Now that we’ve considered some principles, let’s get practical and put those principles into practice. The key is going deeper into the news, leveraging your skepticism and curiosity and common sense toward that moment when you can say to yourself, “Ah, I get it.”
What’s involved? Mostly an adventurous spirit; remember, this is about exploration.
Among other things, you need to:
- Find trustworthy sources of information.
- Vet sources you don’t already have reason to trust.
- Join the conversation(s).
As always in this book, what follows is far from comprehensive. Rather, it’s a surface-level look at an almost infinitely wide and deep topic. Look for many more specifics and examples at the Mediactive website.
As I become more media active through the news I read, I have already learned how to value the credibility of my news by reading this chapter. I am able to relate to Dan Gillmor when he talks about finding “the good stuff” in the aggregation of news everyday. I normally do not believe anything I read or hear in the media until I delve into the story longer and find out if it was credible or not. Aggregation in the news is sometimes hard to get through. A cluster of news articles spewing information all over the internet can be intimidating to read because it’s hard to comprehend all of the stories. This leaves you vulnerable to accepting fake news. Gillmor says that it is easier to follow a blogger or journalist who specializes in one area of the news, rather than following a website that spews out bundles of different news stories, because that blogger/journalist is able to research deep into an area of the media that they care about and will be the best informed on what is credible or fake. Gillmor gives the advice of not following a lot of news posters on social media. He says to rather follow “subgroups” of people who pay attention to specific topics. As an active Twitter user, I follow a myriad of people who all post different things. After reading this, I am going to start following a “list” or two of people who cover news that I care about. This way I can become more active in news I am interested in as well as being more informed on the topics and not falling for fake news.