Do the Facts Still Matter? Countering misinformation and misperception
30 | Pursuit
eing honest and telling the truth are two completely different actions. To be honest is to share one’s own opinion without “sugarcoating” or softening the statement. To be truthful is to share wholly factual information without the intercession of opinion or bias. Similarly, the feelings about information held by the American population and the facts of the matter are equally as different as truth
free of worldview influences such as political party values, socioeconomic class and other circumstances. Luckily, there is a balance in place to correct these errors in the facts. In a peer-reviewed research document, “Misinformation and Fact-checking: Research Findings from Social Science,” Brendan Nyhan and Jason Reifler say journalists and citizens alike are concerned with the misinformation in modern politics that has the potential to ruin
and honesty. These blurred lines create harmful misperceptions that deviate from reality. As politicians become more honest in their own opinions, such as President Donald J. Trump, and feeling seems to reign supreme over fact for the public, the truth is lost in translation. A person’s skewed worldview becomes the lens through which he or she bases all judgment, even if only subconsciously. Perception is reality for many Americans. Simply put, they “feel” it therefore it is true ,even if some of the information being delivered is not entirely accurate or true altogether. When misinformation and misperception join forces, the American public is in a bad position to independently think for themselves,
citizens’ ability to make informed decisions at the polls and interact in meaningful debate. Essentially, false information has spread like a wildfire and needs an immediate response so the truth can be properly reported to the public. Fact-checking is a main component of misinformation correction. Nyhan and Reifler write that it “can have especially powerful effects when it helps create an elite consensus that crosses partisan or ideological lines.” The duo says fact-checking is not foolproof, nor is it 100 percent effective in correcting the lack of truth within the honest words of a politician, but its existence is still integral to the fight for a well-informed public. The purpose of fact-checking, after all,