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The Lion's Roar

The Official Student News Media of Southeastern Louisiana University

The Lion's Roar

The Official Student News Media of Southeastern Louisiana University

The Lion's Roar

    Professors talk ‘fake news’ in panel

    Information Literacy instructor Dr. Stephen Sanders and Communication professor Joe Mirando discuss the phrase “fake news” and how students can combat false information.  During the panel, university professors and employees answered questions from audience members. 
     Jonathan Rhodes/The Lion’s Roar

    The library and Phi Kappa Phi tried to tackle the topic of President Donald Trump’s ‘fake news’ through a panel discussion.

    “Breaking Fake News: Finding Truth Amid Alternative Facts” was presented to students on Mar. 21 from 2-3 p.m. in the Student Union Theatre. The idea of the event came from Outreach and Instructional Media Librarian Angie Balius.

    “I think that it’s a topic that we need to talk more about,” said Balius. “It’s something that I have been thinking about a lot as the election last fall just really went off the rails with how news was being reported and what news stories seemed to have legs. The information landscape is just so complicated right now, and so I thought of the idea of getting everyone together. Let’s just talk about the stuff that is out there and make sense of it together. Not in a teacher student role but more of a we are information consumers together, and we are all trying to make decisions as adults in our society.”

    Students walked out of the panel informed more on “fake news” but have to question themselves about how to avoid it.

    “I thought it was interesting,” said Lewis Melton, a sophomore communication major. “We heard a lot about fake media early on. I try to avoid the media a lot. I kind of got to the point that I just don’t care anymore. So, I was hoping this rekindle something like how to distinguish what is and is not fake media. I’m walking out with more questions for myself than answers that I thought I would receive.”  

    The panelists were communication professors Dr. Joseph Burns, Dr. Joseph Mirando, Dr. Claire Procopio and Information Literacy instructor Stephen Sanders. They each shared their opinions on “fake news” and why the term is so popular.

    “We want a business model that tends to entertain,” said Mirando. “You gotta admit some of this fake news like Hillary giving birth to a two-headed baby has a lot of pass around value. There is a lot of people that want that to be true. So, I would say to you that one of the motivations besides making political content say what I want it to say is that fake news has real entertainment value that really didn’t exist before.”  

    The moderator for the panel was Sims Library Director Eric Johnson who believes “fake news” is at its most dangerous when it is used to intentionally harm others.

    “It’s not new but it is not going away,” said Johnson. “I’m most concerned about fake news being weaponized to really, seriously hurt people on a mass scale. Pizzagate is a good example of a very disturbing individual who read about fake news and went into a pizza parlor in a suburb of D.C. and shot the place up because he thought it was a child sex slavery ring. Those are the kind of things that scare me the most.”

    Procopio spoke on how “fake news” has an audience because of its bias to one side of the argument or the opposite side.

    “I think there is something about fake news that gets legs in part because it is partisan,” said Procopio. “If you look at where big bodies of people are drawn to things it is extremism. You look at the fastest growing religions around the world, it is the extreme religions. If you look at some of the fastest growing philosophies, it is the extreme ones. People like to be told, ‘There is a black and white. If you don’t know too much about, we will get rid of the shades of gray.’ Fake news panders to that. It’s ‘Oh the other side is not just disagreeing with you or have different values than you. They’re evil and they’re stupid’ I think it’s very comforting to see other people disagree with you that way. It’s very dangerous, and it’s really inaccurate.”

    “Fake news” is considered by instructor Sanders to be part of a power struggle which has made it difficult to sort out the truth amidst all of the propaganda.

    “I think that the people who don’t have power want it so they use fake news to undermine those who do have the power,” said Sanders. “The people who do have power use fake news to defend and prevent those who don’t have power from getting it from them, and it is very hard to sort out if you are trying to listen to both sides. But, if you look at it from that dynamic, sometimes it can help you pick out the sides and what they are trying to do. Is this the group that is in or is it the group that is out? If it is the group that is in, how are they using fake news to defend their position and make the other side look crazy for wanting to shift the power?”

    The need for news to be provided immediately also fuels “fake news” and guarantees that it will have an audience.

    “I do believe there is a perception of a lack of time,” said Burns. “I see it in classes. I will say, ‘I need you to go to the library’ they will say ‘I can just look it up on my phone.’ They will say, ‘Can I just email the assignment?’ I’m not saying this is bad. It’s the concept of the way things come at us. Urgency, urgency, urgency. There is nothing coming at us but ‘Let’s get it done.’ I will say to my 100 level class why don’t you watch a half hour newscast every day instead of acting as your own editor? It’s a perception that they don’t have that half hour. There is perception that time has grown shorter and shorter.”

    It is apparent to Procopio that “fake news” is here to stay and the people are going to have to work around it to find the news that they want.

    “I think as citizens, we have to educate ourselves about the kind of things that we are reading,” said Procopio. “How to make sense of it and how to recognize when we feel it’s partisan and when it doesn’t have much concern for accuracy.”

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