Brianna Barnes reporter
To be an informed citizen and an educated person, it is important to pay attention to political news and what is going on around the country. It is easy for students to become absorbed in their own small world and ignore the broader perspective. This leads to uninformed citizens.
There is a significant difference between social media news and traditional news. Stories that pop up on Instagram are not always beneficially educational, especially considering newspapers and news websites exist, whose job it is to simply inform not entertain. The algorithms of social media websites provide feeds that cater to the user’s bias, and much of social media political “news” is intentionally political commentary, which can be enjoyable. However, viewers should keep in mind that the commentator has an agenda, so they will not give the most truthful perspective. According to Instagram’s website, “Instagram makes it easy to capture, create and share what you love.” Whereas The Associated Press (AP) website states that their values are, “Accurate, fact-based, nonpartisan reporting.” Thus, Instagram is showing what they think a person wants to see, and AP is purely educating.
With many options available to view news, it is easy to run into fake news. According to a professor in the School of Journalism and Department of Media and Information, College of Communication Arts and Sciences, at Michigan State University, “fake news is defined more by partisanship and identity politics than misinformation and deception.” So, fake news is not just false reporting, but unobjective reporting. With social media, it is easy to spread fake news. This makes it even more important to always use critical thinking skills to make educated decisions on the media you consume and how it affects you.
With an abundance of sources comes positives. They make being politically informed easy. With phones in everyone’s pocket, people can access several news sources at any given time, which means being politically informed is more about motivation than ability. According to Norwegian University professors in the International Journal of Press/Politics, “It is thus not ability that is the main obstacle that stands between an abundance of political information and a well and evenly informed public but rather a lack of motivation.”
This year is an election year; therefore, being fully informed is important. Voting is an important duty as a citizen, and one should go in with knowledge of the candidates. If voters do not look at multiple sources about candidates, and expect to decide based off a few Instagram reels, they are lacking quality information and not making informed decisions.
According to professors from Spain, Austria, and Michigan in the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, “U.S. panel-survey data show that individuals who perceive news will find them are less likely to use traditional news sources and are less knowledgeable about politics over time. Although the news-finds-me perception is positively associated with news exposure on social media, this behavior does not facilitate political learning. These results suggest news continues to enhance political knowledge best when actively sought.” This news-finds-me perception is often the reason people avoid looking for news. Why would one put in the work to look when it is provided so easily? That is when the motivation aspect comes into play.