Fake news is nothing new!

It said that "victors write history" and when we hear this statement, we often nod knowingly and passively ruminate the enormity of the task of finding the absolute truth about any issue or subject, from history to medicine to science. With increasing frequency, the mainstream news is full of revelations about scientists who cheat the scientific research process and manipulate data to their own (or their research sponsors') ends. It's easy to think that these problems are new because, unless we run in highly academic circles, we remain largely unaware of any controversy surrounding information in print.

In the past, most of us opened a print encyclopedia with confidence that its contents were irrefutable. To a lesser degree, the same was true with periodicals like magazines and newspapers. It never occurred to many, even very learned and educated folks, that historical accounts may have been swayed by individual perspective, opinion, or bias. Scientific facts seemed fairly static and rarely changed. Medical news was rarely challenged by public opinion, and if controversy occurred, it did so out of the eye of the mainstream in academic circles until new truths emerged. And if Truth did change, it was always with the deeper understanding that discovery brings forth, typically without apparent political, religious, financial, or social biases.

But now we know better. Now we know that the idea of "fake news" is really an age-old habit of misinformation we've historically been able to sweep under the rug—until the development of a democratized Internet that allows and even promotes unprecedented forms of peer review, public scrutiny, and accountability for process as much as for outcome. Without pointing fingers, I can think of numerous major issues in current news regarding the history taught in schools, the viability of current medical advice, or the validity of economic models that produce questionable results, depending on one's perspective. While social media has had a major role in spreading "fake news," it has also played a major role in holding media outlets accountable for the veracity and integrity of the news and information they share. It seems that innovation always brings a double-edged sword into the cost/benefit analysis. But now is no time to surrender the media to the outlaws and pirates!

Few would refute the notion that it's of increasing importance for our students to know how to navigate, vet, and curate information. But it's becoming increasingly apparent that we all (students and professionals alike) also need to know how to publish and promote content that is accurate, true, and withstands the tests of peer review, public scrutiny, and the various benchmarks one must meet in the entire spectrum of communication in academic and professional fields.

Where to begin? Contact OnlineLearning@uah.edu for help with producing academic content or for guidance on how you can help your students become more proficient in information literacy.

Additional Reading/Viewing

How to Navigate Questionable Information (a 4-video TED series)
This Encyclopedia is a "fake news" buster for the Ages (Fast Company,  S. Melendez)