Fighting Propaganda

Little Estonia is giving a lesson to the world on how to fight propaganda.— fake news coming from Russia.  The country quickly checks Russian news stories then debunks them if they are untrue.  Estonia’s media will not interview Russian politicos because they know that a story is already written.  The country maintains vigilance and acts fast.  The same ought to be true with fake news in the US and Europe.  The longer it survives in the marketplace unchallenged, the greater damage it can do.  People start to believe stories if they see them coming from two or three sources or if they see support in the form of “likes”, even though the “likes” are from robo software.  Educational institutions are trying to combat propaganda by training students to be skeptical of news they read, but that only goes half-way.  The rest of the lesson is vigorous exposure to facts — transparency, as Estonia is doing.