By Seth Boyes,
I’m increasingly irked at how quickly misinformation crops up following natural disasters in the digital age.
I vividly remember sitting in my elementary school library when public internet access was new, and our school librarian showed us all how to identify credible information online (and yes, that was in the dial-up days, so that took a while for a class of 20-25 students to follow along on Netscape Navigator). Being capable of identifying credible sources is a skillset I sometimes worry has been eroded beyond repair. And it matters, especially during natural disasters, because there are professionals on the ground, literally saving lives and asking for aid in doing so. Yet today, too many of us are drawn to so-called social influencers and keyboard warriors who often frame those professionals as liars if not conspirators in some pseudo-political spitting match (I say spitting, because I won’t let myself print the word that come to mind).
But, if I look back to those early internet days — when an actual card catalog stood a stone’s throw from the blocky bank of Macintosh computers — things were different.
When hurricane Andrew hit the southern U.S. in 1992, we knew how terrible things were there because journalists reported it. And when hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005, we knew how terrible it was, because journalists reported it, and we knew how unprepared the government relief agencies were at that time because journalists reported that as well — resulting in some changes to how emergency plans are implemented.
And I’m fully aware how trust in news media has declined in the years since then. From my point of view, tastes changed to favor new commentary dressed in the trappings of actual journalism, and from there it took only a step or two before people were turning to anonymous Twitter accounts for what they were convinced was reliable information.
So, when Hurricane Helene tore through Florida and battered portions of eastern coastal states last year, folks believed a tech billionaire and others who were claiming emergency aid for residents affected by the storm was being blocked or confiscated, and that federal disaster relief funds had been depleted after supposedly being used to support undocumented immigrants. However, just posting something online doesn’t make it true (at least that’s what my elementary school librarian taught us). Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis said at that time his state had received the federal aid it needed, adding further relief efforts should go to those in western North Carolina, where Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper also had something to say.
“As we continue our unprecedented response to Hurricane Helene, the nation is beginning to understand that impacted areas have been the target of a relentless vortex of disinformation, dialed up by bad actors and platforms like X,” Cooper said in a post on the very platform he was criticizing. “We need to work together to rebuild and recover from a catastrophic disaster like this one — and spreading false information to sow chaos hurts real people. Politicians, billionaires and grifters who peddle lies during a time of crisis should be held accountable.”
Today, there are wildfires roaring across southern California, and officials handling the situation again find themselves having to refute the digital rumor mill. For example, the Oregon State Fire Marshal released a statement on Jan. 12 to counter claims that Oregon fire engines sent to aid California firefighters had been required to pass emissions tests and were either turned away or delayed in their response. Officials wrote was a full page statement, but the big, bold, capital letters toward the top of the page summed things up:
“To be clear: this is false,” the fire marshal’s office said.
I’ll admit, I’ve never covered a California wildfire, but I’ve been on scene for anything from a cooking fire that made too much smoke to a flaming rail tanker full of ethanol fuel. And in each circumstance, it’s the fire chiefs, police chiefs and the emergency management coordinators I rely on for my reporting.
And that’s because, as some of my colleagues in the Iowa newspaper business have said before, the commodity we journalists deal in isn’t information. You’d think it is, but it’s not — everyone has information of some kind or another. The commodity journalists actually deal in is credible information.
Reliable information.
True information.
It takes work to dig and find trustworthy information. It takes phone calls and interviews. It fills notebooks and tape recorders. It means dirt on your shoes and ink on the heal of your palm. But digital lies require no work at all, especially in the information age when one can simply delete what they’ve said once it’s exposed as blatantly false when met with the sunshine of actual journalism.
But see, as irked as this stuff gets me, it also shows exactly what’s so great about newspapers.
We transcribe our work to the ledger of history each and every edition by committing ourselves to the permanency of print. That’s not to say we’re infallible but, if we get it wrong, we can’t just take it down after the fact and claim it never happened. Industry standards demand we admit and correct our mistakes. What’s more, we don’t fill our pages with our own assumptions and stances on the issues of the day and call it news — no, that sort of thing is opinion work and is squarely contained here on page four.
True journalism is the conveyance of what other reliable sources have said for the benefit of the public — it’s an outward focus on the reader’s benefit rather than an inward pursuit of fame — for clicks, for followers.
And that difference is pretty striking once you see it clearly.
So please look to actual journalists whether there’s a national crisis or a local concern. Pick up a newspaper, whether it’s from a newsstand or on a screen in your palm. Because there will surely be more hurricanes. There will surely be more elections. There will surely be more city council votes. There will surely be more county road projects. And there will surely be more changes to school board policy.
And you’ll surely want to have reliable information about all of them.
Agree with Seth? Think he’s got it completely backwards or he’s missed the point entirely? Let your voice be heard. Letters to the editor may be emailed to editor@decorahleader.com or dropped off at 110 Washington St. Suite 4 in Decorah.
Seth Boyes, News Editor
"It takes work to dig and find trustworthy information. It takes phone calls and interviews. It fills notebooks and tape recorders. It means dirt on your shoes and ink on the heal of your palm. But digital lies require no work at all, especially in the information age when one can simply delete what they’ve said once it’s exposed as blatantly false when met with the sunshine of actual journalism."–
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