In the case of the last couple of weeks we have seen headlines suggesting Osama Bin Laden is still alive, that there is a cabal of Democrat pedophiles running Washington D.C, and lastly the controversial Hunter Biden emails.
Headlines such as these have been causing NECC students to be wary of the media and some to even reevaluate their definitions of credibility and their thoughts on what the criteria for fake news is. Some students have even proposed ideas as to combat it.
When asked what consists as fake news, 22-year-old North Andover resident and full time NECC student Nisaly Gonzalez said, “Fake news really lacks data, they lack credible sources, and they tend to have conflicting facts.”
Gonzalez enjoys watching both Fox News and CNN to get a good balance of the facts.
Mirrorajah Metcalfe is a 19-year-old part time NECC student from Haverhill, who recently moved from Las Vegas, NV. When asked about how she determines credibility, she had this to say, “In order to determine credibility one must do their own research, form their own opinion, and try to steer clear of the influential narratives.”
Metcalfe also said when asked about the dangers that fake news impose on our society, “Fake news makes you start to not trust the media, which is alarming because that is where we go for our information on the world.”
Amesbury resident and part time NECC student Paige Bateman just got done celebrating her 19th birthday when the Hunter Biden emails surfaced.
Bateman when asked about her ideas on how to combat fake news had this to say, “I feel like there could have been more education in school on identifying the source of the story and really doing your due diligence on checking out the story’s claims and the story’s sources motives.”
Bateman also said that the news sources she typically turns to when she does read the news is The New York Times.
Fake news seems to be like a computer virus, we cannot always easily identify it, but we are able to remove the virus once it has done its damage. In this day and age, a verification of the facts is evermore important for a functioning democratic society.
