"Is It Fake News?" Conference Session from TLA 2018

At the 2018 Texas Library Association’s Annual Conference in Dallas, TX, I attended a session about fake news presented by Mark A. Allan and Mary Dewinter. The session, “Is It Fake News?” addressed why fake news exists, how it works, the ways it spreads, and what tools librarians have to teach people about it. I chose this session to write about on this blog because it is explicitly part of librarianship to provide accurate information to patrons, and fake news – often spread through social media -- is making that fight harder. The ALA’s Professional Code of Ethics states that librarians provide “accurate, unbiased, and courteous responses to all requests” (American Library Association, 2017). The ALA’s Core Values of Librarianship includes intellectual freedom, the public good, service, and social responsibility (American Library Association, 2006). The professional ethics of librarianship require that we work against fake news and help educate our patrons on how to identify it themselves.

            The session was split into two parts, each presenter speaking separately. Mary Dewinter reviewed how fake news is created. She said that on the internet, clicks equal cash. There are fake news articles generated for money, often in countries where this job yields a much higher pay than any local opportunities. She explained that fake news usually appeals to people because of novelty and some sort of emotional trigger in the article. Since most kids get their news from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, social media plays an active role in the spread of fake news links. Some of the resources she recommends include a website called Factitious, a “Fake News Real News” card game, Richard Byrne’s blog, Ted Ed videos, the Hoaxy website, and NY Times’ learning network. She defined “news literacy” as the ability to use critical thinking skills to judge the reliability and credibility of a news piece, and introduced an evaluative tool: ESCAPE. Evidence, Source, Context, Audience, Purpose, and Execution. She said that the addition of fake audio and doctored photos to stories adds a sort of “evidence” to fake news. The intended goal of this part of the presentation was to get to the final “how to win” section, where Dewinter said we need to give students the ability to read freely and critically, teach them to be critical consumers of news, and share what we are reading with students to model.

            Mark Allan’s part of the presentation focused on confirmation bias and the role that it takes in the spread of fake news. He questioned whether “fake news” is news one does not agree with, or false information that is spread for a purpose, to mislead. Librarians use credibility tests, but is that enough to account for the bias of the audience or the researcher themselves? Allan defines confirmation bias as “seeking and favoring stories that fit your world view” (Allan and Dewinter, 2018). He recommended the book “Thinking, Fast and Slow” by Kahneman, and read a piece from the book about heuristics – mental shortcuts – that can lead to bias. He talked about filter bubbles, and how our digital platforms shape our worldview. The goal of his presentation is to explain how modifying our current credibility tests could help us to think more critically about our own bias. Credibility tests can help us slow down our thought process and be more deliberate about our thinking, but we bring our own biases to these tests. He proposed a modification to the CRAAP test, making it SCRAAP instead. The S is self-reflection/self-analysis/self-examination. He prefers this because it addresses bias first.

The ethical imperative in librarianship to fight against fake news is not new, but it has recently taken on new importance as social media has made it easier than ever to spread misinformation. The educational resources that Allan and Dewinter presented, the creditability tests, and the strategies for overcoming fake news were helpful and gave me some insight into the problems that the unethical use of social media can exacerbate.

Allan, Mark A., and Mary Dewinter. 2018. "Is It Fake News?" Presentation, Texas Library Association Annual Conference, Dallas, TX, April 5, 2018.

American Library Association. 2006. “Core Values of Librarianship.” Last modified July 26, 2006. http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/corevalues

 American Library Association. 2017. “Professional Ethics.” Last modified May 19, 2017. http://www.ala.org/tools/ethics