Julia DeFulvio

Digital Literacy

Professor Lee

Reading Reflection

In order to combat fake news and false information spreading on the internet, the concept

of critical information literacy should be implemented into society according to this reading.

Critical information literacy allows people to distinguish between relevant and irrelevant

information and to seek out reliable information. Fake news is the intentional spread of false

information and it is done for a few possible reasons. Fake news may generate more traffic to a

website, allowing for more advertising revenue. Another reason could be to make the other ‘side’

look bad. False information distorts the truth and manipulates the public for the publisher's

benefit. Critical information literacy promotes identifying the origin of information and

awareness that news is socially constructed. It encourages the questioning of information. Being

someone that actively uses the internet, I see fake information daily. I may see a breaking story

and then six months later it is discovered that it was all a lie. It is very important for any age to

question the information they read and not believe everything. People will publish things for

their own agenda, filled with complete lies, because they know at least one person will believe it.

In a day and age where most, if not all, of the information we receive is online, it is crucial to

implement critical information literacy. The news you read online can affect your own values

and political views, which could then affect the whole country. Fake news is a pressing issue and

it is up to readers to decipher information for themselves.