The Oberlin Review, as the newspaper of record for both the town and the College, is responsible for keeping its readers up to date on both local and global issues. Our staff spends every week communicating with students, researching topics, and curating articles in order to make sure that information on these issues is accessible and, most importantly, correct. Every article we write undergoes rigorous fact checking. Last week, our Opinions editors set out to see whether or not students actually read the news. We probed students with questions on how they feel about current events and how informed they are on certain topics. A common theme, however, has come up — many Oberlin students aren’t reading the news.
College second-year Avery Russell wrote a piece speaking to the lack of awareness of current events on campus and how it damages our community and lessens the amount of social change we can create (“Oberlin Students Should Read News,” The Oberlin Review, Oct. 27, 2023). The Editorial Board would like to argue that this lack of awareness and attention aimed toward current events hinders students’ ability to advocate for themselves within our own institution.
One example of this is the current Israel–Palestine conflict, where misinformation and conspiracy theories are spreading faster than ever, especially with the lack of an adequate verification system on X, formerly known as Twitter. We’re in a unique position where we are getting firsthand accounts of issues in real time. While that is certainly a benefit, it also leaves room for a significant potential spread of misinformation. Over the past couple of weeks, people have shared videos of events that happened years ago, falsified AI generated images, and false translations. A video from 2021 where Vladimir Putin speaks at Russia’s Victory Day military parade was circulated as proof that he was sending aid to Palestine. A video of a soldier being thrown to the ground after an Israeli tank is hit by an airstrike has been circulated despite being computer generated and based off of a video game trailer. Many people don’t know the depth of the conflict, which spans back 75 years, and are now learning about it with little or no historical context.
The difficulty with the on-the-ground reporting that has been happening during this conflict is that videos and photos are coming out faster than journalists are able to report on them with the same level of care and attention that they afford their regular reporting schedule. The problem with fact-checking is that it takes time. It is difficult to incorporate thorough fact checks into our modern-day news cycle, especially when you can only rely on yourself to do them, rather than a team of professionals whose sole purpose is to find and verify information.
Individual social media platforms have given us, as individuals, an ability to monitor and share information about the issues that are important to us with the click of a button. It has given us an unprecedented amount of access to firsthand accounts from worlds away within moments of their occurrence. But as with any type of platform, no matter how personal it may seem, you have a responsibility to ensure the information you repost or send to the group chat is accurate.
Our generation is often criticized for our tendency to be glued to our devices, and for a large part, this is true. Every day we are bombarded with an onslaught of notifications, both about the everyday lives of those around us — our family and our friends — but also about the impactful conflicts that are facing our world. The flood of information we receive on a daily basis can be difficult to sift through, time consuming, exhausting, and demoralizing. But, living in a country that is not currently experiencing the same level of violence, we have the privilege of time to sort through the facts and the fiction. More than that, we have the responsibility to make sure the information we distribute is true and from trustworthy sources. It’s great that we as Oberlin students are protesting and speaking out about different issues, because we’re not allowing people to forget about these conflicts. However, we need to make sure that we know exactly what we are fighting for to actively contribute positive change.
Question and verify where your information is coming from before you share it online. Be cognizant of whose words you are espousing. Conduct your own research with a critical eye. Read articles from multiple sources. Put your liberal arts education to good use.
Editorials are the responsibility of the Review Editorial Board — the Editors-in-Chief, Managing Editor, and Opinions Editors — and do not necessarily reflect the views of the staff of the Review.
