Tuesday, March 25:
For 24 hours, I logged every piece of media I consumed. From TikTok to my favorite show on Peacock, I kept track of everything for one whole day. The goal? Improving my ability to spot misinformation.
8:00 A.M.
I woke up and checked the time on my phone. I then scrolled on TikTok for 10 minutes, a habit I’m trying to break. Today is my day at Cronkite News, so I also checked Slack, as well as both my email accounts to see if there was anything important to know before heading into the office.
9:00 A.M.
When I arrived at the sports bureau, I checked Slack again, made sure the link to the daily Zoom meeting was working. I also checked the Cronkite News website for any new stories that were posted yesterday.
9:15 A.M.
My instructor posted an article about the NBA shutting down due to COVID-19, which I finished reading.
9:30 A.M.
Joined the daily morning meeting on Zoom.
10:45 A.M.
Took a break from working on stories to check Instagram. Ran into a post from the account NBACentel, which is an Instagram account that posts fake, humorous NBA news. This post was about Shai Gilgeous-Alexander breaking a record (which didn’t happen). This is a known “troll” account, so I knew the news was fake. But for the sake of the assignment, I did a quick ESPN search on the game, and found that Gilgeous-Alexander did not, in fact, shoot 37 free throws.
12:00 P.M.
On lunch break, I scrolled on X for a few minutes, coming across a post that ASU basketball player Joson Sanon had entered the transfer portal. Upon review, this was posted by multiple credible sources, so I decided the news was true. A tough loss for Arizona State basketball.
4:30 P.M.
I returned back to my apartment and watched the second day of the finals of TGL (TMRW Golf League). The Atlanta Drive ended up winning in the league’s inaugural season.
7:00 P.M.
After returning from the gym, I decided to read a little bit of my book, An Honest Man by Michael Koryta. After that, I watched my favorite comfort show, New Girl, on Peacock until I got ready for bed.
9:00 P.M.
Around 9, I was in bed. I scrolled on TikTok for just a little while before turning my light off and going to sleep.
REFLECTION:
Throughout my day of logging my media use, I did not come across as much misinformation as I would expect. As a sports journalism major, I have really been trained to spot misinformation, especially on social media. Throughout my time at Cronkite, I have made an effort to only follow credible, reliable sources on social media platforms like X and Instagram. In my profession, it is vital that I am spreading real, reliable information. The only piece of misinformation I came across during this exercise was an account that I know to be a non-reliable news outlet.