From: Karin Wikoff <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Sat, 26 Nov 2016 00:21:19 +0000

The whole "fake news" narrative is one I have been watching and which
I find most concerning, though perhaps not for the reasons you might
ex[ect.

As this election season unfolded, I became more and more aware of how
skewed the reporting of the mainstream media is.  Not just a little
bias, which we all know exists, but actively steering public
perceptions in a very partisan way.  I started finding alternative
sources for news.  It's rather a pain, because one has to really check
out the sources -- one can no longer rely on the formerly reliable
news sources to be accurate.  But when you wander off the beaten path,
it's the Wild West.  There are unquestionably all kinds of fake news
sites -- but there are also alternative news sources that are
considerably better than mainstream media: Democracy Now and The Young
Turks are two examples. I keep thinking how utterly ironic it is that
we live in the information age, but have a harder time ascertaining
the accuracy of news reports than in the era of Walter Cronkite.

Yes, there are fake news sites, and they were very, very active
regarding the Presidential election, but the way the media is pushing
the narrative, I feel like it is a way to muddy the waters to
discredit the actual reliability of some alternative sources for news
which are more accurate than the mainstream media.

I am thinking of Standing Rock, as just one example -- one I have been
following since August and which has been going on since April.  I've
seen dozens of live streams, many from people I know personally who
went to the site, plus the alternative networks.  I have seen human
rights abuses on the part of law enforcement to equal Selma and
Birmingham in 1963.  And I have listened to the deafening silence of
our major news sources, some of which have tossed in a brief bit the
past few days since a young woman had part of her arm blown off this
past Sunday (and another young woman, a Native American, had her
retina detached) -- both due to police actions against unarmed water
protectors.  What's going on out there right now is one of the biggest
stories of this generation, but one must turn to alternative media to
learn anything about it.

As librarians and information professionals, it falls to us to help
patrons find the real news, to sort the reliable alternative sources
from the fake news sites, but without being sucked into a manufactured
narrative that paints all non-mainstream sources with the same muddy
brush.

Karin

Karin Wikoff
Electronic and Technical Services Librarian
Ithaca College Library
953 Danby Rd
Ithaca, NY 14850

Phone: 1-607-274-1364
Fax: 1-607-274-1539
Email: [log in to unmask]