People have access to more information than ever before, but trust it less than ever before.
Social media promotes information from dubious sources, or none at all, and then gets replicated through other social media sites without ever being fact-checked. Often the source of information is not identified.
Web sites with agendas to grind present opinions as fact, or their “own version of the facts.” People consume the news in their own silos, creating a confirmation bias that makes it nearly impossible for people to find common ground.
As if that were not enough, artificial intelligence is being used more and more to add further confusion as to where information originates and if the source AI uses is reliable.
Whom do you trust? And how do you decide?
That is at the heart of the next community forum presented by Tulare County Voices at 210, “”Fact or fiction: Sifting through the news in the digital age,” at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, January 13, at 210, 210 W. Center Ave., Visalia.
Tulare County Voices @210 is a monthly public forum in Visalia that has been a space for community discussion for more than 15 years. It is co-sponsored by the Visalia Times-Delta, the Valley Voice and First Presbyterian Church (which provides the venue and live stream).
The forum is free and open to the public and relies on audience participation to examine topics of local interest and importance.
Panelists will include these professionals from local media:
- Elizabeth Arakelian, KVPR / Valley Public Radio 89.3 Fresno
- Paul Myers, Mineral King Publishing
- Ron Holman, Visalia Times-Delta
- Trenton Lively, AI Content Engineer and former newspaper reporter
They will share their insights into what is occurring in the media and how people can make better sense of the flood of information coming at them.
Media professionals sometimes experience the same challenge in assessing the background information when writing an article: Where did this statement come from? Is it fact or made up? In either case, was it created as original work by humans, or is this being passed on by AI? Does it make a difference?
The forum will address these questions to our panel members:
- How do you decide which news sources to trust?
- What are the standards used to determine a reliable news outlet?
- What social media is reliable?
- What are the tells of unreliable sources?
- Where do you go for your information?
- Does AI add to the confusion?
- What are the benefits to AI technology?
- How do consumers cultivate news literacy?
So far in this New Year, surprising, even shocking, news has shaken the world. Even with images and video, events are given conflicting spin. Knowing how to assess this information is important in interpreting it.
It is hoped this forum will help clear some of the confusion. Join the forum at 210 on Tuesday, and join the community conversation.