Last week I co-hosted a webinar (my 1st, woot!) with the legendary, Mike McVay. We talked about News in this new era of misinformation. But it’s not that new, as we’ve been dealing with #fakenews for 8 years already, maybe 9.
When I first heard the term “Fake News Media”, I thought, man we’re in trouble. What happens if this really spreads like wildfire? And so it goes.
After the webinar, one of the Gentlemen I have the pleasure of working with at my company sent me a statement from the Pacific County Sheriff’s Office. The post on Facebook was to let the public writ large know, they wouldn’t be dealing with a local newspaper any longer, due to this exact issue.
The paper, which I won’t platform, had been warned, apparently multiple times, that they were misconstruing what the Sheriff’s Dept. had been reporting to them, and publishing it. I say bravo to the cops! (Not sure I’ll say that again 😉.)
We need much more of this. Platforming fake news as it happens is the only way we will be able to tame it. I don’t think we can be rid of it, because sadly there is an audience for it, those, as Mike said during our session, who will remain in their echo chamber.
