Chronicle Issue 09 all-pages-1-28

14 The Chronicle March 20 - 26, 2018 chronicle.durhamcollege.ca Campus
DC's fight against fake news
How do we
know it's
not real?
Aly Beach
The Chronicle
Fake news: it’s everywhere and it’s
become an epidemic. So much so,
Durham College (DC) has a general
education course dedicated to
fighting it.
Valerie Lapp, professor in the
School of Interdisciplinary Studies,
teaches “The Real Truth About
Fake News” a course dedicated to
teaching students how to detect
fake news. “With the advent of social
media, with the fact that people
are not just getting their news from
a few trusted sources, that are just
getting flooded with news, advertising,
fake news, satire, opinion
in just a big wall on the internet,
that people are no longer are no
longer able to decide what’s real
and what’s fake,” says Lapp. The
hybrid course specifically focuses
on how to spot fake news, stop the
Valerie Lapp's top tips for finding fake news
• Think critically
• Ask yourself who is the author? What is their motive for writing the story?
Have they written anything previously? What are their credentials?
• Ask yourself is the website credible? Have they presented fake news before?
• Do some research and double check any unclear information
spread of it, find media bias while
comparing bias to fake news, the
role of personal bias in fake news
detecting, how to find trustworthy
sources and how fake news affects
democracy. A hybrid course is a
course divided between online and
in-class.
Lapp says she got the idea last
year after she saw “all the crazy
stuff happening after the 2016
(U.S.) election,” She sat down
with DC Journalism - Mass Media
professor Teresa Goff to discuss
possible course content. Goff and
Journalism - Mass Media Program
coordinator Brian Legree have also
been guest speakers in the class.
They educate students on the importance
of local news.
“For many of them, it’s quite an
eye-opener,” says Lapp, “What
Brian and Teresa did…. Was
basically point out how you need
to know what’s going on…around
you locally and how could you find
that out here at Durham College.”
Lapp described the current news
cycle pattern as a “fire hose of information.”
The sheer amount of
information people see every day
can make it difficult to determine
what is true and what is not, according
to Lapp. She says a lot of
people are simply not prepared to
do the work to determine if they are
reading fake news.
“The consequences of not doing
that work and not knowing what’s
fake and what’s true are devastating,”
says Lapp, “What I see, even
in my students, is that I’ll show
them two stories, one is from CBC
the other is fake news and they’ll
just say ‘it’s all crap.’ There is a tendency
to just dismiss everything.”
Lapp says this disengagement
and fake news both have “devastating”
effects on democracy, which
is why she says everyone needs to
fight the fake news epidemic. She
says by dismissing all sources of
information, people are not being
informed on government activities
or people in power.
“The more people who feel they
can’t trust the information, the
more they disengage. And when
you have disengaged people, you
don’t have a functioning democracy,”
says Lapp.
Lapp says one of the main causes
of fake news is mistakes made
by news organizations in events of
breaking news. Other causes are
satire being taken seriously and
true fake news containing a grain
of truth. "Sometimes though, I do
think that even the very best journalism
outlets, the best journalists
are under such terrible pressure
with the 24/7 news cycle that they
rush to get something out, and particularly
when we see…breaking
news of any kind, then all kinds
of messes happen,” says Lapp. On
April 19, Lapp will be hosting a
“Fake News Summit” in the Global
Classroom. Confirmed guests include
Canada-based Buzzfeed
media editor Craig Silverman.
“He’s sort of made it his mission,
and Buzzfeed has kind of given him
this responsibility of uncovering
fake news… he finds it and follows
stories that expose rings of fake
news propagators,” says Lapp.
Lapp says even with spreading
misinformation and distrust
in the media, there is still a need
for journalists. “The world needs
well-trained, ethical journalists
more than ever, and ones that are
willing and able to report on the
local news - that’s so important,”
says Lapp.
Simple or complex, any problem can be solved
Campus
service
helps solve
conflicts
Cam Black-Araujo
The Chronicle
Someone not pulling their weight
in a group project? Your roommate
won’t clean up after himself? That’s
where Campus Conflict Resolution
Services (CCRS) comes in.
CCRS provides free and confidential
resolution services on
campus, and will also try to help
resolve conflicts. But some CCRS
mediators say more people could
take advantage of their services.
Mediation student Charlotte
Hand-Ross says their services are
valuable but two things sometimes
make it difficult for them to reach
more students.
She says not everyone knows
CCRS exists because there are
so many students on campus, and
often times with a program like
this, some people may worry about
being judged.
“I think it’s really beneficial to
take advantage of our services because
we are so willing to help,”
says Hand-Ross. “Aside from what
we can help you with at that specific
time, we do provide you with
great transferable skills moving
forward.”
These services are provided to
anyone on campus who needs help
with conflict, whether it’s group
work, teammates and even relationship
advice. In a session, the
mediator helps identify key issues
and assists with negotiating a mutually
acceptable agreement, as
well discussing how to implement
that agreement.
CCRS is a mandatory class as
part of the Mediation-ADR course.
Students meet each week to discuss
and go over any conflicts they’ve
dealt with or presentations they’ve
given.
The students discuss what went
well and what strategies they used
to help going forward in other situations.
“It’s important for us do this, so
we are staying consistent in our
work and ensuring what we do is
relevant and effective,” says Hand-
Ross
The mediation students provide
help through mediation, but if both
parties don’t want to take part, they
will provide coaching and give advice
to help with the situation for
those willing to listen. They can
provide services to students at
either school on campus but cannot
help with conflict between a
student and professor. This is a
grad-certificate program so many
of the student mediators have already
experienced these conflicts
in college.
Take advantage
because we are
so willing to
help.
CCRS supervisor and Mediation-ADR
program coordinator,
Dale Burt, says the program not
only helps those looking for conflict
resolution services, but also helps
the students providing the service.
“The program gives students real
life, hands-on experience that will
help them once they get into the
field,” says Burt.
People looking for assistance can
get in touch with CCRS by e-mail
on their Durham College website
page. Burt then passes the inquiry
on to the students who would volunteer
to take on the task at hand.
Hand-Ross says working alongside
students to help solve conflicts,
or even just giving them advice, has
really helped her as a person and
provided her with important experience
heading forward.
“I’ve developed a leadership role
that I didn’t really know I had before,”
explains Hand-Ross. “I’ve
been able to express my creativity
differently in this program.”