A few thoughts on news

An important part of media literacy is learning about current events from a variety of quality sources, fact checking and thinking critically. This process takes more effort than passively scrolling through Facebook posts from like-minded friends, but once we view the different reports, we can then form our own conclusions.

While there is a lot of misinformation out there (and it's easily shared on social media), many news organizations uphold high journalistic standards. But the people reporting do have personal biases, and the outlets reporting do have agendas. More often than not, their agendas are to have high viewership and make money.

Journalists often come up with varying reports on the same topic. For example, if a woman was walking her dog and got struck by lightning, some reporters would concentrate on the woman, others on the dog and others on the weather. They focus on the part of the story that they think is most relevant and most interesting to their audience. We may think they are focusing on the wrong part of the story and disagree with their opinions of the event, but that doesn't automatically make the report fake news.

In an election year, evaluating sources is particularly important. Sites like AllSides rank online news sources based on bias, and apps like SmartNews curate news from a variety of sources. I try to learn about political issues from both right-leaning and left-leaning media to see different viewpoints. There are also many non-partisan news outlets for those tired of the divisive rhetoric.

I often bypass the media middleman altogether and go straight to the source: speeches, debates, interviews, social media accounts, official platform websites, etc. I'm also choosing to take days off from the constant news cycle, as it's quite exhausting to be bombarded with all those conflicting messages and the many sad events in the world. 

If you like to be informed, perhaps focus on news related to your community, job industry or hobbies. Choose to click on stories that will uplift you rather than cause stress or worry and then send them to others who may need a break from all the "breaking news."