DUNWOODY, Ga.–Think you can spot fake news? It can be a bit tricky — especially in today’s climate, says Tamra Ortgies-Young, an assistant professor of political science at Georgia State University’s Perimeter College.
“The 2016 presidential election popularized the term ‘fake news,’ and it’s talked about in excess these days,” Ortgies-Young said. “But it’s not as easy to detect what’s real and what’s not as one might think.”
Ortgies-Young and three of her Perimeter College colleagues will present “The Truth About Fake News: Why News Literacy Matters” as part of the college’s Sarah Larson Lecture Series on Wednesday, March 6, 11:30 a.m.–12:45 p.m. on Georgia State’s Dunwoody Campus.
Dr. Lauri Goodling, assistant professor of English; Dr. Kari Miller, associate professor of English; and Amy Stalker, associate department chair of Georgia State’s Dunwoody Campus library, are the other symposium speakers.
“The Truth About Fake News” will examine why people throughout history have been so susceptible to salacious stories, why we should care about erroneous reports, why it’s difficult to get real facts and how people can arm themselves against deceptive information.
Stalker says the lecture should be of particular interest to students who are often responsible for determining the legitimacy of information sources when completing class assignments.
“Unfortunately, most people (and especially time-strapped students) don’t dedicate the time that is now often required to really evaluate both content and source material,” Stalker said.
“Checking for an ‘about’ tab on a webpage or seeing an academic affiliation tucked in with the citations is simply no longer enough. The modern information consumer needs to consider multiple types of bias that may be at play and reflect on whether the presence of those biases is enough to make the source less trustworthy or reliable. This is a skill that has to honed and practiced.”
The March 6 Sarah Larson Lecture Series is free and open to the public at Georgia State University’s Dunwoody Campus, 2101 Womack Road. The lecture will be in the NC Building Auditorium. For additional information, contact Ryan Lake at [email protected] or 770-274-5475.