VPC members share their take on conference speakers

Tom Mullen sorts fake news from real journalism.

By: Cherie Blazer, VPC secretary and Sue Brinkerhoff Bland, Galley Pruf editor

University of Richmond Director of Public Affairs Journalism Tom Mullen says we have an epidemic of “false facts” today and that fake news is a real problem but one that isn’t new. What is new is the technology that propagandists have at their disposal and the relentless assault on journalists in the U.S. History shows us that governments, including the U.S., have used propaganda as a tool to fight back against enemies in times of war and in the face of criticism.

Here’s why good journalism matters at every level, Mullen says:

• it gives oxygen to democracy;
• it gives people info they need to make decisions, and
• it provides an essential civil service

By demonstrating how easy it is to create a presence online to distribute false news, Mullen helped the audience learn to identify methods fake news providers use to stir up basic emotions and amplify them through social media channels. He also showed how false news outperforms real, verifiable information in social media.

Here are some of Mullen’s tips for determining falsehoods:

• Use advanced Twitter and Facebook account settings for insight
• Determine when a Twitter account was launched and where
• Check grammar: a message is suspicious if syntax and spelling are slightly off
• Look for similarly worded tweets/Facebook postings
• Examine images associated with these accounts

Mullen recommends these sources for seeking accuracy:

• www.politifact.com
• www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker
• Snopes.com
• Support good LOCAL as well as national journalism

Remember:

Journalists bear witness to history.  What would happen to our history without it?

The free press is an essential part of democracy.