Don't be a sucker for "fake" news--guidelines

    Are you skeptical? I hope so.

So I tell my students. Challenge everything you hear or read—including this sentence. Don’t take anything without checking it out.

An old copy editor’s maxim—“If your mother tells you she loves you, check it out.”

Maybe not that extreme, but with all the talk of “fake news” these days and trust in the news media at a low, intelligent citizens need to be more vigilant about their news sources.

With the current occupant of the White House labeling everything he disagrees with as “fake,” and the verbal vomit of “social” media,  this is more critical than ever.

So here are my thoughts that appeared in my column in this month’s Oklahoma Publisher.

A reader’s guide to getting factual news

(Don’t be a sucker for fake news)

• Be skeptical. Check it out.
• Seek multiple sources. Any person who relies on just one source of information these days is shallow, and lazy.
• Be skeptical of anything on “social” media, especially from individuals who seem to have personal or political agendas.
• If “social” or other media quote another news source, especially a newspaper, look it up to make sure it’s a real newspaper, not a fake one.
• If some “news” sounds outrageous or extreme, always find more than one source to look it up (If it sounds too good to be true…). Ask “Why” something sounds extreme.
• If the source always presents just one viewpoint with loaded political or other claims, regardless of the viewpoint, be skeptical.
• Beware of loaded propaganda language in “news” items like “right –wing,” “liberal,” “fake news.” Such terms are dead giveaways of slanted or false facts.
• If you’ve never heard of the source of the “news” before, or if you can’t identify the source, if it anonymous, why believe it?
• A source of information that presents more than one viewpoint is more trustworthy.
• Verifying real news is easier than ever with Internet searches, or by calling or emailing your newspaper editor.
• Unlike other media (broadcast and digital), most newspapers clearly label opinions as editorials and columns, separated from the main news pages.
• Just because you disagree with some news, or don’t like it, doesn’t mean it is ‘fake.”  
• Has the news source earned your trust with factual information in the past?
• Who really owns the news media source—Do other interests affect the news?
• Use the Internet to find the ownership—for instance:

1. CBS is owned by Viacom, a media conglomerate, with interests in cinema and cable TV.
2. NBC is owned by GE and Comcast, world’s largest broadcast and cable TV company by revenue.
3. ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company.
4. Fox News, Wall Street Journal, is owned by Rupert Murdock, of News Corp, including 150 newspapers, magazines and stations around the world.
5. CNN Is owned by Time Warner, third largest entertainment company by revenue.
6. New York Times is owned by the Ochs-Sulzberger family since 1896 with 16 newspapers, 8 TV stations, and more.

You can easily look up the ownership of your local newspapers, television and radio stations.

Zen and the art of twitter--#clarkclass speaker

"This class is nothing like I expected," said one #clarkclass Twitter for Journalists student today, talking to me, @okieprof, and her colleagues. 

@jdaverhea, @okieprof, in December

She was talking about our latest speaker, Dave Rhea, @jdaverhea, general manger of The Oklahoma Gazette,  @okgazette.  Lots of people think twitter is shallow because of its 140 character message limit. They needed to be in class today.
He talked about twitter for sure, but so much more, including his work as a band musician, with a YouTube clip. There was philosphy, leadership  advice, the relationship of music and writing, life and time, and much more. He usually talks about the "bat belt" analogy but since we posted that article yesterday, it was a new free-wheeling discussion.
 I half joked it was "Zen and the art of twitter," and I think there's an article there. Check other student tweets under the hashtag #clarkclass today prove it.
After class, we debrief, and each student comments, recorded by fellow student @JenniferHasel.  Here's the debriefing.

• I like how he knew himself and had a deeper meaning of life
• Mechanical thinking is what you have been conditioned to think and it limits ways to think about yourself; you have to produce great content and get yourself out of mechanical thinking
• He met people through Twitter; “Twitter is the best networking tool I've ever experienced"
• He thinks it's not the past or the present but now; how to think about being in the moment and that how Twitter is that way
• He's very deep with everything that he does and says
• Producing content constantly changes and you have to adapt
• Continually educate yourself
• I was able to relate to him and the way he talks to himself and how he thinks about himself the whole time realizing that everything else going on around you is just a distraction
• Be yourself on Twitter
• I like his concept of leadership
• That psychological views and relating to journalism
• His management style
• Writing is like a marriage and music is like an affair; successful writing takes a lot of work and is a long journey; music is fast and provides instant gratification
• Every journalist should be a generalist, well-rounded, and interested in everything
• I like his idea about group feeds on Twitter
• His story on the Meyer Briggs survey and how finding out who you are can help you communicate with people that are different than you
• I like what you said about storytelling; whether you’re using Twitter, songwriting, etc., you’re still telling a story
• You have to portray your story; you can know it or experience it but you have to put it on paper
• People already have the capacity to be awesome so just be awesome now; don't wait
• He gets locked in; when you’re more focused, you're more motivated
• “This isn't going to be cool later because it's cool now”
• Forget about the past and the future, think about the present
• He uses Twitter like a brain pause or smoke break to keep focused
• "When you're conscious, your tweets are better than when you're unconscious"
• His thoughts on action awareness, emotional awareness, thought awareness and consciousness awareness
• Social media is just another too--like a ratchet--you're not a ratchet expert, you're a mechanic. You're not a social media person, you're a storyteller.