Learn how to smother fake news

Remember reading the story about Pope Francis endorsing Donald Trump for president?

He didn’t. That was fake news.

How about reading that Pope Francis compared the consumption of fake news to the eating of feces?

Yuck! But true. The pontiff made that comparison during an interview with the Belgian Catholic weekly “Tertio” published Dec. 7.

As 2016 draws to a close, the power and proliferation of fake news has to be one of the most astonishing stories of the year. According to Pew Research Center, almost a quarter of Americans say they’ve shared fake news online. Want to hear something really scary? An estimated 14 percent say they knew it was fake when they shared it.

Gullibility might be excusable. Knowingly spreading disinformation is not. It is, indeed, like consuming feces — and feeding it to others.

While society tries to get its arms around the fake news phenomenon, reputable media are increasingly investing in fact-checking resources. But even that’s a solution with a problem: How can people automatically trust those who are checking the “facts?” How many facts are irrefutably black and white, without shades of gray? Or more pointedly, without shades of blue or red? During the presidential campaign, several Press readers called into question “facts” asserted in the newspaper after a debate, and on reflection, we had to agree that some of these “facts” were open to interpretation.

Further, where in this broad discussion will legitimate claims of censorship fall? Doesn’t freedom of speech include the right to speak falsehoods, knowingly or otherwise?

In our view, the First Amendment protects the right to spread bogus information. While we commend news organizations’ increased vigilance in trying to separate wheat from chaff in their coverage, it’s an exercise in ultimate futility. People intent on manufacturing fake news will always be able to create far more waste than the media could possibly clean up.

Which leads us to the ultimate solution: The consumer. By becoming more vigilant, more discerning and yes, more skeptical, we can all jam sticks in the whirling spokes of fake news wheels.

Schools can help with increased focus on teaching critical thinking. Students better versed in history, civics and news literacy will be far less likely to grab an assault rifle and scope out a pizza place after reading that it housed a child-prostitution ring.

Fake news needs a willing audience to survive. When we stop consuming, they’ll stop producing.