Checking sources
The Taipei Times’ recent article by Yang Mien-chieh and William Hetherington, “Most Taiwanese encounter media disinformation: poll” [Feb. 20, page 2], shines a disturbingly bright light on an ever-present challenge in today’s ever-expanding communication world: that of easily identifying misleading or blatantly false information.
As chair of the Public Relations Society of America’s Board of Ethics and Professional Standards, I see as one of my committee’s ever-present challenges that of educating and reminding our members and the general public of the critical importance of communicating truth and fact, not distorted or deliberately manipulated rumors.
Thankfully, public relations and journalism professionals have access to professional organizations that have and actively promote ethical standards as a hallmark of their line of work. But there are, sadly, those who do not choose to act accordingly.
One of the forefathers of the public relations profession, Ivy Ledbetter Lee, stated this belief clearly in 1906 — more than 100 years ago: “Our plan is frankly, and openly, on behalf of business concerns and public institutions, to supply the press and public ... prompt and accurate information concerning subjects which it is of value and interest to the public to know about.”
Unfortunately, toward the end of the 20th century, a proliferation of non-traditional communication avenues emerged that made it possible for anyone and everyone to act as a “journalist” and communicate without supervisory oversight “the news.”
Unfortunately, as well, there are those communication outlets — radio, television, print — that are more concerned with financial success than with journalistic integrity. The challenge thus falls to the news consumer to verify information that they receive.
In addition, I must observe as a public relations professional now having taught future generations of communication pros for two decades that our education systems — particularly at the pre-college level — are not doing a very good job of helping young minds grasp the importance of verifying information that they receive.
Our future government and business leaders must be taught the fine art of “critical thinking,” asking: “Why am I being told this? Who has verified the accuracy of this information?” rather than blithely saying: “Oh, I saw it on television, so it must be true.”
The challenge is real. No longer can we say, as my grandmother was fond of replying confidently when I asked her where she got her information: “I heard it on the radio.” We must check and double-check what we read/see/hear. As I am fond of saying myself, caveat lector — “let the reader beware.”
Kirk Hazlett
adjunct professor, University of Tampa
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