Simanaitis Says
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WHOM—AND WHAT—DO I TRUST?
IN THESE DAYS OF RAMPANT MIS- AND DISINFORMATION, what sources should we trust? And, note well, we don’t necessarily have to agree with these sources, but rather put faith in the veracity of whatever perspective they represent.
A Conservative Example. For example, I trust National Review, which Wikipedia describes as “an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955.” He was 29 at the time; he died at 82 in 2008.
I’ve long appreciated Buckley’s style and articulateness, though not necessarily his political views. My favorite WFB is his response to an irate reader.
Categories of Information. To organize this, let’s identify several means of gaining information: printed matter, radio and TV, online sources, and personal interactions.
I’ll not address information gleaned from another person, as only you can judge Uncle Harry’s views on international matters. My guess is they’re no more profound than mine.
Printed Matter. I subscribe to the Sunday edition of The New York Times, my only newspaper, albeit a fat one. This also gives me daily online access and, all important, my Sunday crossword puzzle done each week with Daughter Suz.
Though I don’t always agree with NYT headline wording choices, I trust the veracity of its reporters and thoughtfulness of its editorial stances. Yes, it skews Liberal, but then so do I.
Radio and TV. Both of these are primarily entertainment media for me, though my sources for hard news are BBC News World Service each 6 a.m. Pacific and National Public Radio during the day.
It is distressing to learn that Fox News appears to have growing influence. Aren’t any of its adherents bothered by Fox having to fork over $787 million in its Dominion defamation lawsuit? And aren’t we at all suspicious of recent dismissals of lawsuits against Fox News for claiming undercover-blue involvement in the January 6 insurrection?
Geez, does (pre)presidential immunity carry over to news agencies as well? How to deny things viewed with my own eyes on January 6? Merely touristic??
Much more reliable as sources are Associated Press, Bloomberg, Reuters, and The Guardian.
Online. It’s useful to separate online sources from trolls, particularly when the latters’ native language may be Russian or Mandarin. One approach is to seek verification by legitimate news agencies already noted: AP, Bloomberg, or Reuters. I also monitor Voice of America each morning together with The New York Times.
Another safeguard reminds me to “Trust, but verify.” Indeed, in verifying this quote, I came upon its origin: Wikipedia writes, “Trust, but verify (Russian: доверяй, но πpоверяй, romanized: doveryay, no proveryay) is a Russian proverb, which rhymes in Russian. The phrase became internationally known in English after Suzanne Massie, a scholar of Russian history, taught it to Ronald Reagan, then president of the United States, who used it on several occasions in the context of nuclear disarmament discussions with the Soviet Union.”
As readers of this website might recognize, Wikipedia is another frequent source of mine. I’ve sensed that it’s not infallible, but its self-editing seems to work. ds
© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays, 2024
Simanaitis Says 
I strongly believe that courses in evaluating information need to become a required part of primary and secondary education. My observations of teens seem to indicate that they place 100% confidence in the answer they get when they ask their phone assistant a question. They seem to have no idea or care about the source of that answer. Most modern adults do not understand the value of professional journalism with source citations. They seem to give podcasts and radio talk shows the same level of credibility.
An excellent point. Recently several of us ex-R&T types got together for lunch. It was a lively discussion of many things including youthful gullibility. Among other things, Patrick Hong teaches part time at UC Irvine, a course akin to History of Engineering. I recall it’s a requirement and covers this idea of self-actuated fact-checking.
In teaching mathematics I used to tell students they had to have, quoting Ernest Hemingway, a “built-in shock-proof shit detector.”
The degree of care that you describe is exactly what people need to do – but it is, alas, so 20th Century. In discussions with younger folk of late, I don’t feel their need for accuracy. They’ll ask how you know something when you say something they don’t like, but they are also more than willing to believe the latest conspiracy theory to support their beliefs.
I second, third, fourth Docmatt, Mark W and you. Simply, evermore people today do not realize the difference between delivering the news — vetted journalism — and talking about the news, the latter being what Fox, ad nauseam do.
Our K-12 trailing that of at least 16 other modern industrial democracies is light on instilling critical thinking.
Worse still is the skewing toward corporate journalism, with its pile-on, me-too approach, its inevitable cheapening of news, reportage lite. We certainly saw what corporate journalism did to the once novel, erudite voice of Dennis’s old Road & Track.
Democracy demands an informed, not titillated populace. And here we are with another failed “businessman” ex-TV game show/clown host in his second term in the White House. His hair is even the same color as Bozo’s.
Well done, Dennis. I’ll note that Associated Press has a free app and website providing national and international news and sports. Since AP provides news to many newspapers, radio and television stations by its nature it has to be unbiased and nonpartisan. I’ll also add that my view may be at least in part because I was with AP for nearly 10 years a few eons ago.