Fifty years ago, the national networks CBS, ABC and NBC dominated television screens in America and were the primary way voters obtained information: Each network, along with newspapers and radio, told its audience facts first, and all agreed on what the facts were. That meant Americans had a shared understanding of the truth — which is what led to the erosion of both Democratic and Republican public support for then-President Richard Nixon during the Watergate investigation.
But the time of Democrats and Republicans agreeing on facts is no more. In the early 1980s, cable news networks emerged. The late ’80s and early ’90s brought the internet, and Six Degrees became the first social media platform later in the ’90s. With each development, avenues for information grew more abundant. People weren’t confined to newspapers and the three news stations for information. Instead, we gained the ability to access information anywhere — and with less and less scrutiny.
As access to information without oversight expanded, misinformation skyrocketed. Readers, viewers and listeners became increasingly vulnerable to believing falsehoods. Consider the aftermath of the 2020 election: Donald Trump took to social media and, with the help of far-right platforms and news networks, at one point persuaded nearly 70% of Republicans to believe that Joe Biden was not duly elected president, a poll by Suffolk University and USA Today found. But there is hope for the truth to prevail — and our effort begins by providing students the tools necessary to effectively navigate the information ecosystem and discern fact from fiction.
