I think there is a genuine danger of just saying "Unplug it all, it's all trash." Granted that, especially since the rise of the 24 hour news cycle, even overall reputable news sources have fallen victim to trying to grab headlines, clickbait, and etc. But, the most important thing is competency of its pitfalls and learning to be critical, but not simply critical for the sake of it.
Pushing away media hard and just saying "It's all trash," is dangerous because then you will go from perhaps being manipulated to just being ill-informed and ignorant. Or, if this mentality of "All media is trash, fuck the mainstream," will lead to people instead falling towards unverified news sources because "They're not mainstream," and yet become a victim of the same tactics again, if not worse because there is less chance of it being grounded in some reality.
So the message should be: Be smart, be critical, try to be aware of their biases and your own. I think there is a thing which was posted by the Canadian government here (YES I KNOW IT IS FROM THE GOVERNMENT BUT HEAR ME OUT!) which gives a basic tool kit to help give the framework to think critically. SPOT.
S- "Is the SOURCE credible?"
P- "Is the PERSPECTIVE Biased?"
O- "Are OTHER sources reporting this?"
T- "Is this TIMELY, as in the news piece, is it up to date, are they using old photos to manipulate you, etc, "
Those four things to ask are generally good to keep in mind. In terms of what Uncle Eric is saying (I did see it a long time ago) is that some of that is probably hinting towards stuff like "Perspective" and "Timely" as well as whether other sources are reporting similar things. Be aware of your own biases and theirs's and think is it just trying to get me riled up for the sake of it? And even if bias is nearly impossible to avoid, it doesn't mean there is at least some basis found in reality, and I think the important thing to look for is an "explicit" bias, and also to become aware of your own "implicit" biases, meaning unconscious biases you barely notice every way.
Thank you for listening to MY Ted Talk. What is my expertise? A Bachelor's in Political Science, meaning I had to look at the news fairly regularly and find out which ones were reputable or not. Not a leading expert, but I have some knowledge.
