By Daniel Castellanos/reporter
Thomas Patterson of Harvard University told a NE Campus audience Sept. 19 that misinformation can be traced to how our minds work and the fake news that media provides us on a daily basis.
Quick information drives the interest of all media consumers, he said. Most of the time this information is processed before being evaluated as the public tends to lack the incentive to prove themselves wrong.
NE student Katie Smith said she was shocked to hear a fake news story that the pope was backing Donald Trump in the 2016 election.
“At first, I thought, ‘I can’t believe this!’” she said. “I almost shared it with my Facebook friends until I heard it was fake.”
