The problem with facts

I read newspapers and my Twitter feed. I try to watch a little bit of CNN, a bit of Fox, and an ounce of the BBC. I mix my diet, widen my world, try to live outside the echo chamber.

As a teacher of English, who has become a freelance writer, it is scary to see the crisis befalling the media. There has been a revolt against the role of the journalist by those who do not wish to be held accountable. There has been an avalanche of terms: from fake news to alternative facts.

If you are a student of history and politics, you will know this concept of bias and news is not new. What is new is the level of unfiltered communication that reaches the masses and the lack of literacy education. We teach children to read. We do not necessarily teach children to take control over what they read.

Here is what I believe is essential for our children learn. Here is my guide to the trickiness of facts and the importance of critical intelligence.

First, a fact is a fact if it can be supported by verifiable evidence. If there is a scientific study, a head count of people – anything that is measurable: it is indeed a fact.

There are accurate facts. There are inaccurate facts. Both are still facts. I can tell you that I earn ￡3 million a year as a freelance writer. This is a fact. Unfortunately, it is an inaccurate fact. This might also be known as a lie. Some people call this an alternative fact.

Then there are facts where you can control opinion.  I used to call this the “zone of manipulation” when I was a teacher. I would put on a sinister voice and draw a spikey “M” on the board. The students looked a little fretful, but to be fair, they remembered the point.

If I was working for Burger King and I wanted to persuade my audience that more people liked my grub than MacDonald’s, then I would engineer a fact to support my view. I would put my people with clipboards outside my Burger King outlets and ask to hold up a Big Mac and a Whopper and get the people to point at their favourite. I would encourage them to steer clear of MacDonald’s outlets. Wouldn’t want to skew the data.

My clipboard lovelies would report that of the 1000 people asked, 600 pointed at the whopper. Amazing. 60% of people asked preferred a Whopper over a Big Mac. Even better: 3 out of every 5 people asked said Burger King was better by far.  People don’t need to know the details of the survey – right?

I could equally come up with a fact that said rapists and murderers were travelling in a massive crowd of people close to the border of my country. I might call it a caravan. I don't need to say how close. I don't need to say that they will take months to walk to the border. I don't need to say that the two rapists and three murderers amongst the 50,000 people are proportionally less than you would find in the capital city of my country. Why mess up good facts with some fussy, petty details?

So, it is not about facts, or fake facts, or fake news, or alternative facts. This misses the point. It is about the accuracy and transparency of the fact. More importantly, it is about the implication behind the use of the fact. Are we in the "zone of manipulation"?

Journalists of quality outlets require two sources to agree on a statement before they report it as news. They will then present alternative views to help educate the viewer about the implication of this statement. It is then up to the viewer to establish this as a fact, or not. The same is true in a courtroom. The judge and jury require a range of sources of information: witnesses, facts from scientists, opinions of participants. They take this information and like a navigator at sea, triangulate to find the way to a “truth”. 

This is the essential literacy that we need to be teaching our children today. It is only by empowering our students that the danger of fake news and propaganda can be eradicated. The control needs to be given to the consumer of facts, not the purveyor.