Forrest Gump and 2020: Can Americans Pick Out Fake News?

FBI director Christopher Wray was clear last month about what39s coming in the 2020 presidential campaignamp160 In the last midterm elections Wray said Moscow was simply warming upamp160 The intelligence community made the same point in Januaryamp160 The public warnings from law enforcement and intelligence leaders carry an obvious messageamp160 before they even consider their ballots voters need to understand the threatamp160That39s where broadcast and cable news come inamp160 Publicizing Russia39s attack is important as a story as well as a public needamp160 Events in the European Union show whyamp160 Last week voters in its 28 member countries finished electing the EU39s parliamentamp160 For months bogus news aiming to sway them has inundated European social mediaamp160 Intelligence agencies media watchdogsamp160and journalists tried hard but identifying and taking down the content was an uphill fightThe EU election is a coming attraction of what voters and the news business will face here next yearamp160 Europe39s experience suggests the future won39t be like the pastamp160 Cyber security experts see differences in the European fake news flood compared to Russia39s US election attack in 2016 amp160For example Oxford University researchers studying recent tweets in Europe say few came from Russian sourcesamp160 The pattern shouldn39t be reassuringFake news and hate speech from European extremists comprised the most popular items on the webamp160 Their output drew an astonishing number of eyeballsamp160amp160Avaaz an activist network reported that the 500 far rightwing groups and Facebook pages taken down during the European election campaign alone drew a halfbillion viewsamp160 According to security experts that39s why Russian operatives are replaying local extremist content not authoring their ownWhether the Russians will use the same game plan in US elections remains to be seenamp160 If they do for American voters who are their targets the challenge of sorting facts from fiction will be enormousamp160 The Russians will have a leg up as wellamp160 Americans are growing increasingly susceptible to fake news amp160The research isn39t ambiguousamp160 Americans39 knowledge of history governmentamp160and the political process is steadily eroding poorly equipping them to analyze what they see hear and readTake what citizens are supposed to know to exercise their rightsamp160 The US Citizenship Test requires immigrants to learn American history and civics amp160Last year a survey by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation found only 36 percent of Americans could pass an exam drawn from the testamp160 Eightysevenamp160percent didn39t know when the Constitution was ratified 60 percent couldn39t identify the number of Supreme Court Justicesamp160andamp160over half didn39t know which countries Americans fought in World War TwoIgnorance of history isn39t allamp160 According to the University of Pennsylvania39s Annenberg Center knowledge of civics is even worseamp160 The Annenberg Center surveyed public knowledge of the Constitution in 2017amp160 Familiarity with the document obviously is vital for any citizen to understand constitutional processes and rights under any circumstances amp160It39s especially important when demagogic attacks on Congress and the press or calls to round up illegal aliens are a president39s stock in tradeUnfortunately according to Annenberg many Americans aren39t equipped to sort out banana republic bombast from simple constitutional factsamp160 Cases in point only one in four Americans could name all three branches of government one in three couldn39t name a single branch over a third couldn39t name a single First Amendment rightamp160 Ignorance mattersamp160 For example over half of those surveyed believe wrongly that illegal immigrants have no constitutional rightsThat many Americans haven39t a clue about their history or constitutional rights isn39t just a shameamp160 It39s a vulnerabilityamp160 The Russians are already exploiting it and they39re not the only onesamp160 Indeed with a president breaking records for outright lying the voters39 inability to recognize ludicrous attacks on sitting judges or congressional oversight are no less worrisome than Moscow39s political warfareIt39s also what makes addressing the public39s ignorance a job for the newsamp160 To be sure the latest fevered presidential accusations against sitting judges or authoritarian rant about congressional oversight inevitably will lead at the top of the houramp160 But when it comes to the story what do viewers understand if they haven39t a clue about say the independence of the judiciary or the Constitution39s checks and balancesamp160The data isn39t in doubtamp160 Audiences need journalism that educates as well as explainsamp160 Indeed the background just might be more important than the latest news itselfamp160 For editors and reporters adding a civics tutorial to a breaking story may well seem superfluousamp160 The Woodrow Wilson Foundation the Annenberg Centeramp160and Forrest Gump make clear it39s anything butamp160Click the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers amp160

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Forrest Gump and 2020: Can Americans Pick Out Fake News?

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Kent M. Harrington

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Forrest Gump and 2020: Can Americans Pick Out Fake News?

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