Inform or Influence

No spoilers here.                                                                

Before the Fall
by Noah Hawley

Faith Flaherty's review

really liked it

bookshelves: fiction

Noah Hawley's novel, Before the Fall, is about the news media and questions the role of journalism. Ask yourself if you watch the news to be informed or to be entertained. Why can't it be both? Because they're two different genres that most of the time don't gel together and trying to do both too often leads to sensationalism.

The storyline of Before the Fall involves a plane crash where only two characters survive. The novel will explain who is who and why they are on this particular plane at this particular moment in time. Because the people on that plane are high profile millionaires the media descends upon the story like the Pharisees upon Christ.

Once the facts of the incident are known, the news starts to speculate and influence the public. The hero who saved a four-year child by swimming all night with a dislocated shoulder is vilified. The reader will see our hero's stock plummet due to the machinations of a journalist and his news outlet.

It's painful to read.

But it's not the whole story. Our hero doesn't cave. He gives as much as he's gotten. He's the moral example of how to behave. (There is literally no explicit sex scenes.) Sex, money, and fame are not important. Children are. And saving and protecting a child defines heroism.

A Major Literacy Problem

It's not a technological problem, it's a  news literacy problem.  It's an information literacy problem, says Kalev Leetaru in his article for Forbes,

A Reminder That 'Fake News' Is An Information Literacy Problem - Not A Technology Problem.

I myself wonder when Facebook is going to fix its problems with hate speech, misleading pages, too many ads, etc.  Leetaru is correct when he said it's the readers' problem, not technology.

My mother tried to teach me that lesson seventy years ago, "Believe half of what your eyes see and none of what your ears hear."

Papers For Sale!

John Waters in his article, "The End of the News," in First Things, bemoans the decline of real news--trustworthy reporting.

If you have read my posts about the proliferation of fake news, then you know I wholeheartedly agree.  What I want is a respectable news source to come forward and take dominance in the news reporting. Hopefully, the public will leave the sensational, click-bait sites and prove that people want the truth.

Waters takes a different view. He wants the fake to fake itself to death.  When everyone is fed up and doesn't read anymore, then we will see what will arise out of the ashes.

Responsible Journalism

picture from Zenit

Pope Francis must have finally gotten around to reading Monday's post about "news literacy,"  because he agrees with me. The silliness that passes for news is not worthy of consideration.  What has happened to the profession of journalism?

In an audience today with some journalists the pope expressed what I've been thinking for a long time.  Here are some of his points:

There are few professions that have so much influence on society as journalism does. The journalist has a role of great importance and, at the same time, of great responsibility.

The times change and the way of working of the journalist also changes. Though the printed paper or television lose relevance in respect to the new media of the digital world – especially among young people – when journalists have professionalism, they remain an important pillar, a fundamental element for the vitality of a free and pluralist society. 

I will pause on three elements: to love the truth, something essential for all, but especially for journalists; to live with professionalism, something that goes well beyond laws and regulations; and to respect human dignity, which is much more difficult that one might think at first sight.  

I hope that increasingly and everywhere journalism is an instrument of construction, a factor of common good, an accelerator of processes of reconciliation, which is able to reject the temptation to foment clashes, with a language that blows on the fire of divisions, and, instead, that it foster the culture of encounter. You journalists can remind all every day that there is no conflict that cannot be resolved by women and men of good will.

You have to remember that this is a translation so the written expression isn't as smooth as it should be.  To read the article in Zenit go to this link: https://zenit.org/articles/popes-address-to-italian-journalists/ 

News Literacy

The other day on Facebook I read a news flash that was ridiculous.  I don’t even remember what it was;   these implausible claims are so obvious that I’m incredulous than anyone even takes more than a moment’s notice, never mind that they seriously believe them.  A few examples:

Hilary dies on Sept. 11

Pope shocks world endorses Trump

Pope shocks world endorses Hilary

Putin endorses Trump

There was even a picture that went viral of the huge crowd of people protesting the pipeline in North Dakota.  Only it turned out to be an aerial photo of Woodstock, taken over 50 years ago!

Who would believe these outrageous lies?  They remind me of those magazine rags that used to be sold in front of the grocery store checkout lines. Nowadays people don’t have to leave their house and go to the store to see dubious rumors, hoaxes and other nonsense.  Satire and/or propaganda, advertisements, entertainment, etc. are masquerading as news on their computers and phones. Many people are shocked, or their curiosity is aroused and then they spread the “news.”

My mother used to say, believe half of what you see and none of what you hear.  Well, that was then and this is now.  Believe nothing until you verify, would be her new mantra I’m sure. If she thought critically then, she’d certainly be shaking her head, now.

She’d probably insist that her children learn news literacy.  What’s that?  That’s the term given to reading the news and discerning whether or not to believe it.  It’s learning to find the truth; it’s checking sources; it’s looking up information.  One has to read other sources than those which just reinforce your own way of thinking.  Reading or listening to talk radio that just reinforces your way of thinking is not thinking critically.  You need to know both sides. You need to detect opinionated writing and flawed reporting.  It’s a life skill that’s necessary in a democracy. 

Unfortunately, today many get their news via the media.  And the media is undergoing growing pains.  It sometimes is hard to determine what is a legitimate news source.  So you can’t depend on one—not one TV or radio station, not one newspaper, not just Drudge Report, Google News, Fark, HuffPo, WashPo, etc.  Check out a few.  There’s also some fact checking sites, e.i., www.marketplace.org, www.snopes.com, or quickly tweet to @factcheckdotorg .    

Learning news literacy certainly has to be important in school current event classes.  That’s common sense. The populace must be informed and able to see what is biased and outright false.  It’s a necessary skill to keep a free republic.  We seniors can’t be naïve, either.  Maybe we don’t have the digital expertise to surf the net as deftly as our grandchildren, but we should know satire from news.

 Everybody needs to hold our journalists to higher standards.  It’s people that drive the media.  There’s no excuse not be informed.  Read responsibly.  Think!  Maybe even pray before you read; it certainly won’t hurt.  Why not!

Think as you read:

What is the claim?
Look at its appearance and how it’s conveyed—flashy, inflammatory, shocking…
What’s your reaction—how does it make you feel?
Verify—look around at other news sources, if possible go to a fact check site.
                Is it important that people know the truth about this news or falsehood? 
                What possible good could result from people knowing this truth or that it’s false.                                   Decide what action to take.