In today’s day and age, accessibility to what’s going on in the world today is better than it has been in history; whether through the use of the internet, a TV, or simply talking to someone, we all get information in one way or another. That said, while we are more informed than ever, ironically we are also the most misinformed we have ever been. According to a report titled, “Many Americans Believe Fake News Is Showing Confusion” done by Pew Research Center in late 2016, it states that “about 64% of Americans say that fabricated news stories cause a great deal of confusion about basic facts about those issues” it also states “ about 23% of Americans shared made-up news stories.” These are horrifying statistics because misinformation can be very damaging, for example being misinformed on topics like vaccines and international affairs can and has had a terrible impact on the world. The spike in many people falling for misinformation results from many people taking things at face value without digging deeper to know the validity of either the claim or the source. More people should stress doing their research rather than basing their opinions solely on headlines because headlines aren’t reliable, research reduces the chance that people will fall for false information, and it allows for a greater understanding of difficult subjects.
Misinformation is constantly being spread like it’s scared it’s gonna go out of style, a big cause of it is due to the underlying, manipulative reasoning behind headlines. The purpose of a headline is to simply make the audience want to read the rest of the paper, you might ask, “Why is that such a bad thing?” and while that isn’t inherently offensive, the part that has to do with the regulations, or lack thereof, when it comes to making a headline. On the University of Washington Libraries website they have a whole section dedicated to this topic called, “Detecting bias in the News” which shows examples of two articles side by side describing the same Bill Cosby case, however the language is clearly different. The one written by the NY Times is titled, “Judge allows testimony of another accuser in Cosby case” while the one written by SFgate is titled,” Bill Cosby sex assault trial: judge allows only 1 other accuser to testify, not 13.” The news will always want the audience to read their story compared to any other news sites because that’s what the news business is running on, this is why people shouldn’t simply get sources from one side of the story, without acknowledging the other. Rather than leaving the investigation of information to someone who might be biased, do some yourself to know for sure if things are how they are depicted on the news.
Being able to identify misinformation from real information is something that many people struggle with according to a research study conducted by Stanford University titled, “Evaluating Information: The Cornerstone of Civic Online Reasoning” created and collaborated on by multiple researchers most notably Sam Winburg, an American educational and cognitive psychologist, and Sarah McGrew, author and researcher of digital literacy. The study collected and analyzed 7,804 responses from students ranging from middle school to college students. The study looked at students’ evaluation of Twitter news, evidence evaluation, and social media claims, when it was all said and done, the results came back that many students struggled to differentiate misinformation from real information. Due to that struggle to differentiate information, proper evaluation of resources and claims is important. It should be a part of everyone’s routine when gaining information from an outside source rather than jumping to a conclusion and taking action. There are multiple reasons why people should start going out of their way to do research now, however, one reason stands out among the rest, that being the advancement of technology. Technology has grown so much over the years, that we might have known that information could be manipulated in writing, like in the newspaper, or in an article on a computer; however, we used to be able to rely on video and photographs as hard evidence. Unfortunately, due to the advancement of technology things like A.I., deep fakes, and voice changers have begun to start changing that notion that we used to believe. An article titled, “Artificial Intelligence, Deep Fakes, and the Uncertain Future of Truth” written by John Villasenor, the co-director of the UCLA Institution for Technology, law, and Policy, goes deeper into the topic. “ Because they are so realistic, deepfakes can scramble our understanding of truth in multiple ways. By exploiting our inclination to trust the reliability of evidence that we see with our own eyes, they can turn fiction into apparent fact.” He goes on to say, “When we see videos showing incongruous behavior, it will be important not to immediately assume that the actions depicted are real.” It’s essential to start getting used to looking at sources now before technology makes it harder to know the truth than it is already.
Lastly, as a final point, researching sources and claims might seem like a daunting task, however, while it can be it doesn’t have to be, a simple Google search and looking deeper can tell you a lot about a claim or its source. People can and should do this because it will benefit them in several ways and not simply allow themselves to fall victim to false information.
Overall, misinformation can lead to many consequences that can reach farther than intended leading to it affecting whole societies, which is why people should research a topic before simply believing the headline.

Works Cited :

Barthel, Michael. “Many Americans Believe Fake News Is Sowing Confusion.” Pew Research
Center’s Journalism Project, Pew Research Center, 15 Dec. 2016, www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2016/12/15/many-americans-believe-fake-news-is-sowing-confusion/. Accessed 31 Oct. 2023.
Engler, Alex, et al. “Artificial Intelligence, Deepfakes, and the Uncertain Future of Truth.” Brookings, 9 Mar. 2022, www.brookings.edu/articles/artificial-intelligence-deepfakes-and-the-uncertain-future-of-truth/.
“Evaluating Information: The Cornerstone of Civic Online Reasoning.” Stanford Digital Repository, 2016, purl.stanford.edu/fv751yt5934.
“Library Guides: Savvy Info Consumers: Detecting Bias in the News.” Detecting Bias in the News – Savvy Info Consumers – Library Guides at University of Washington Libraries, guides.lib.uw.edu/research/evaluate/bias.