Truth Checking Needed

There was a great post recently from Jon Orin on Tech Crunch entitled “If It’s On the Internet, It Must Be True.” I loved the content and the timing was fortuitous for me since I have been working on the subject area for a project for some clients.  Unnerved by the Shirley Sherrod story recently they were looking at ‘reputation management’ and how to ensure that this would not happen to them.

We’ve begun that process with all of the tools available on the web, but I am also focusing on the whole media ‘thing’ that we have gotten into with the decline of print media, and the rise of digital media.  The challenge is getting the facts right in an age when the news cycle is now the next 5 minutes.  I guess fact checking is now something of a misnomer in the rush to publish, and this by more and more ‘amateurs’ writing and blogging for new media.

I’m also taken by the circumstances also outlined in True Enough by Farhad Manjoo.  Subtitled “Learning to Live in a Post-Fact Society.”  That says it all.  One of his premises is that deeply held beliefs can supplant our perceptions of what is ‘real’ and what is not in the world around us.  The changes in our political system, as well as in the business world show many examples of how that is happening in our new media world.

Choose your sources wisely, and looking for conflicting view before making final decision.  Don’t let your cognitive biases take over.  Trust me it takes a lot of work with all of the information we are streaming in our new world daily lives.  It’s worth it, and my blood pressure is now down 15 points.

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