How to Avoid Fake News
Bruce Bartlett, a former Republican policy adviser, has written a how-to book.
Bloomberg, January 9, 2018
The challenge for all American citizens, says Bruce Bartlett, this week’s guest on Masters in Business, is learning how to separate fake news from fact, and misleading and low-value advocacy from real journalism. What’s perhaps most intriguing is Bartlett’s well-established conservative bona fides; he was a policy adviser to Ronald Reagan and a U.S. Treasury official under George H. W. Bush, worked for former Congressman Ron Paul, and was an early advocate of supply-side economics.
Bartlett’s advice for media consumers is be wary of secondary information sources. Instead, he said, readers should seek out primary and original documents, speeches and data while avoiding outlets that have weaponized the internet. To help in this effort, Bartlett has written a how-to book, “The Truth Matters: A Citizen’s Guide to Separating Facts From Lies and Stopping Fake News in Its Tracks.”
You can stream/download the full conversation, including the podcast extras, on Bloomberg, iTunes, Overcast and Soundcloud. Our earlier podcasts can all be found on iTunes, Soundcloud, Overcast and Bloomberg. The transcript of our conversation is here; his referenced books are here.
Next week, we speak with Brooke Lampley, Sotheby’s vice chairman of fine arts, and an expert on impressionism and contemporary art.
