Is It Okay To Be Skeptical When Consuming The News?

Yes, it is.  In fact, it is highly recommended.

That is just one piece of advice offered by Ilana Lowery, Arizona Director for Common Sense Media, when she joined Adrian and me on this week’s episode of Copper State of Mind.

News literacy is something we’ve discussed in the past on this blog and we broached the subject during a previous podcast.

But today’s fake online news sources so closely mimic real news that it’s challenging to discern what’s real and what’s fake.

Here are a few more thoughts from Ilana.  And be sure to tune-in to this week’s episode to learn more.

• Be skeptical, not cynical. While it’s important to be open-minded, in today’s world it doesn’t hurt to be a little skeptical.
• Understand different types of content. There are lots of news sources and many different types of published information, it is important to know the difference between fact and opinion, objective vs. subjective content and when and how someone’s bias comes into play.
• “Interrogate” the source. It is not just the news we need to be concerned about, but where the content is being generated.
• Put the pieces together. Just as with a puzzle, we need more than one piece to see the whole picture, so checking other sources is critical.