Sunday Times 2
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View(s):I remember the famous journalist Tarzie Vittachi, when he was editor of the Ceylon Observer, repeatedly cautioning us young journalists “Check the facts that you feel surest of.’
It was his way of making sure that what we published was factually accurate – because he wanted to make sure that when people would say “I read it in The Observer” there would be no doubt that what they were quoting was the truth.
Former Reuters journalist and long-time lecturer at London’s City University Anna McKane in her pioneering book News Writing advises trainee journalists “Ensure your story is based on the facts you have, not the facts you wish you had. The more outrageous or unusual a quote is, the more careful you need to be.”
Sadly, these days, that kind of ethos and attention to detail is lost. People nowadays get their information not from writers who double check their facts and sources before putting pen to paper or finger to keyboard, but from word of mouth.
In the old days, word of mouth news (in other words, rumours) were what you heard from the next door neighbour or on the office grapevine or at a social gathering. The more sensational or salacious the item of news, the more likely it was to be passed on – usually getting embellished and exaggerated as it went on down the line. Of course, geographical and technological limitations curbed the number of people to whom such word-of-mouth rumours could be broadcast.
In this internet-enabled 21st century, unfortunately, the number of “neighbours” to whom we can pass on rumours has risen to mind boggling numbers. At the end of 2016, Facebook (the social networking site that allows users to post messages and opinions, upload photos and videos and keep in touch with other users) had 1.8 billion active users – while Twitter (the other social media site that allows users to post and read short messages of no more than 140 characters) had by the end of last year no less than 317 million active users.
So anybody who has access to a computer and the internet, and the inclination and time to spend in front of their computer screens, has access to the news, views, pictures and opinions that are posted by millions of others all over the world.
And not all those millions of folk who tweet on Twitter and post on Facebook have the same respect for the truth that journalists of yesteryear had. The laws of defamation (what used to be termed libel and slander) can no longer be enforced across this vast hinterland of social media. With no need to check facts and no fear of legal action, tweeters and posters can say virtually anything they want and publicise this via the internet.
The sad fact these days is that, just as people in the last century would repeat a story with the exclamation “But this is true – I read it on the papers”, today folk gullibly and glibly pass on information to others with the disclaimer “This has to be true because I saw it in the internet!”.
And like as not, the person passing on the “facts” from the social media site has not read the whole post or checked it for accuracy (which can be easily done by going to other credible sites on the internet). They have simply seen a 140 word Tweet or some striking photo or video – and then give it their approval by clicking Like, after which they repost it and pass it on. Often they do not even read more than the headline of what has been posted; based on the fact that it has been posted by someone they like, they simply ‘Like’ the post and share it! Reposting without Reading is more common than people think!
There is an apt quotation from the Kalama Sutta, the Buddha’s discourse to the Kalama people of Kesaputta, which is well worth pondering over in this context. The Buddha exhorted these people “Do not go upon what has been acquired by repeated hearing… nor upon rumour”.
Perhaps if a quote from the Kalama Sutta was posted on Facebook, it would attract a lot of attention from Facebook’s non-reading re-posters – who would most likely assume at first glance that it was a quote from the Kama Sutra!