We live in the media age, constantly bombarded by and engaging with an infinite number of stimuli. As such, it's hard to find time to devote to any one article or factoid before another comes along to grab our attention. At the same time, we also live in the age of the over-share, so before we move on, we share what we just saw, perpetuating the cycle of "information."
Consequently, our basis of information consists of an echo chamber in which we spend about the same amount of time on any one piece of information as employers spend on any one resume. This (understandably) results in a very surface-level understanding of what we just saw. We often take away only the headline, which may or may not reflect the facts or what was actually written in an article, but share it regardless.
Recently, video footage of the set of "A Dog's Purpose" was circulating around social media. The video was first released through TMZ and then picked up by PETA who circulated it and called for people to boycott the movie because of abuse they said the video was evidence of.
Whether or not the actions seen in the video were abuse or not remains to be seen, but the video blew up in less than 24 hours and has been shared hundreds of thousands of times as absolute truth and reason to not support the film. When I first saw the video, I'll admit, I was shocked, but I immediately noticed the source, TMZ, and the fact that the video was not continuous footage and was released suspiciously close to the film's release date and was skeptical.
TMZ's title is "TERRIFIED GERMAN SHEPHERD FORCED INTO TURBULENT WATER" and the description makes claims like "the dog eventually got in the water -- or was forced in" but these are not substantiated by what is shown in the video. The description of the footage also states that it was from more than a year ago, and there is a clear and drastic cut in the footage.
When encountering news, it's important to ask who it is coming from, what their sources are, and what their purpose is. If the only "news" we are encountering is on social media, or from only one source, we need to think critically about what we are presented with and check the facts and do our own research. Not doing so is dangerous.
This footage may or may not expose animal abuse, but the point is that we don't know (an investigation is pending). President Trump is always complaining about "fake news" and on that note, I think we can agree.
While I wouldn't call the New York Times "fake news," I do think we need to be vigilant and critical of everything that we see in the media, especially what our new president and his employees say and do. We need to check the facts and not accept any alternatives. Critically analyzing news is now a matter of life or death.
