Reflection of an Almost Journalism Major

https://newslit.org/

Before you go on, an article in the May 8 & May 22 issue of Science News ran with a cover "Awash in Deception:  How science can help us avoid being duped by misinformation."  In the lead article titled: "The Battle Against Fake News," Alexandra Witze presents five suggestions on how to debunk bad information.  They come from the News Literacy Project (see the above link).

How to Debunk:

1.  Arm yourself with media literacy skills, at sites such as the News Literacy Project (newslit.org), to better understand how to spot hoax videos and stories.

2.  Don't stigmatize people for holding inaccurate beliefs.  Show empathy and respect, or you're more likely to alienate your audience than successfully share accurate information.

3.  Translate complicated but true ideas into simple messages that are easy to grasp.  Videos, graphics and other visual aids can help.

4.  When possible, once you provide a factual alternative to the misinformation, explain the underlying fallacies (such as cherry- picking information, a common tactic of climate change deniers.

5.  Mobilize when you see misinformation being shared on social media as soon as possible. If you see something, say something.

"Misinformation is any information that is incorrect, whether due to error or fake news.  

"Disinformation is deliberately intended to deceive."

"Propaganda is disinformation with a political agenda."

Sander van der Linden
Social Psychologist
University of Cambridge

Source:  Science News/May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021

Back in the now that I look back it I didn’t have a clue days. The ones where I was 18 going on eight or 20 going on 10, I fancied myself a journalist. You might recognize that those ages coincide nicely with the high school and college daze.

I was a decent writer and journalism offered opportunities to write. So, I thought I might like to be a journalist. That was the level of my thinking when I was 18 going on eight or 20 going on 10.

So, when I graduated with some good newspaper and yearbook instruction in my tool kit from Miss Pam Pillsbury at Mt. Whitney High School, I decided to call myself a Journalism major at College of the Sequoias in Visalia, CA. At 18 going on eight , when going away to school meant going to the Junior College two blocks from home, I called myself a Journalism major.

I had good experiences at COS in publications (newspaper and yearbook). I don’t remember exactly why I changed my mind except that my incredible Journalism instructor Mr. Claud Snelling was murdered while confronting an intruder in his home. I don’t know if it was because I had another awesome teacher at COS, this time in Geography. I fell in love with Geography and went on to eventually get a BA in Geography from Fresno State.

After that it was completing all the coursework for a Masters in Community and Regional Planning at CSUFresno before somehow deciding that I didn’t want to do the thesis to finish the degree. A case of 22 going on 12, I guess.

A few years later after over 30 years in public education, I look back at what might have been if I had actually become a Journalist. I have started to write again. Not super stuff, not the investigative stuff of Woodward and Bernstein during Watergate, not the work being. done by the pros at the New York Times and others, but writing. I find it cathartic.

I also find that I have more respect for those that have made journalism their career. Good investigative truth telling with the five W’s, facts and evidence to back your thesis. The good journalism that Miss Pillsbury and Mr. Snelling tried to teach me back when I was 18 going on eight and 20 going on 10. Thanks Miss P and Mr. S for teaching me the importance of fact and truth in writing news articles for “The Pioneer” and whatever we called the paper at COS. Maybe my editor at COS will refresh my memory.

My message? Tell the truth, speak the truth, recognize the truth, live the truth. Don’t settle for anything less.