Close Menu
    1 in 3 people believe they don’t have to seek news from traditional outlets like newspapers and television. Instead, they think the “news will find me” (NFM), relying on algorithms and social networks to get information. This may make them more vulnerable to believing and sharing misinformation.
    Science

    1 in 3 people believe they don’t have to seek news from traditional outlets like newspapers and television. Instead, they think the “news will find me” (NFM), relying on algorithms and social networks to get information. This may make them more vulnerable to believing and sharing misinformation.


    1 in 3 people believe they don’t have to seek news from traditional outlets like newspapers and television. Instead, they think the “news will find me” (NFM), relying on algorithms and social networks to get information. This may make them more vulnerable to believing and sharing misinformation.

    https://www.psu.edu/news/bellisario-college-communications/story/news-will-find-me-mindset-makes-people-trust-algorithms-and

    Share.
    View 17 Comments

    17 Comments

    1. mvea on

      ‘News will find me’ mindset makes people trust algorithms and online networks
      
      Researchers found that people who think “news will find me” tend to view their online networks as just as credible as professional journalists and editors. 

      [**One in three**](https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/11974) people believe they don’t have to seek the news from traditional outlets like newspapers and television. Instead, they think the “news will find me” (NFM), relying on algorithms and social networks to get their information. A research team led by Penn State scholars recently found that these individuals often consider their online networks to be as trustworthy as professional editors and journalists.

      This mindset may make people more vulnerable to believing and sharing misinformation, according to the researchers, who published their findings in the journal [**Social Media & Society**](https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051261434801).

      https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/20563051261434801

    4. IssueEmbarrassed8103 on

      That’s why everyone who didn’t vote in the election because of Gaza, and thought that was their own idea, now have completely forgotten about the suffering. If you get your news from social media, you’ve already lost your agency.

    5. SketchyDeee on

      How is this any different? If you go to WSJ because you expect to find news there, you’re still relying on their decision of what news to present. Same thing if you go to FB or Reddit. Sometimes an algorithm’s decision of what news to show is less biased or differently biased and includes topics that other news sources are suppressing.

    7. SSLByron on

      I think there’s an earnest belief among many (particularly the young) that an algorithm scraping social media for new information could provide a better objective picture of what is happening in the world than relying on individual news outlets.

      Social media has done a ton to amplify voices that wouldn’t have otherwise been heard, but it has also reinforced the growing belief that reliable news simply appears out of thin air.

      You might believe information should be free. That’s a valid opinion; but expecting news to be free is the same as asking to be lied to.

      Print and TV are dead; that’s just the way it is. But we’re going to regret throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

    8. TheComplimentarian on

      Traditional outlets are more or less worthless right now, but they’re still better than letting the algorithm shove it down your throat. Might as well just get your news from the guy sitting next to you at the bar.

      We’re in a real bad place for news. There really isn’t anything reputable except for a handful of non-profits.

    9. Lonny_Templeton on

      As opposed to being forced news via the tried and true propaganda networks?

    11. Space-Robot on

      Doesn’t feel like the “traditional” outlets are any less corrupted :\

    12. spicy-chilly on

      Is algorithm slop actually worse than being directly spoon fed corporate media with systemic biases aligned with class interests that are fundamentally incompatible with our class interests though? Corporate media is still an “algorithm” it’s just that the algorithm is that what gets covered and how it gets covered is based on the interests of the owners, advertisers, etc.

    14. Junkstar on

      Terrifying. The lack of understanding of the value of journalism has really infiltrated American society beyond reasonable limits.

    15. blackreagan on

      There is a simple test for misinformation. If you never hear anything contrary to your opinion, you’re in an echo chamber, pure and simple.

    16. All_Usernames_Tooken on

      I also am one of these people. I get my news on vibes alone. An I misinformed, I don’t think so. I harken back to a quote from Denzel Washington. ~”if you don’t watch the news you’re uniformed, if you do watch the news you are misinformed.”