Take the time to be media literate

To The Eagle:

First, I would like to thank the editor for responding to my question about incorrect information in a recent letter published in The Eagle. I was delayed in getting my response into the paper and as it turned out the editor did a much more thorough job than I would have. My delay was a result of thinking about the issue of incorrect information being published in any of the many venues that have become available to use in this electronic age.

Over the next 10 months we are all going to be exposed to information that may not be true. It took less than five minutes for me to look up the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine petition originally signed in 1998 by 31,000 “scientists.” So not only was this an old petition but the “scientists” were also questionable. So, we all must become media literate. We must find good sources to use to cross check information, check the author’s background, and maintain an increased level of skepticism; if it seems too good to be true it just might be untrue.

Once again thank you to The Eagle for being in our community and providing a place for information to be shared about the content of local public meetings and decisions made by local boards and yes, a place to address issues, local, national and international. We are very lucky to have our own weekly paper and it is a good place to start practicing media literacy.

Carol W. Cole

Puget Island