asily duped鈥� by sites they visit online, and they need to be better equipped to use their reasoning ability to sort truth from fiction and detect bias, concluded a study published by researchers at Stanford University.
Students should be able to not only cite sources for material they present in their schoolwork but also be able to explain why the sources are credible.
To be responsible citizens, adults need to take on this same task of winnowing the tares from the wheat as they go about the important job of learning what鈥檚 happening in the world.聽
As Sgt. Joe Friday used to tell witnesses on the classic TV police drama 鈥淒ragnet,鈥� 鈥淎ll we want are the facts, ma鈥檃m.鈥澛�
He rejected "fake news." Informed citizens are able to do that too.
