I have always been a “news junkie.” As a child, I watched the nightly news. My family talked about the daily news at the dinner table. I grew up valuing the role of the news broadcasters and newspapers that covered the stories of the JFK assassination, the civil rights movement, the war in Vietnam, Watergate and other events throughout life. Americans depended upon the news for unbiased reporting of major events.
In my youth there were only three major news sources, public news and AM or FM radio. Today it’s much different and there are unlimited “sources” for news and entertainment through the internet. The unlimited “sources” of information with an environment and political climate breeding mistrust and discrediting the credible has created opportunities for “alternative” facts. The net result magnifies the potential for a breakdown in relationships and creates hostility.
We live in a time when friends and family may not follow news at all or trust only one source for information. The credibility of the source of information may not be reliable. Age demographics determine news sources consumed by a large portion of America’s population and range from Facebook, X, TikTok, Truth Social, major news outlets and cable sources. So many sources and choices leave us with options for facts, disinformation, misinformation and mischief.
When faced with a firehose of information drowning us with claims at a rapid pace, it’s difficult to process. Sometimes we simply give up and accept whatever we hear repeated most. It must be true. Right?
All citizens have a responsibility to fact-check claims, especially those that seem unbelievable. A good example of the need for fact-checking is associated with the devastation caused by hurricane Helene and Milton.
The internet has been flooded by claims in the form of memes, videos and even speeches made by elected Congress members and candidates for the highest offices that FEMA was not present and making claims that money has been limited to $750 per applicant, diverted abroad or used to buy lodging and cell phones for immigrants. A member of Congress has made the claim the government is controlling weather and causing storms to impact states and locations that lean Republican.
Misinformation has been shared and reshared on social media platforms. It takes less than a minute to Google any of the claims and determine true or false.
The information available on Facebook or any social media site doesn’t make it true. On Wednesday afternoon a public press conference was televised to debunk the outrageous claims about Milton and Helene. Anyone who aspires to be a leader in this country should share the truth and not turn a humanitarian and life-threatening situation into an opportunity to discredit a political party or government agency.
It’s up to us to fact-check and hold accountable those people who are not interested in the welfare of all people. Check before sharing information. Any leader or aspiring leader who continues to spew falsehoods must be held to a higher standard.
We all played the “Telephone” game as children. Remember how that turned out? Think before you’ve checked the facts. Think before you click. Think before you vote.