Empower educators to protect society, students from fake news

Now, if there's one group of people in society the media love to highlight (aside from politicians), it's educators.

This could be because quoting an educator (be it a lecturer, teacher or researcher, etc) adds more credibility to a news report. Slap on a 'Dr' to that name and add 'Professor' for good measure, and well, coverage goes into hyperdrive.

Admittedly, the opposite is true too. When educators make mistakes, their position is consciously highlighted to add 'oomph' to the story. For example, "100 people commit heinous crime, including one educator" (it happens).

A few years ago during a forum on unity, public university architecture and design lecturer, Dr Zack Zainal, back then pursuing his PhD overseas, stood up and suggested that it was about time for the Malays to think about other races and share their privileges. His remark was reported as 'Surrender Malay rights to preserve national unity, overseas grads suggest'.

This intrigue within media is probably because educators are viewed with reverence and respect, especially so in a country like Malaysia and it's reflected as an "Asian value".

Now, it's not uncommon to find the media sensationalising headlines or cherry-picking quotes to sell a story. My media friends tend to agree that in this age of hyper-connectivity and instant gratification, reporting 'what sells' can sometimes take precedence over 'what should be of public interest'. A fine line, but real nonetheless.

My mother, a journalist of over 20 years, often speaks of the 'good ol days' where ethical standards were "higher". My youthful eye-rolls aside, she does agree that today's challenges are different because of social media.

Furthermore, our education system is known for not encouraging or condoning questioning educators. 'Never question you teacher' is an unspoken rule. Maybe this is reflected in the media culture.

Fake news growing, thanks to us

In 2014, I wrote a piece titled 'All about the headlines'. One of my earliest writings (even before the terms fake news and post-truth became norms), it highlighted the growing danger of jumping to conclusions by just reading news headlines.

Four years on, the problem has… only gotten worse.

In one of the largest studies into fake news, MIT researchers (yes, I'm quoting educators here) discovered that falsehoods almost always beat out the truth on Twitter, penetrating "further, faster, and deeper than accurate information".

Having looked at over 126,000 posts on Twitter, tweeted by 3.5 million users between 2006 and 2017, they found that lies were 70% more likely to be retweeted than the truth and that it takes the truth six times longer to be seen.

More disturbingly, the report also found that humans were more likely to spread fake news than bots.

The researchers suggested that people feel a stronger sense of surprise and disgust at fake news, which, rather paradoxically, made them more likely to share it.

Children not spared

Scarily, our children aren't spared.

A 2018 report by the National Literacy Trust UK found that only 2% out of 2,000 children interviewed could tell if a news story is real or fake. Snapchat was cited as the main news sources of 49% of the children, with another 49% expressing concern about not being able to spot fake news, both online and offline.

Interestingly, while 29% were more likely to talk to their family or friends (23%), only 6.4% would go to their teachers for advice or guidance (despite children spending a huge amount of time in formal education during their formative years).

I understand why children go to their parents first - they are most responsible in their children's upbringing and as such, the first line of defence. This said, I believe educators must contribute – especially where parents are ill-equipped to do so. Positively, the research found that 98% of teachers believe they have the greatest responsibility to help their students develop digital literacy.

Educators Play A Role

Keeping the above in mind, educators play an important role both in influencing the national media discourse as well as educating their students about fake news and responsible expression habits.

For this to happen effectively, we must train our educators and give them the resources needed.

First, they must remember that they are role models. What they say to the press, share on social media and even in WhatsApp groups carry weight among students, parents and the society.

Second, as educators, they must foster a culture of curiosity (through questioning) and discussion. They cannot shy away from the real challenges posed by fake news and the post-truth culture.

And, educators need resources. Childnet International, a UK-based charity organisation, for instance, created 'Trust Me', designed as a tool to support teachers in exploring critical thinking online for students aged 9 to 14. From 'which blogs to trust' to 'identity theft', it's super useful. Our education system needs to inculcate such digital literacy skills in its curriculum.

As it is, even adults struggle and often let emotion get the best of them in online interactions. The rise of the Facebook Fake News Forwarder, Twitter Troller and Insidious Instagrammer, left unchecked, could spell for a worrisome future - depression and suicide among children on one of the spectrum, violence and societal disharmony on the other.

Creating laws to combat fake news is a sign of civilisational failure in being responsible over their public discourse. However, if things get out of hand, the MIT study indicates that the free marketplace of ideas may not be sufficient to combat it.

Thus, just like everything else, it starts with education.