Who can we trust?

We live in an age of disillusionment.

In a world with sensationalist headlines by an often polarized media, people often have a hard time taking news stories at face value. Yet there still are some news sources that we trust-- why is that?

It seems that people often believe what they hear when it comes from news sources that have been around a long time: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Chicago Tribune, CNN, MSNBC, Fox, and the list goes on. During their long history, they have earned the public's trust.

But people don't just get their news from traditional media anymore. These days, social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, provide up to the minute updates of the latest news. Tonight while watching the Olympics, one analyst even quoted a tweet from 1980 Olympic goalie Jim Craig, who was constantly updating during the USA-Canada hockey game, during his broadcast.

But when everybody can be a news source, how do we establish credibility? How often are we misled by our friends tweets and status updates? What about group messages? Are their certain friends or groups that we trust over others, especially when it comes to political news?

Thus far I have had a fairly positive experience with getting news via social media, however, I usually double check the news I get from tweets and statuses. If people posts links, I usually can judge the credibility of the stories by comparing it to criteria I've learned thus far as a Journalism student.

Although on social media sites, it seems that many users are quick to jump to conclusions and repost without really reading or understanding. It seems that social media can be an incredibly reactionary news sources-- people don't really take the time to make their own judgement, or make sure that the information is valid before passing it along.

So do we trust our friends? I think we need to be careful. As users, we must carefully examine the information we receive before deciding what we believe-- this is true in all cases with news, but we must be especially aware when using social media. If someone posts that classes are cancelled due to weather and she's wrong, do you really want to miss your 9 A.M. exam?

So who do we trust? The sad answer, no one, the operative word being one. In order to get the clearest picture of what is really happening, we must do a little surfing.

By getting multiple view points and reading multiple stories, only then are we fit to make a judgement call-- and promptly post our opinion to our profiles.

The Age of The Internet: Readily Available, Yet Overly Complicated

While the internet may be the "information superhighway," users may still have to take minor detours to find answers to their questions.

This week in Citizens and Media we were asked to use the internet to try and find answers to the following three questions:

1. What did Gov. Beverly Perdue’s last campaign finance report show for cash on hand?
2. How many voters are registered in NC–and what is the breakdown of R, D, and I?
3. Pick a prof–any prof at UNC–and find his/her salary.

For the question number one, I found little to nothing on Gov. Perdue's total campaign expenditures. I searched Google, The Raleigh News and Observer Web site, and NC.gov, and the only article that even hinted at final figures was this one about recent investigations into flights Perdue took during the campaign. However, the numbers in this article were somewhat confusing. You would think for a public figure like a governor, a spread sheet of some kind would be available, especially on a government Web site.

When searching for an answer to the second question, I finally found the answer to my first. Here on the State Board of Elections Web site, Gov. Perdue's expenses are clearly laid out-- if you have the time to wade through the countless links and multi-page PDFs of filings. As an average citizen I did not know where to look for this information initially, but rather stumbled upon it. Wouldn't it be simpler if this data was compiled into one document with ready totals and information?

Continuing my search for the answer to my second question, the number of registered voters in North Carolina and their political affiliations, I remained on the State Board of Elections Web site. This question proved quite simple to answer, as right under the header of the site there are posted voter statistics, including the total number and numbers by party. For a more detailed look at voter statistics, I went on to click the sidebar tab titled "Voter Statistics" and tabbed through the information available there. This data was much more accessible than any of the finance information for Gov. Perdue.

For the final question, I selected well-known economics professor, Ralph Byrns. I began my search on the UNC Web site, using the search bar. No luck. I then turned my attention to Google. Again, no luck. Lastly I tried the UNC system Web site. And once again, no luck. Thinking I must of missed something, I googled "Chancellor Holden Thorp," went to his webpage, clicked on "Departments" found "Accounting," then clicked again on "Facts and Figures," and finally on "Faculty and Staff Data" to finally wind up on this page. And even then I only got general information that was not professor specific.

If this is public information, why is it so difficult to find? Maybe I just don't know where to look, but I consider myself a fairly informed person and it took me at least an hour to answer three questions that at face value do not seem that complicated.

With all this information at our fingertips, why does it feel so out of reach?

Broadcast Yourself

On the first day of class, we began with a discussion of what news sources each of us followed. Surprisingly, none of us said Facebook or Twitter.

But after Professor Towns mentioned these sites, we all had stories to share, "Oh yeah, I heard about that from..." moments, and instances that we had used the social networks to broadcast our own news. But this week a question was posed: Can we get real news from social networks?

The first time I can really remember getting news other than what someone was doing, planning on doing, or what lyrics expressed their feelings at that given moment was the night of Rep. Joe Wilson's "You Lie!" outburst. I saw someone's disbelieving status about Joe Wilson, which included a link. I followed it to Yahoo! News where I read the whole story, and then returned to Facebook to post my own incredulous message to the world.

Now that I'm in college, and particularly in the Journalism School, I'm connected to other students who keep up with current events, I find myself getting more and more information via links, posts and statuses. Tonight for example, one of my classmates status mentioned the Tim Tebow abortion commercial that's been stirring up a fuss. I had already seen the commercial when it aired, but had I not, I would have known that it existed and hunted for it on the internet, just to see what all the hype was about.

Facebook also keeps me connected to campus events. With the Events feature on Facebook, users can invite each other to just about anything. Facebook is linked to my Blackberry as well, so any events that I respond to automatically show up on my Calendar. This is a great way to stay informed as to what is going on when, and it sure beats having to pencil in everything in my DayRunner.

I am a member of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Class of 2013 Facebook group, which occasionally does send out messages that keep me connected on campus. Also, during the last local election, many candidates had their own Facebook groups which allowed voters to stay connected with their campaign activities.

But while events and groups provide some news, they don't necessarily keep me informed of what the Town Council is doing, or whether or not I'll have class tomorrow due to snow (although the second one shows up in status quite frequently). I don't really get much local political news from Facebook unless one of my friends posts a link to a local news source (which does occasionally happen). The only really local news I get comes from the businesses trying to catch my eye and entice me with "College Days" when I can save a dollar on my frozen yogurt, like at Local Yogurt, or get 20% off of a burrito, and for the most part I've found this information credible.

Twitter, on the other hand, seems to be the place to be for local news.

While not a Twitter aficionado, I did find quite a few groups tweeting local news, including the Chapel Hill Chamber of Commerce and the Town of Chapel Hill. So if I can go right to the source, why do I need a reporter telling me what's going on? I can get information immediately from pages like these about what is going on in my town. And they are constantly updating. No more waiting for next morning's issue, the when news is new it's up there.

With resources like these at people's fingertips, it's no wonder that newspapers are becoming antiquated. People can pick where they want to get their news, how many updates they want and how often they want them. It's all very modern, if a bit overwhelming.