Facts Uncovered
Ways to avoid the spread of misinformation and bias
Bias is when an author writes using their opinions and beliefs, on purpose or not on purpose, which as a result, influences your opinions. Misinformation is when the information an author is writing about has flaws or is incorrect which is often related to the author’s bias
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Bias is harmful because when people write an article or post with bias, they can leave out facts that are important to the context and counter argument to the issue they are writing about, leading to misinformation Misinformation is bad because it can cause people to form opinions and arguments based on facts that are not true which can be harmful to the groups and movements needing change
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The best way to avoid bias is to determine if a source itself has bias and avoid the source or keep its bias in mind. Try doing a source analysis or bias test to think about WHO the author is, WHEN it is written, WHY they are writing it, the CONTEXT of the post and WHERE it is written to discover any motives the author may have.
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Misinformation matters because in the climate of social media today, lots of activism posts are circulating the internet providing information about movements and groups which is great and important but sometimes bias and misinformation does more harm than good to these movements. If bias and misinformation can be avoided, then facts allow viewers to realize the truth and get behind a cause.
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Some great ways to get unbiased media that is accurate is to go to non-partisan news sources like BBC News and look at more than one site on the same topic Even looking at two leader’s posts on social media on twitter can provide good insight into issues around the world(note that they are probably biased but any overlap between people and sides can probably be counted as real news) Keep in mind that most things do have bias but as long as the authors motives are clear and the information is credible it can be good information
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As an active history lover and student, I have learned and seen how harmful misinformation can be, and how it can spread on social media. To me, social media is important to spread information and beliefs about issues happening in the world but it is also important to provide accurate and helpful information based on accurate facts.