Beyond source evaluation: using political satire to address fake news
Creators: name: Krutkowski, Sebastian
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: information literacy
fake news
political satire
misinformation

description: Tackling the fake news phenomenon starts with reinforcing the instruction on how to <em>critically</em> process the news. In the US, late night comedy shows are praised for their detailed and searing coverage of current affairs, especially around election cycles. According to McClennen (2014), this is because the late night comedy format encourages the audience to think more critically. While traditional journalism does not always know when (or how) to laugh at the absurd statements or conspiracy theories (Maza, 2017), political satire can expose the different ways people, especially politicians, twist facts. The use of humour attracts (and sustains) attention and produces a more relaxed and productive learning environment (Banas et al, 2011). Frequent references to popular culture in political comedy shows make the information more “accessible” to students and effectively function as alternative pedagogical sites for analysis and critique in the classroom (Detmering, 2010). Humour also fosters the process of forming relationships and strengthening human connections between students and librarians leading information literacy instruction (Savage et al, 2017). <em>Last Week Tonight with John Oliver</em> and <em>Late Night with Seth Meyers</em> are two particularly useful shows to build a more in-depth information literacy discussion on. They both start with a joke, but then dig into the details and contradictions. Both shows are well researched, sophisticated and current. Late night hosts also increasingly abandon jokes in favour of a frank commentary (e.g. Trevor Noah on police brutality or Jimmy Kimmel on healthcare) and are particularly keen on showing how certain politicians have held every position on every issue.

In the information skills workshops at the University of Roehampton, videos from these shows encourage discussion around important academic as well as social issues, e.g. the use of quotations, or the “right to be forgotten” legislation (both from John Oliver’s show). These are used in the <em>Referencing</em> and <em>Managing Your Digital Identity</em> workshops, respectively. One rationale for this is that young adults (who make the majority of our audience), are more absorbed in satirical items than regular news (Boukes et al, 2015; Hollander, 2005). Incoming first year university students are considerably uninformed on basic political and social issues. Using more entertainment-based material in the classroom can help to prevent young learners from disengaging with current affairs awareness and keep them from disinformation via fake news. Students who only get their information from sources that report favourably on the people and causes they support risk being trapped in a “filter bubble” and confirmation bias (Pariser, 2011).  Humour can make that bubble burst and help them see beyond – showing how facts are twisted, manipulated, or simply invented or made up.

This presentation covers how incorporating political satire into information literacy sessions can help students navigate the current information environment that is polarised between the tell-it-like-it-is “people” versus the know-it-all “elites” (Gage, 2017). It explores the role of emotions and use of instructional humour because in a post-truth world, we must all give more attention to the role emotions play in reasoning and decision making.