06 February 2017
In recent months, there has been concern about the proliferation, through social media and news networks, of deliberate falsehoods, alternative facts, fake news, and propaganda designed to fool and mislead.
This especially pertains to the 2016 U.S. Presidential Elections which saw rogue and dispiriting elements from both major parties actively engaging in the deliberate spreading of lies and other assorted half-baked truths. Some of that chicanery went viral on social media and led many to have a distorted view of both candidates.
Thus far, there has been no resolution of some of those major falsehoods and alternative facts which continue to circulate and are believed by the unsuspecting even till today.
Fake news and deliberate misinformation should not be confused with well-written satire such as that written by the much loved site, The Onion, or entertaining screenplay as seen on Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update. People understand the kind of entertainment going on here, and no one is mislead or tricked into believing something false. Indeed, such websites and television programmes lighten the mood for all and bring temporary humour to an otherwise highly tense bipartisan atmosphere.
But the kind of lies and alternative facts that are frequently spread on social media and even some major news networks represent a deliberate and malicious distortion of the truth that harms democracy and justice, and undermines the civic fabric of not just the nation concerned but the world at large.
Singapore has not been spared the suffering caused by defamatory insinuations, outright lies, assertions that are at odds with established scientific facts, and racist or xenophobic political views designed to divide and weaken society.
Can Singapore and Singaporeans better prepare ourselves to challenge and reject fabrications that may easily circulate as untruthful texts and images in the online world?
Metaliteracy is a way to achieve this. Metaliteracy emphasises how we think about things and encourages reflection on how we process information. Metaliterates learn to question sources of information and learn to carefully differentiate among multiple sites, both formal (such as The New York Times or Associated Press) and informal (a blog post or tweet).
Metaliterates also learn to observe their feelings when reading a news item. We are less inclined to delve further when something affirms our beliefs. However, we are more inclined to fact check or examine the source of the news when we do not agree with it.
Metaliterates learn to distinguish between formal and informal sources of information that may have very different or non-existent editorial checks and balances. They learn to examine the packaging of content. They learn to recognise whether the seemingly professional design may be a facade for a bias or misinformation.
Singapore students need to be made aware of these issues early on so that they learn how not to develop uncritical assumptions as they use technology. They need to understand that whether they are posting a tweet, blog, Facebook post or writing a response to others online, they need to think carefully about what they are saying or doing.