In current times, the amount of information available at the consumer’s disposal is unlimited. The question of being informed remains a thing of the past as vast sources fulfill this need. However, with the huge amount of information available, the news reports and coverage requires deliberate efforts in reading the news. Unlike previously where the news consumer remained limited to several news outlets, magazines, newspapers and television stations, the current times offer unlimited access to news. The problem with the mass media in previous decades gave authoritarian nations the chance to control and sanction information. However, various scandals witnessed during the said period revealed that even democratic nations collaborated with the media to withhold information or misinform the public. It is agreeable that the result of that revelation was a breakdown of trust in the media, opening news coverage to alternative sources that provided diverse perspectives on events occurring throughout the world.
As the article points out, the onset of the internet saw a proliferation of information and perspectives on news events, with blogs and social media platforms allowing everyone to report news events. Having virtually everyone playing the reporter’s role compromises the quality and reliability of the news. In fact, different sources may disagree on the factual details on a news item, leaving the truth unclear. As such, it requires the news reader to remain vigilant and obtain the original news, fresh from the source. Internet allows access to the actual material rather than relying on opinions and analyses from politicians, editors or reviewers. Making efforts to follow the reporters on social media provides the chance to get the actual information and analyzing it firsthand. In fact, reporters and bloggers post updates on the events prior to editing.
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The new piece of information learned from the talk pertains to following a developing story. It pointed out that where the news story involves a chaotic event, it remains prudent to avoid keeping in touch with the story’s development in every minute. The fact that the current media makes efforts to maintain newsfeeds even in stories where a lack of reliable new information seems apparent, avoiding such feeds safeguards one from incorrect information. Another strategy involves checking recent updates on the story at a few times in the day to allow time for comprehensive details and elimination of incorrect reports. Since it remains impossible to eliminate bias in the media, the solution lies in using multiple news outlets as they involve different reporters and experts. Checking various news sources enables one to gain the different perspectives and arrive at a complete picture of the story. Most importantly, upon reading news, one needs to verify it before sharing the information. Social media facilitates quick spreading of news which leaves room for the spread of rumors before verification. Doing a web search on the news item or the facts presented therein allows verification and elimination of falsehood.
Separating facts from opinions forma a crucial aspects in reading the news. The use of words such as ‘think’, ‘probably’, or ‘likely’ points out that the source could be guessing or only being careful. The source of a news bit remains crucial hence great caution should be taken on anonymous sources as they may have vested interests in the story, while using their anonymity as insurance from accountability. However, I disagree with the emphasis that anonymity eliminates the credibility of the news as previous scandals have been exposed to the public through anonymous sources. Often, the source who prefers to remain anonymous is reliable and only seeks to prevent suffering a hostile response for revealing the information. Moreover, reporters conduct a substantial degree of examination on the source’s reliability before writing their story.
Reference
Brown, D. (2014). Ted Talks: How to Choose Your News . Retrieved on September 7, 2018 from https://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-to-choose-your-news-damon-brown
