Cartoon of Don t Get Fooled Again
by Erica Butler
Erin Steuter wants to help you win the fight confronting fake news.
Steuter heads upward the section of sociology at Mount Allison University, where she focusses her research on critical media studies.
Her latest book is Won't Get Fooled Once more: A Guide to Fake News, a graphic novel produced with creative person Alan Spinney of Moncton.
Won't Get Fooled Again is presented through fictional characters encountering actual instances of simulated news and figuring out how to deal with them.
Erica Butler spoke with Steuter about her book, and started off request her about the option to create a graphic novel.
TRANSCRIPT:
ERIN STEUTER: When I was thinking about how to communicate false news, I was really enlightened that people were starting to kind of be silent and sort of stop talking. In fact, in that location'south been some inquiry that shows that people are agape of accidentally repeating fake news, or being embarrassed that they had been defenseless out by fake news. And so their response is to stop talking about similar, controversial bug, which is very concerning. And then I really wanted to facilitate conversations nigh fake news among people, you lot know, in coffee shops, sports bars, students hanging together, family unit dinner tables, saying, "Oh, you know, do you lot think this is faux? How do you know? How would we discover out? Oops, I got fooled, or you shouldn't accept sent that." And sort of show how it is that we could have a chat in which we would discover what was faux, and what tricks were beingness used and how you lot could brainwash yourself and explain what the motivation was for the spread of imitation news.
And and so we take x different sets of characters who become through a bit of a story arc equally they encounter various types of fake news, and deal with information technology sometimes successfully and sometimes desperately. Just overall, equally you read through their stories, you larn quite a fleck near fake news.
ERICA BUTLER: Has misinformation ever been a problem? Is it worse now, or does it simply seem worse now?
ERIN STEUTER: Information technology'southward definitely worse at present. There'south a lot more information out there because of the internet. And the information is very formatted so that information technology really looks identical. So a conspiracy theory doesn't look like, you know, the tabloid paper at the grocery store with the screaming "bat kid" or whatever, on the front. It looks exactly–literally exactly–like the Guardian or the New York Times or you know, some other mainstream media on your phone. Like the font, it's all set up. And so information technology can exist extremely challenging to simply expect at information technology and say, Oh, this… Like literally the font size used to kind of give it away with the screaming headlines, but that'south not the case anymore.
And at that place's also a lot of financial incentive to produce fake news. So, it is definitely a lot worse and many more people are being exposed to information technology. And every bit we face important issues like the Coronavirus pandemic or election problems, there's a lot of opportunities for disinformation when people are seeking new cognition that they hadn't actually known that they needed to know before and knowledge that is changing quite quickly. Like practise you wear a mask? Do you non clothing a mask? Are yous allowed to cross the border or not? All of this kind of stuff. This is all an opportunity for fake news to be perpetuated. And nosotros're seeing like a lot of that right now.
ERICA BUTLER: Yeah, it does seem like a particularly… particularly with Coronavirus information technology'due south tough because at that place there are also I estimate what I would say… Information technology seems similar faux news can exist embedded in existent news. Stories can be and so complicated. Like you mentioned masks… the official public health line on masks from diverse public health agencies around the world were sort of changing and altering and there was unlike studies saying dissimilar things. In a situation similar that, how does one rely on, how exercise you find the reliable source?
ERIN STEUTER: Yes, that's a really good question. And particularly because fake news has really been, like, weaponized as a term. So you see politicians in particular, like Trump, merely many others around the world, who when they go media coverage of themselves that they dislike, or that is exposing things that they've done that are inappropriate, they just say, "Oh, well, that'south simulated news. You shouldn't believe that." And nosotros've had such an onslaught of that in the last little while that there is actually an eroding trust in the mainstream news media. And so you know, when people so start seeing, here'due south an official health warning that you should or shouldn't exist doing the following practices in the pandemic, people are already coming from a place of distrust, which is sort of new.
We used to have a lot greater trust in the mainstream news media. And if they but tell you, y'all know, you don't take to wearable a mask, and so you know, ii days subsequently, they say, oh, health officials have changed their view, now you should wear a mask. People would have seen that as, "Oh, the story is evolving, there'due south new data that's changing it." But people are now more like, "Well, are you lying to me? Like, what's truthful? And how practice I even know?" People react a lot more strongly. Then that can be quite challenging.
So, you know, in some cases, you would cultivate some news organizations that you trust and that you call up, okay, well, they are trying to give you the all-time information that they accept at the fourth dimension. Sometimes you don't have that. Y'all call up, well, this topic is too close to some kind of a corporate involvement. Or this visitor has, you know, basically paid for an advertorial. Or at that place's a partnership between the news media and say, the oil industry, which you're starting to see. So I don't really necessarily think that they're my go to source on this. I'm going to get somewhere else for more data.
And in some cases, you just really have to become to the original source, like a government document, or, you know, some kind of a record of what has actually happened because yous're similar, I just demand to cut through all of the different interpretation that'due south taking identify here.
And then at that place is more onus on the viewer of information to kind of have to think, okay, whose interest is it to put this out? And why am I seeing merely part of the story? And I'grand gonna take to do a chip deeper earthworks. It tin can exist a bit overwhelming, but it is likewise kind of fun to experience well informed, and to await at fact checking sites and to do a deep dive. And you lot don't take to do information technology on every single slice of news. At that place's some issues where you're like, I would like to exist more than informed about this. And then it'due south not that hard on the internet to be able to go and, you know, start tracking down a few sources for yourself.
ERICA BUTLER: Now, this new volume… I would think that under normal times, in that location would be a launch and some events, but with COVID-19 restrictions in identify, how accept you launched this book? How has that inverse?
ERIN STEUTER: Aye, nosotros did have some pretty fun things organized with the NB Media Co-op and Mayday organizations in Fredericton. They were going to practise a fun launch. I had some comic volume pages with empty speech bubbles, and I was going to get participants to fill in the speech bubbles on a particular topic and make information technology very interactive. And we were going to accident up some of the pages from the comic book and bring them out. Only nosotros're not doing that right now. We might do that again in the future when things ease upwards. But in that location have been a lot of people stuck at domicile looking for something good to read. And then the indie media bookstores have been maxim that they're getting orders in and people are looking for books similar this.
The editor at Betwixt The Lines, which is the publisher of the book, she said I'd really like this book to also be able to be something that I could give to my daughter who'southward in grade half-dozen. So I kind of kept in listen that there could be a readership from you know, youth all the style to adults. And there'southward sort of something in there for everyone. And then at that place is an opportunity for more people sitting at habitation looking for something to read. And having a fun kind of comic volume way book on a current outcome might, you know, this might really be a proficient time for it. Then I'm sort of hoping that'due south the case.
ERICA BUTLER: Well, I'm looking forward to information technology, Erin. Thanks for your time today.
ERIN STEUTER: You're very welcome.
Source: https://www.chmafm.com/welcome/erin-steuter-wants-to-help-you-win-the-fight-against-fake-news/
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