I have long since stopped counting the years, but October is the month in which I started work on a local newspaper.
Pride prevents me from saying how long ago this was, but suffice to say that it was pre-internet and, as such, before at the start of the rapid changes for print media which, in many cases, hastened the demise of titles that had served their communities for decades.
This isn’t a lament for those distant days: the internet is an incredible tool which has given alternative news providers a way to get their message out and consumers a direct way to have their say.
So it is more democratic. But as we have found recently with democracy, it isn’t perfect, and the downside of today’s world is that anyone can publish content that is untruthful, biased and unfair.
Look on social media every day and you will see badly written stories, unfounded rumours, libel and hate-filled messaging all masquerading as news, while in the background lurk shadowy A.I. bots issuing state propaganda, accompanied by fake images or images used out of context.
This matters because the power of the news is significant. It is an extension of the world around us, which we negotiate by making unconscious judgements on what we see and works in tandem with our innate tendency to rate the status of other human beings dependent on what we think of them.
This is hard-wired into the way our brains work and is inescapable: every second our brains are operating as pre-programmed decision-makers and reward us with feel-good chemicals when we go along with judgements that are consistent with those which have gone before.
This is useful because it takes vast energy to think and process new information – it’s more beneficial to go along with what we already know and we get a little prize for doing so.
This is why people enjoy reading things they already agree with and why they enjoy reading things about people that echo what they already think about them.
The opposite is also true, which is why people will avoid the media whose output contradicts their worldview. This is cognitive dissonance, which is less pleasurable – and, in fact, has been shown to increase activity in the areas of the brain associated with pain.
A situation where people favour media that supports their views and avoid media that doesn’t is natural, but also dangerous, because it means they do not challenge their beliefs, nor question the media that brings them their news in the first place.
Instead, every news story simply reinforces their beliefs and the believability of their favourite media.
Add into the mix unregulated content that has not been fact-checked and which is unbalanced, then it is unsurprising that anybody who consumes their news through unregulated news sources or social media channels – which research shows is increasingly the case with young people – should unwittingly be vulnerable to misinformation.
This is why a week devoted to encouraging people to understand how their media works and to encourage them to question what they read or see in videos is healthy.
In launching and promoting its Global Media and Information Literacy Week, UNESCO supports the development of media and information literacy so that people can think critically and click wisely.
All media works through stories which, to be plausible, smooth out the wrinkles of real life to present an easy narrative that is easy to follow. Life isn’t black and white, heroes aren’t always good, villains aren’t always bad, but it suits our brains to think they are and all media gives our lazy brains what they want.
To do this, people need to develop a sceptical filter. If something seems too good to be true, too perfect or too convenient, then it probably is. Of course, it takes hard work and it takes bravery to question what you believe in, especially if it means going against what your family or friends – whose views shape ours – believe themselves.
But the battle is worth it. We live in a world where information is everywhere and information is king. Those who abuse the power that comes with easy mass communication should not be able to do so without being held to account.
Without the social media giants doing that for them, then it’s up to the users themselves to shake free of their human tendency to go with the flow and question what others telling them, and why.
