'Fake news is like dry water': Local TV vet talks media literacy with Pachyderms

Will Schmitt
News-Leader
Jerry Jacob, a KSPR anchor and longtime presence in the Springfield TV market.

Local television journalist Jerry Jacob posed a hypothetical question: What if he ran over and killed Springfield Mayor Ken McClure on Friday on his way to talk to the Greene County Pachyderms?

Jacob asked members of the local GOP club: "Is that news?"

The group pondered while munching on lunch at Ocean Zen. After a beat, Battlefield Mayor Debra Hickey replied: "It would be — if it was true."

Jacob erupted with glee. "I love you!"

Jacob, a KSPR anchor with decades of experience in Springfield television, joined the Pachyderms to talk about "fake news," a communication technique in which lies, deliberate exaggerations and propaganda are packaged and disseminated in the guise of journalism.

"Fake news" has entered common parlance recently through another use, as one of President Donald Trump's signature criticisms of stories he finds unflattering or inaccurate.

The term's rise has coincided with a broad mistrust of the news media, with criticisms of the press including outright fabrication, rampant bias and selective coverage.

A recent survey of trust in news sources found that sources like public television and British TV were among the most trusted outlets. Several major American outlets such as National Public Radio and the Wall Street Journal scored well, while partisan sites like Occupy Democrats and Breitbart were near the bottom of the heap.

One of the first things Jacob told the crowd of a few dozen over plates of sushi and salad was that real news inherently contains truth.

"Fake news is like dry water," Jacob said. "Anybody here ever seen dry water? No. There's no such thing. Water is wet. News is not fake."

Jacob exhorted his audience to be critical and skeptical consumers of news and to consult different media outlets to stay informed.

"Please read," Jacob said. "If you just get your news from television, you're not informed."

The role of television news broadcasts is not to inform an audience about subjects like politics, Jacob said.

"It's just too much for TV, because people have a short attention span," he said. "... To be deeply informed, you have to read. News-Leader, New York Times, Washington Post, whatever you want to do."

Though newspapers like the News-Leader and TV stations like KSPR make their money in much the same way — by selling advertisements — the style of journalism seen in TV news has a different function than that of print and digital sources, said Jacob, whose career has included stints as an anchor for KYTV and serving in the U.S. Army.

"The reason that I still have a job, CNN still has a job and Fox still has a job is because people find entertainment in what's going on," Jacob said.

Jacob has tackled the subject of "fake news" before in one of his "Good Question" segments.

"It is not a new phenomenon," Jacob said in November. "It's in the Ten Commandments: 'Thou shalt not bear false witness,' which means, 'Don't lie about people.'"

Jacob said afterward he employed a "Yoda rule" inspired by a quote from the famous Jedi of the Star Wars series: "Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering."

If an article seems manufactured to produce one of these negative emotions, Jacob said, that's a "great cue" that it is either made up, not objective or propaganda.