I ran across a blog post this morning that got me thinking about when you should trust a blog you’re not familiar with.
There are millions of bloggers, and it isn’t easy to sort out who is credible and who is interesting or fun or fascinating – but probably not believable.
The blog post, by Ellen Hume on the “Media Shift Idea Lab“ site, warns of the many blogs that pretend to be regular folks but are actually paid by one political party or the other to write bad things about their opponents.
Yes, that happens. When a friend sends you a link to a blog that “reveals” bad things about John McCain or Barack Obama, it could very well be a paid attack ad masquerading as a citizen blogger.
Ms. Hume, who is director of the Center for Future Civic Media at MIT, has organized a group of students and others to ferret out and expose these phony bloggers.
What does this mean for the world of “BlogsMonroe.com.” Several of the blogs dip into politics from time to time – in a few cases, most of the time.
I don’t think any of the bloggers on this site are paid by the presidential campaigns. They aren’t paid by anyone – they blog because they enjoy it.
But Ms. Hume’s underlying point is still relevant – you shouldn’t believe anything you read on the Internet without critically analyzing it first.
Like most people who spend time on the Internet, I’m developing a healthy distrust of everything I read. I use the Internet for knowledge - when I need information, Google is my friend. Answers to any question are at your fingertips.
But my radar is constantly searching for questionable facts, intended or unintended bias, obvious omissions, conclusions based on skewed logic – the whole range of reasons not to trust a Web site or a particular post.
As a journalist – in the world before the Internet – I naturally developed pretty good antennae for that purpose. People are always trying to influence news reporters, and you have to be wary of anything anyone tells you.
But I’ve found I need to use those antennae much more aggressively on the WWW.
I think Ms. Hume is doing the right thing organizing an effort to expose fraudulent political bloggers. But the real answer is for everyone who uses the Internet to develop good antennae – and use them to recognize bad information when they see it.
Thank you for this article. I googled for info on Caveat lector and stumbled upon your site. I totally agree with you. On the Internet anyone can be anyone or just about anything they want to be if they are clever enough to pull it off. For businesses, it can be a great leveler of playing fields. For consumers and browsers it can be like a candy or toy store. But, it is a flea market and swap meet, so caveat emptor as well as lector. People need to take time to think about what is in the meal they are being fed. I love the Web and believe it to be an awesome tool and place of learning as well as fun and communication. Even though the amount of scam mail I get outta Nigeria and locations UK is most vexing; I still am so grateful for this miraculous cyberworld, and most appreciative of those who seek to maintain its integrity such as yourself and Ms. Hume. My one caveat is that being over 50, I am leery of what starts out pristine in its intent that can easily and quickly turn into a Jihad or holy quest that led to the McCarthy trials, the Inquisition, the Crusades, and the Salem witch trials. The obvious choice is for everyone to mindful of what they seek and to be accountable for what they know all the while protecting what they desire. Once again, thankyou and I will be stopping from time to time.