Beyond the Headline: How We Decide What to Believe
EXPLAINER @jorgebscomm for @empowervmedia Photo: Lisa Fotios via Pexels · Pexels License Seeing, sharing and believing are different activities. Understanding their relationship helps explain why information can circulate widely without becoming reliable knowledge. S omeone shares a sensational headline on social media. It receives hundreds of reactions, travels through several group chats and eventually appears in a discussion about public policy. What does this tell us? We know the message circulated. We cannot conclude that everyone who shared it believed it, understood its evidence or intended to persuade others. A person may forward an article to question it, express concern, entertain friends or signal membership of a group. Communication behaviour does not have a single meaning. This is where epistemic communication becomes useful as an analytical perspective: it asks how claims move between people, what gives them...
