Journalist offers advice on “fake news”
November 16, 2017
Social media and the Internet make it easier to spread “fake news” today, but there are several key factors for judging the reliability of what we hear and see reported locally and nationally, according to John Monk, a writer for The State newspaper since 1997.
Monk was Capital Rotary’s Nov. 15 guest speaker, sharing what he’s learned after some 40 years as a journalist in South Carolina.
To judge a story’s merits, Monk suggested readers or listeners should:
(1) see if the story comes from a major news organization that carefully checks facts before publication;
(2) consider the personal reputation and reliability of the reporter; and
(3) remember that news is a “continuing conversation” that “hopefully is not the final word.”
He told Rotarians that “there is a good deal of evidence that propaganda spreads through fake news.” Monk is a Maryland native, attended Davidson College and spent five years as Washington correspondent for The Charlotte Observer.
