Both of my parents were educators, and reading was a common pastime in my family.  Dad subscribed to U.S. News and World Report, the Los Angeles Times and the Pasadena Star News.  When we got a TV, his favorite news provider was Walter Cronkite.  For those too young to remember, Cronkite anchored the CBS Evening News in the sixties and seventies and was frequently cited as “the most trusted man in America” (based on opinion polls).  He would end each evening’s broadcast with his signature catchphrase – “And that’s the way it is…”.  The information we consumed from all of these sources generally agreed, and we trusted that it was reliable.

Those halcyon days of trustworthy news are long gone.  Today, surveys show that 90% of us have lost confidence in the information provided by media sources and use some form of fact checking as a result.  Digital platforms that enable instantaneous global communication are powerful tools for spreading fake stories and raising doubt.  Elections have been influenced, public health has been endangered, and we have become increasingly divided.  This rift extends to the media sources we choose, making it even harder for us to agree on even the most basic facts.  Without factual information, how can we ever hope to engage in productive debate and reach workable compromise?

 Digital Literacy expert Mike Caulfield studies the spread of online misinformation at the University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public.  Mike suggests that we “sift” the information we consume relentlessly – SIFT is his easy-to-remember acronym for detecting online BS. <continue reading>