Bad Information

In a recent television interview with National Geographic, 60 Minutes contributor and host of the CBS Evening News Scott Pelley warned viewers,

“Never in human history has more information been available to more people. But it’s also true that never in history has more bad information been available to more people.”

Pelley’s warning comes amidst a technological revolution that has turned everyone into a journalist. The problem, he says, is not that everyone can be a reporter, it’s that not everyone knows how to be a reporter.

Journalists are trained to ask themselves three questions before releasing a story, “Is it right? Is it fair? Is it honest?”

Pelley fears that the technological revolution, and social media in particular, has allowed reporters to forego these questions in the interest of releasing a large amount of content in a short amount of time.

Pelley says there is no democracy without journalism, and the quality of a democracy is dependent on the quality of its journalists.

It’s this journalistic integrity that has made him into one of the most trusted men in America.