“All of us are responsible for the communications we make, for the information we share, for the control that we can exert over fake news by exposing it. All of us are to be witnesses of the truth: to go, to see and to share.” Pope Francis
Dear Sisters and Associates, greetings from the ICC, during the pandemic the whole world has become digital and we go online for all kinds of communications. We are more often online than off line. Myriads of news messages crowd our cell phones and computers.
Most of us cannot think of life without accessing social media. We are influenced by it, whether for interaction, accessing news and information or for any other purpose. It is a valuable communication tool if it is used well. Yet too often, while using these means, knowingly or unknowingly we become the emissary of spreading fake news.
According to Time Magazine, fake news or fake news stories, often of a sensational nature, are created to be widely shared online for the purpose of generating advertising revenues via web traffic or discrediting a public figure, political movement, company. Marina Chapman, of Media Literacy Experts, once stated, “There are three elements to fake news; mistrust, misinformation and manipulation.” Do we want to be the messenger of fake news or do we want to communicate real, accurate news?
Here we present a brochure on how to do fact-checking before we forward any kind of news that has been sent to us or that we find on the internet. The CSJournal had published an article on Fake News in the May – June 2020 issue (p. 6). Go to the link to read the article "What is fake news". By reading that article, the brochure should become clearer.
May we all become communicators of accurate news and the Good News!
International Communication Commission
Sr. Barbara Bozak
Sr. Marian Connor
Sr. Navya Neelamvilail
Sr. Eliana Aparecida dos Santos
Sr. Laveena D'Souza
Sr. Rosalba Scaturro
Sr. Ieda Tomazini