We hear so much these days about fake news and how to be media savvy. Competitive claims are aired about everything and we struggle to make sense of it all. Critical thinking about ANY news is essential if we are to move forward. Here is a simple framework of five questions for being a thoughtful citizen. The precondition is to get yourself and your own interests out of the way. It is not about you and what you want to be so.
What are the interest(s) of the media outlet or the information source?
Are generalization(s) being offered? Is the argument too global resulting in overstatement?
Are there distortion(s) in the information? Can the information be understood in a straight line logical fashion or is there a twist in the path that is not supported by logic?
Are there deletion(s)? If we follow the logical path(s), can we be confident that gaps in the story line are being accounted for?
Are there nominalization(s)? This one is tricky and get's to the interests of the information source and the person evaluating it. An example is calling a person who consumes more alcohol that can be considered by a health expert to be sustainable - an alcoholic. The processes or verbs become nouns and nouns are fixed labels that do not allow for further questioning or evaluation or deeper understanding.
