Southern Utah University students Danielle Tebbs and McKell Shumway presented on fake news during the weekly Pizza and Politics on Jan. 24. Tebbs started the meeting by defining fake news.
“Fake news is defined as false or misleading information — misinformation including disinformation, propaganda and hoaxes presented as news,” said Tebbs.
Shumway then explained the history and origins of fake news, remarking, “Most people would know not to listen to outrageous news titles now more than they did know in the 1890s.”
The use of artificial intelligence has also become worrisome because it has been used to create propaganda. “AI is becoming accurate, making it harder to differentiate from real news,” said Shumway.
Tebbs then shared reasons as to why fake news is being shared faster than ever before.
“Social media is easy to click, share, repost or send stories to friends without any limits, Twitter [X] being the highest spread. Circular reporting is where one source posts a fake news story and it gets picked up by another news source and continues to spread,” noted Tebbs. “Finally, it is also spread by word of mouth.”
Shumway left the audience with a piece of advice. “Assess the news coverage. Take the time to read and assess multiple news articles,” she said. “Credible news sources aren’t always perfect, but they are usually the most accurate.”
Afterward, Tebbs was asked about the benefits that students receive when they come to learn about important topics like fake news at Pizza and Politics.
“One of the best benefits is that it is made by students for students, so we try to make it in a way that is understandable for people in our generation,” Tebbs answered. “We try to make it about things that are relevant to us as college students, and we try to do it in a way that is unbiased so that they can take the information from it and make their own opinions.”
A member of the audience, David Curfew, described what he liked about the forum. “It introduced me to some more topics that I want to go into. For instance, we talked about the fake news with the 2016 election.”
Curfew also noted that Pizza and Politics is a good, creative space to fuel the hobby and passion of political science.
The next Pizza and Politics meeting will be held on Feb. 7 from 12-1 p.m. in the Michael O. Leavitt Center for Politics & Public Service.
Author: Brig Pyfer
Photographer: Brig Pyfer
Editor: Anna Mower
news@suunews.net
