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24 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY october 17-23, 2024 www.montereycountynow.com that 96 percent failed to consider that ties to the fossil fuel industry might affect the credibility of information on climate change. Meanwhile, 52 percent believed a video—actually shot in Russia—that showed “ballot stuffing” provided compelling evidence of voter fraud in the United States. A 2023 Pew Research poll shows half of U.S. adults get their news at least sometimes from social media, even as 40 percent said one reason they dislike getting information there is because of inaccuracy—but people reported that they kept returning because of convenience. A newer Pew study, released on Oct. 10, found that 52 percent of Americans find it is generally difficult to determine what is true and what is not about the upcoming election. And the first week of October, between Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton, FEMA launched a “Hurricane Rumor Response” website to quell untrue rumors about federal assistance. “Rumor: FEMA is blockading people in Florida and preventing evacuations,” the site reads in one example. “FEMA does not control traffic flow or conduct traffic stops, which are handled by local authorities. This is a harmful rumor that can put lives in danger…Local officials are the best source of information about evacuation and resources to help.” This information landscape is what prompted Assemblymember Marc Berman, D-Menlo Park, to introduce Assembly Bill 873, which was signed into law in 2023. The law requires that California’s K-12 schools incorporate media literacy into the curriculum across major subjects (language arts, math, science, social studies) the next time the curriculum is revised. “As we’ve seen too often in the last decade, what happens online can have the most terrifying of real-world impacts,” Berman said at the time of the bill signing one year ago. “From climate denial to vaccine conspiracy theories to the Jan. 6 attack on our nation’s Capitol, the spread of online misinformation has had global and deadly consequences. We have a responsibility to teach the next generation to be more critical consumers of online content and more guarded against misinformation, propaganda and conspiracy theories.” As Mark Gomez, ethnic studies coordinator at the History & Civics Project at UC Santa Cruz, told the students at Misinfo Day in Monterey on May 7, “The things we are talking about here today could save this country’s democracy.” From her home in Pebble Beach, Susan Meister was reading about Berman’s pending AB 873. Decades earlier, she attended Columbia Journalism School and had hoped to work for a big newspaper, but found they would not hire women at the time. Instead, she became the editor of special publications for an international medical foundation based in Holland, and from there developed a career in medical publishing. She was living in San Francisco when she met her now-husband, who lived in Monterey County. She moved here in 2012, and wanted to get involved. She launched a local chapter of Moms Demand Action, a group focused on safe gun storage. She used her journalism training and wrote occasional columns for the Monterey Herald. And as AB 873 was winding through the Legislature, she saw a new call to action. “When I saw the bill I thought, this is our opportunity to do something in California,” she says. She got to work on creating the Monterey County Media Literacy Coalition and developing programming that she hopes can become a template for wider use: “We want this program, or something like it, to be in every California county.” The Coalition’s members include the History & Civics Project at UC Santa Cruz (which supported Misinfo Day with a $6,000 grant); Monterey County Office of Education (which provided buses and staff for the event); Monterey County Free Libraries; Monterey County Board of Supervisors, which on Oct. 1 passed a resolution declaring National Media Literacy Week in Monterey County from Oct. 21-25; Monterey County Weekly; Institute for Public Trust at Fresno State; and Assemblymember Berman. The Coalition is marking the 10th annual National Media Literacy Week, Oct. 21-25 (held in conjunction with UNESCO’s Global Media and Information LiteracyWeek), with another installation of Misinfo Day at York School, and a panel discussion on Oct. 21 featuring Gomez, MPUSD Superintendent PK Diffenbaugh, Monterey County Free Libraries Director Hillary Theyer and Weekly staff writer Pam Marino. Meister says she returns again and again to the basics of fact-checking, even in the digital era. “I went to journalism school, and that’s where I learned most of what I know and have used it ever since,” she says. The hope is to help participants—K-12 students for now, as well as the general public— learn, practice and apply those same skills. “The forces of disinformation are overwhelming and voluminous, and the internet has made that much more difficult to penetrate,” Meister says. “It takes a state of mind which we are hoping to instill in students: Is it trying to persuade me of something? Am I emotionally reacting to it? “If I know something’s fishy, now I know how to investigate it.” She is realistic about her efforts and how long it can take to transform the information ecosystem. But she can imagine what success looks like—purveyors of disinformation will go out of business, and misinformation will not flow so fast. “We will get back to a fact-based society,” she says. “At least we have a formula, and our formula is understanding what we are looking at and critically evaluating it. I don’t think it will be in our lifetimes, but I think it is achievable. We start with leaders of tomorrow.” Speaking to those leaders of tomorrow at Monterey County’s first-ever Misinfo Day in May, Daisy Martin presents to the students after they complete the Euphorigen escape room game. (Spoiler: Euphorigen is deemed safe and effective after 10 years of study, and scientists plan to use it in the drinking water supply.) Martin, the founding director of the Media Literacy: Tips and Tricks Pause and think: The number-one tip in navigating truth from misinformation and disinformation is perhaps the easiest—take a breath and slow down. Ask yourself if you are reacting emotionally or applying a bias. Does it seem credible? Rather than learning the latest techniques in identifying AI-generated images, for example—something that is quickly changing—Mark Gomez at the History & Civics Project advises training yourself to simply pause, particularly before sharing something on social media and potentially helping magnify a message or making it go viral. Ask yourself if the message appears meant to divide, says Daisy Martin—no one is immune to misinformation, regardless of political affiliation, and it can be meant to divide, not just to deceive. Use reverse image searches: Is that storm photograph current, or was it taken five years ago? Try searching an image using tools like Google, TinEye or Yandez to see source information on an image or video. Assess the credibility of a source: Visit the website and look for context. Is it an outlet that identifies who is writing stories? Can you tell if it’s a satirical site, or state-run propaganda, or if there is a clear political angle? Is there a clear distinction between editorial and advertising? Look for journalistic guidelines or standards: Is there more than one source cited, and were subjects of a story invited to comment? (The Weekly uses the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics.) Look for a corrections policy: Is there one, and has the outlet issued corrections in the past? News organizations should create a record of corrections and changes to previously published articles. “If they never admit a mistake, there’s something wrong,” says Jevin West, founder of UW’s Center for an Informed Public. Try lateral reading: This can mean searching online for other sources to see if there is similar information elsewhere (but don’t forget to assess the credibility of those sources). Do other news outlets provide similar information? Do other scientific papers share consensus? Compare and contrast. Acknowledge your Fallibility: We are all susceptible to falling for misinformation. Be patient with yourself, admit when you are wrong, and see what you can learn from your mistakes. “I study this, I teach it, and even for me it can be difficult to discern what is true,” West says. “It’s hard for everyone.” Sources: News Literacy Project, History & Civics Project at UC Santa Cruz, Misinfo Day, Center for an Informed Public at University of Washington “We are helping students learn how to think, not necessarily what to think.”

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