These days so many news articles flood our Facebook newsfeed, most of them being political. I'm not one for sharing my political views on Facebook, but some people are and that's okay. But one thing I'd like to emphasize is that you can't always believe what you read!
First of all, the media tells you what they want you to hear. A lot of the times, the media produces half stories, leaving out important information. This goes for politics, celebrities, anything really. They twist and bend the stories to sound worse than they are, that's how they get your attention to read/listen to them. That's how they get reactions, ratings, and make sales. Why do you think you always find yourself browsing the magazines at the checkout line? The witty titles and drama filled stories get you interested. While this is a legitimate journalistic tactic, it's definitely the best one.
However, it's not necessarily the media that gets me. That is a problem, but that's not what I'm writing about. I've also learned to take what they say with a grain of salt and to do my own research. What is getting out of hand is people reading bogus articles from random news sites and blogs, believing them, and rant posting on Facebook claiming things that are no where near the truth.
It's actually unsettling how many times I've seen someone post a link to a story, give a paragraph of their disagreeing or agreeing stance on the issue, and then I realize it's from a non-legitiment source. We have to remember that anybody can make a website or blog and post information. It's fairly simple to do. People are publishing false new stories all the time and now people are actually believing them. This is a huge problem in America right now. Most people don't do any research for themselves and instead, rely on the internet to tell them what's happening. Didn't we learn a long time ago, you can't always trust the internet though?
It's an open source place where anyone can write anything, true or not. They don't need proof, or any kind of evidence to back them up on a claim. They just need to sound professional and realistic, and they have people believing whatever they wish. We're getting confused between opinion and fact. Some media blogs are writing their opinions like facts and that's not okay. People are very gullible these days, especially now with everything that's happening. The misleading information is causing more of a problem and division.
I'm not going to say which side I'm on as far as politics go, or what I think is right and wrong, because that's not what this article is about. This is about the fact that people need to do research for themselves and stop relying on the random blogs and websites on the internet for everything. No matter what the story is, Google it, and you can have hard-hitting actual facts right in front of you. You have to seek them out, but you can find them. Your first result on Google probably isn't going to be your answer. You have to dig, you have to investigate, you have to be your own reporter. You could prove stories wrong, prove "media outlets" that are made by random people aren't true and exist for the pure reason of getting people riled up and to believe things that aren't true.
The main point is when you're on Facebook (or any other social media site), if you read an article about something, please check the source. If it isn't legit or it doesn't sound legit, do your research. I'm telling you, you'll be surprised at what you find out.
