Teaching Students How to Evaluate and Use Online Resources

Journalists and journalism educators worldwide are indebted to Pierre Salinger, the former ABC-TV reporter and press secretary under President John F. Kennedy. Salinger unintentionally issued a wake-up call when, based on apparently fictitious information on a home page on the World Wide Web, he alleged in November 1996 that a U.S. Navy missile downed TWA Flight 800 in July, killing the 230 people aboard (Associated Press, Nov. 8, 1996). Salinger's accusations sounded the alarm that traveling on the so-called Information Superhighway is fraught with danger (Coates, 1996). They also reinforced the importance of teaching students how to critically evaluate the credibility and to ensure the accuracy of information. The U.S. government was quick to rebut Salinger's accusations, which he said were based on an assessment by French intelligence (Anderson,1996: Dine,1996). Salinger said he had received a tip via an electronic mail message and checked it out on a Web page (Coates,1996). Ironically, it was Salinger's credentials as a journalist that made the story credible to the main- stream press (Achenbach, 1996; Turner, 1996). The rumor had been circulating for months among discussion groups on the Internet, whose members had better tools to evaluate it and had largely rejected it. One source interviewed for a story in Newsweek (Turner, 1996) put it this way: "Well, Pierre, if you'd get a little Net-savvy, you'd figure it out. Learn to surf, Dude." Initially, the press appeared to consider Salinger the target of a cruel hoax and thus appeared to feel some sympathy for him. Journalists also recognized the ability of Salinger and the Internet to mislead and increase public confusion (Dickey and Hosenball, Nov. 25, 1996). But the press' treatment of Salinger changed in March 1997 when he went on the attack again, this time contending that a blip detected on radar was proof of his friendly fire theory (Goodman,1997; Rashbaum,1997). The FBI said the blip was an unarmed Navy reconnaissance plane (Associated Press, March, 21, 1997). For example, the San Francisco Examiner's editorial called the allegations "Salinger's Sad Obsession" (March 16, 1997). The Rocky Mountain News (March 5,1997)proclaimed"Salinger's recklessness" and lamented that although this explanation of the crash doesn't begin to make sense, it can do untold damage." But the opinion section article that offered perhaps the most insight into how this episode affected journalism and how it illustrated the advantages and disadvantages of the Internet as a information source appeared in the Arizona Republic on Nov. 18, 1996, with the headline "A Tangled Web." The article noted "for all its potential for being an extraordinary, enriching opportunity for unlimited access and delivery of information, the Web as a source of news is a place rife with pitfalls." Pointing out Salinger was snagged by some "phony information, some official-looking trash," the article emphasized "most anybody, anywhere and at any time can create an item on the Internet and make it look credible." Importantly, the article said "online information doesn't follow standards" and "can be disseminated with a high degree of anonymity." Noting the information had attached itself in a circuitous way to a famous newsman's reputation, the commentary concluded by pointing out the Internet's "dangerous potential of gaining unearned respect and credibility from millions of people." Tackling the Web If a veteran reporter like Salinger can be easily snared by misinformation on the Web, what about a student reporter? Should journalism schools teach students the skills needed to assess the credibility of information on the Web? What about the accuracy of that information? Should colleges and universities graduate students who can critically assess information and verify its accuracy? As the Salinger episode indicates, the credibility of the profession, which a recent Pew Research Center survey indicates has fallen sharply in the past 10 years (Nelson, 1997), is also at stake. …