LAFAYETTE, La. (KATC) — In a world where information is a *click* away, we're digging into the question: How often do you fall for clickbait?
With the rise of viral headlines and sensational stories, it can be hard to tell the difference between what is real and what is fake. That's why KATC and Scripps News are partnering once again with the News Literacy Project for National News Literacy Week. It's part of a mission to help us help you when it comes to combating clickbait.
We went around Lafayette Parish to ask people whether or not they've fallen for clickbait themselves.
"Probably so, I would say I would because it's believable," said Judi Dugas, a long-time resident of Lafayette.
"For sure, and my mom is also very gullible. I have to convince her, like, 'That's A.I.' or 'That's not real,'" Emily Hargrave, a 20-year-old marketing major at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, told us.
"They'll have the headline of this amazing story you have to read and then you go in the comments, have to click that link and nothing in the story says what the headline is about," Carencro resident Dwayne Dugas said.
Bottom line, it's terrible. No one wants to feel duped. Still, the question remains... how do you know what to believe?
"Well, I would look at something and go on Google and find an actual website that says the same thing," Jei'Onna Murray, an 18-year-old psychology major at UL, told us. "May be right, may be wrong, I guess."
"My boyfriend calls me a researcher 'cause every time something goes wrong, I'm like, 'Oh, let me research,' and I pull out my phone and start looking up stuff," Kennedy White, a 19-year-old nursing major at UL said.
But that's just one step toward news literacy, or developing the ability to tell what is credible and recognize the standards of fact-based journalism.
Take it from Dr. Steve Waters, assistant professor of journalismat the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, who's devoted the last 11 years of his life to teaching the next generation about it.
"I think the idea of 'Well, I did research' for a lot of people just means looking it up online for 10 minutes," Waters said. "But news or healthy media consumption takes effort. It requires consulting diverse sources and understanding that there are many people out there who just want to get your attention or money. You have to recognize that and be skeptical of it."
Still, of course, it can't just fall on you. Journalists like us have a responsibility to you, the public, to get the news you need speedily, but most importantly, accurately.
"I think that, you know, most proper journalists make a good-faith effort in terms of transparency and telling people the truth and it's our job not necessarily to tell you what you want to hear," Waters told KATC. "Everybody has views on things but as journalists our job is to tell all sides of a story as best we can."
At the end of the day, we all play a part in preventing the spread of misinformation, especially as technology advances and the digital landscape spreads. Click here to learn more about the News Literacy Project.
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