I might be the only one with a crazy uncle who preaches pseudoscience and blames the Illuminati for everything from Pearl Harbor to rising gas prices, we all know someone like Uncle Joe. Someone who is so wrong it’s hard to believe they are truly misinformed. The good thing about Uncle Joe and people like him, is it’s incredibly easy to laugh off their ignorance and not take them seriously.
However, it’s a lot harder to recognize when a reputable source is unknowingly spreading misinformation. It happens a lot more often than one would think — especially today, when the Internet allows inaccurate facts to travel quickly. Now more than ever, people need to be confident in the accuracy of what they read and more importantly, what they share with others.
Not to suggest you should follow Uncle Joe’s lead, but a healthy dose of skepticism never hurt anyone.
It’s especially important to fact check and cross-reference information in a digital world, where rumor and speculation can be shared in a short amount of time. The public witnessed this during the coverage of the Boston Marathon bombings last year.
Shortly after the bombings, news organizations and social media around the country spewed misinformation that was at best heavily sensationalized, and at worst downright false.
For example, two men are suing The New York Post after they released a cover that portrayed them as suspects in the bombing investigation. One problem — both of the men were completely innocent. This sort of publicity is bound to have a negative impact on their lives, and when combined with the power of the Internet, it did.
The desire to catch the attackers fueled by media falsehoods quickly spread on social media. Members of the popular website Reddit wrongfully accused Sunil Tripathi, a missing Brown University student whose body was later found in the Providence River, of carrying out the attack.
Fortunately, the real perpetrators were identified and dealt with, but the trouble inherited by the Tripathi family, due to the social media buzz, will remain a prime example of the consequences of false information.
This often times unintentional spread of inaccurate information is a bigger problem than it may seem. It happens to every news organization, at one point or another.
These mistakes are usually discovered and fixed, and all media organizations should be accountable for their actions. But in the new world of social media, readers must be aware of the news organization and their reputation.
In a perfect world, we could trust every news outlet at all times. But this is far from a perfect world, and the spread of misinformation can be a lot more dangerous than it appears on the surface. All it takes is false information and people willing to latch onto it.
Whether it’s Uncle Joe, The New York Post or The New York Times, it’s important to demand accuracy when disseminating information.
Justin Ackerman can be reached at [email protected]