Intention
Intention is a value dimension. Intention focuses on the internal motivation and ethics of the author of the creator.
O’Connor & Weatherall’s work in The Misinformation Age talks about how the ability to broadcast information isn’t enough to influence - but influence comes from creating and distributing the content in groups, helping spread the information, whether true or not.
Intention feels easy to ignore. The audience places the responsibility on the author for providing correct information, and needs to assess whether or not the information is true.
Citation: O’Connor, C., & Weatherall, J. O. (2019). What Is Truth? In The Misinformation Age: How False Beliefs Spread (pp. 19–45). Yale University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv8jp0hk.5
Addressing intention
Investigate the creator
- Most journalists and other reputable creators want to claim their writing, or information. If you can’t find an author, be suspicious.
- Investigate the author by viewing their profile information.
- If there isn’t profile information - ask yourself why.
- Read what else they post about.
- Investigate who they follow/like.
- What kind of sponsored posts to they create?
- Being verified on social media doesn’t mean that author is unbiased.
- Originally meant to indicate real over satirical or fan-created.
- Many reporters and creators on every end of the spectrum are “verified” and verification has become much on some social media forms.
- Look at the content of the message rather than the verification checkmark.