CONFRONTING THE WICKED PROBLEM OF FAKE NEWS: A ROLE FOR EDUCATION?

presidential election, the authors of a study published in The Journal of Economic Perspectives write that their analysis of an (admittedly limited) fake news database: suggests that if one fake news article were about as persuasive as one TV campaign ad, the fake news in our database would have changed vote shares by an amount on the order of hundredths of a percentage point. [...] Second, that the phenomenon of fake news is not well understood is evidenced by the multiple 11 definitions applied to the phrase as well as the many unanswered questions swirling around the issue: • To what extent does fake news influence real-world thinking and behavior? • Is the anonymity (real or perceived) of digital technology the root cause of fake news? • Is fake news a genuine reflection. [...] elections, Facebook pledged to impose a series of changes to the Facebook News Feed as a way of fighting back against fake news, yet when the story of the Las Vegas shooting massacre broke in October 2017, fake news stories falsely linking the shooter to the U. [...] THE ROLE OF EDUCATION The Digital Age is also known as the Information Age, and, given the importance of information in every aspect of life in the twenty-first century, it is past time for schools and universities to integrate the evaluation of information into their curricula. [...] Even as I was writing this article, Facebook announced the launch of a major initiative to combat fake news that includes a public education campaign—evidence that the company squarely at the center of the fake news problem sees education as part of the 23 solution.