Fake news is an ever-present distraction, we all receive a daily dose of disinformation in our social media feeds. Now its impact is extending into the workplace, as employees are expected to use the internet for finding information, researching data and connecting with other people on a daily basis. In response, e-learning company GoodHabitz has created a unique online course, “Recognising Fake News”, to counter the consequences of this growing business issue and enable employers to equip their employees with essential media literacy skills.
New EU research highlights how widespread global concern about fake news has become. 85% of people are worried about the rise of fake news, with 35% of people reporting that they encounter it on a daily basis. That’s just the proportion of people who can spot a fake when they see one. A much larger number are actually believing the thousands of fake stories in circulation – about everything from politics, business, science and finance – because they lack basic media literacy skills. Ispos research verifies this and has identified that 75% of people believe the fake news they read is true and that it’s just other people that are being fooled.
According to GoodHabitz, although fake news itself is nothing new, the Internet means it has simply become a much bigger problem to control and the only long term solution is better education, something that employers should be offering to all their workers.
Stephen Humphreys, General Manager UK and Ireland says,
“We expect our employees to use the internet for finding information, researching data and connecting with other people on a daily basis, yet we give them no guidance on how to verify information and behave in a safe way. Recognising Fake News is all about that.”
GoodHabitz course contributor, David Chaverin, CEO of News Media Alliance says,
“It’s not the crazy alien stories that are a danger, but the things that people wish were true and might be true but aren’t. Producers will use all kinds of indicators of credibility – making it look like it came from a news publisher, assigning a name, using a picture of a celebrity – these are all things to keep you from paying attention to where it is actually coming from.”
Stephen Humphreys, UK General Manager at GoodHabitz says,
“People think it’s just others who are falling prey to fake news, but the reality is they are being fooled too – we all are.” Humphreys adds, “Fake news is a fact of modern life, it won’t go away and the best solution to the problem is for employers to teach people the skills to spot it and avoid being duped in the first place – media literacy is now a core workplace skill.”
What will the ‘Recognising Fake News’ course teach employees?
The GoodHabitz Recognising Fake News course will show employees how they are being manipulated and teach essential digital living skills. This includes the key factors behind the rise of fake news – how we consume information online, our addiction to social media and technology’s ability to control and filter what we see.
Key course learnings will include:
- Spotting the 7 types of fake news and understanding the 8 different motivations for creating fake stories in the first place;
- How to fact check sources and where to find reliable information online;
- Why we can get stuck in a ‘filter bubble’ and how to break free and read alternative viewpoints – at work and home;
- How to become more discerning and media savvy about cloned sites – the 40 top global news sites have over 85,000 different ‘copycat’ domains –source authenticity and author authority;
- The dangers of ‘implicit personalisation’ and how psychological techniques are used to make us believe fake stories;
- Why heated arguments with people who have controversial and opposing views are a waste of time – this will simply reinforce their existing beliefs;
For more information or to take the GoodHabitz Recognising Fake News Course, visit https://www.goodhabitz.com/en-gb/online-course/23207/recognising-fake-news.html for a free 14 day subscription trial.
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