Facts Matter

"Some consider fake news to be simply information with which they disagree. Others claim that we can no longer regulate truth in an era where fake news spreads so easily and that we therefore live in a "post-truth" society." -Mark Chayko

The idea that some consider fake news to be information they disagree with gives me great concern. In a country that prides it self in being some where with freedom of speech it strikes me as petty to then  hold information as fake if they are unable to support it. Don't get me wrong there are a lot of things I read and hear that I don't like or really want to hear but I feel that the term fake news is a phrase spread like wildfire now. With the election of our newest president this phrase has been everywhere. I didn't think much of it until it was thrust into our faces everyday.

I grew worried because I know as an avid celebrity gossip follower that I maybe gullible enough to fall for fake news. Chayko says "We must not accept the veracity of what we see online at face value, and we should beware of conversational patterns that result in polarization of the extremes and the spread of fake news." With the aim of fake news being distraction from the real topic or issue it seems its other aim is to tear us apart. Causing uproars in our world and communities our children are seeing and hearing this whether we want to acknowledge it or not. Our child are growing up seeing the issues it causes. They hear it and read it from the mouth of our president. We therefore now as teachers have responsibility to teach about it. We teach our students now about digital citizenship. How I do that with kindergartners? Each year is my never ending question. I am "required" to but have not been taught myself what that looks like for young children.

Reading chapter 4 of Superconnected I felt Chayko does a tremendous job of explaining fake news. It makes me feel that I can possible take on the task of teaching my young students more about it then I have in the past. This last quote really drives it home for me. " If we are all citizen journalists as we share stories on social media platforms, then we should look to the disciplines of journalism and the social sciences to act in ways that uphold truth, accuracy, and understanding." Understanding our role in fake news really has made me think of my time at UW Bothell and the things I have learned about using sources for my information. I am beginning to feel more sound in reading through news then I ever have been before.