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There's a simple historical reason boomers are more likely to believe misinformation

It never fails, you're sitting there trying to get through a day in the office without freaking out over the office lunch thief when your phone screen lights up. A message from your mother or grandmother appears. There's no context to the message, it's just a link to an article about grocery stores requiring passports to enter. You don't even bother clicking on the story before quickly typing back, "it's fake, mom" then continuing on with your day.

The short response isn't because you're being flippant but because as a Millennial, you've become used to filtering false stories from your boomer relatives. Of course you know your well meaning relatives are intelligent in so many areas but you can't figure out why they don't recognize sketchy websites or obviously made up stories. There's actually a really simple reason that this may be happening, specifically when it comes to the boomer generation.

boomers; Millennials; Gen Z; Gen X; boomer misinformation; misinformation; the fairness doctrine; FCC; fake news; propaganda Exploring the world from home with headphones and a map.Photo credit: Canva

They never had to learn to fact check, thanks to the Mayflower and Fairness Doctrine. Not only did they not need to fact check news sources, they didn't have to critically think about the information that was presented to them when it came from places of authority. This isn't because they were blindly trusting. It's because the information provided by news stations or radio broadcasts no matter how controversial were not allowed to contain any bias or misinformation. They could literally trust everything a newscaster said.

That type of fair and unbiased news reporting was the result of an FCC ruling called the Mayflower Decision (also known as the Mayflower Doctrine) that preceded the Fairness Doctrine. In 1938 a former Yankee's employee Lawrence J. Flynn accused two radio stations of airing one-sided political views, editorials and attacks against politicians the owner of the network didn't like.

boomers; Millennials; Gen Z; Gen X; boomer misinformation; misinformation; the fairness doctrine; FCC; fake news; propaganda Nostalgic tunes: a moment with the radio.Photo credit: Canva

According to the 1948 Columbia Law Review, due to this kerfuffle, the FCC announced a rule in 1941 that "the radio broadcaster and his station should be allowed neither to editorialize nor take a stand on any controversial matter. This policy appeared as a concomitant to the previously announced position of the Commission that whenever controversial issues were presented they were to be treated impartially and objectively."

In 1949, three years after the first boomers were born, The Fairness Doctrine was passed building from the FCC's guidance on the Mayflower Doctrine. This legislation was meant to break up the monopoly of audience control by ABC, NBC, and CBS with concerns that the news stations could promote extreme bias. It required news outlets, which included radio stations, to provide equal airtime to opposing views. The information needed to be factual in nature without editorializing.

boomers; Millennials; Gen Z; Gen X; boomer misinformation; misinformation; the fairness doctrine; FCC; fake news; propaganda Retro TV broadcast with a vintage vibe.Photo credit: Canva

Doesn't that sound lovely? In a world where every other headline is written to scare the bejesus out of you and news pieces feel more editorialized than factual, having policy in place to tamper it would probably be beneficial. So what happened? Boomers spent all of their childhood, teen years and early adult years never having to question the factuality rating of their news. Then after more than 40 years of television and radio stations having guardrails in place, Ronald Reagan's administration started rolling it back.

According to the Reagan Library FCC Chairman, Mark S. Fowler who was on Reagan's presidential campaign staff, released a report saying, "the doctrine hurt the public interest and violated free speech rights guaranteed by the First Amendment." By 1987 the doctrine was completely repealed despite the objections from Congress. In an attempt to maintain the law, Congress attempted to codify it with the Fairness in Broadcasting Act of 1987. The bill passed the House and the Senate but Reagan vetoed it and according to the Reagan Library, there were not enough votes to overturn the veto.

boomers; Millennials; Gen Z; Gen X; boomer misinformation; misinformation; the fairness doctrine; FCC; fake news; propaganda President Ronald Reagan sitting with Margaret ThatcherHyper-realistic illustration by: Levan Ramishvili/Flickr

Essentially, from 1941 to 1987, boomers could wholeheartedly trust any news outlet no matter where the news was coming from. By 1988, America had it's first sensationalized news radio show with Rush Limbaugh where wild claims began to fly with no one there to stop it. The removal of the Fairness Doctrine with nothing to replace it left an entire generation at risk of easily falling for misinformation, propaganda and scams.

By this point boomers are parents and Gen X and elder Millennials were in school or heading to school soon. We didn't have any sort of legislation or policy to force news sources to be factual. From the time we reached junior high school, fact checking was part of every day life and we often had to have multiple sources to back up one claim. When the internet became commonplace, we were promptly informed that Wikipedia was not a valid source and learned how to spot suspicious websites. Millennials especially were taught to be skeptical of everything we read online or heard on the news if we couldn't verify it with other sources.

boomers; Millennials; Gen Z; Gen X; boomer misinformation; misinformation; the fairness doctrine; FCC; fake news; propaganda Couple enjoying a cozy TV evening at home.Photo credit: Canva

In addition to learning to identify malicious websites, we were also taught how to spot obvious spin and sensationalism. These are all skills learned during important developmental years. They're even more important skills to have with the meteoric rise in misinformation, propaganda and sensationalism.

These just aren't skills that boomers were taught and by the time they needed them they were deep in the realities of parenthood. Many of them may not have even known there was a shift in policy around factuality in news simply trusting the guy behind the news desk to tell them the truth. While age may be the obvious gap between boomers and Millennials, one generation grew up in a world where news anchors provided facts with no spin. The other grew up with spin everywhere, learning to trust nothing without fact checking.

If your TV station is discreetly pushing President Donald Trump's agenda, Amy Schumer doesn't want to talk to them.

The actress, who's currently promoting her new comedy "I Feel Pretty," just reportedly canceled an interview with Washington D.C.-based WJLA, an ABC affiliate, BuzzFeed News learned.

The station is owned by conservative Sinclair Broadcasting Group, which is facing intense backlash after it forced local news anchors across the country to read from a script blasting the "false news" coming from other media sources.

Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images.


Many, including revered journalist Dan Rather, saw the script-reading as a blatant attempt to push Trump's narrative that too many news outlets are biased against the president and cannot be trusted.

"News anchors looking into camera and reading a script handed down by a corporate overlord, words meant to obscure the truth not elucidate it, isn't journalism," Rather wrote in a viral tweet on April 2. "It's propaganda."

Sinclair's executive chairman, David Smith, has a cozy relationship with the president.

In 2016, White House senior adviser Jared Kushner told business executives the Trump campaign struck a deal with the broadcasting company to push more favorable news for the then-candidate, Politico reported.

It appears Sinclair  — the largest broadcast news company in the U.S., owning or operating nearly 200 stations — is the one with the bias problem.

Here's an eerie video made by Deadspin that curated several local news segments featuring anchors reading from the pro-Trump script:

Clearly, the video made an impression on Schumer.

The comedian retweeted Jimmy Kimmel, who, on March 31, blasted the frightening script-reading mash-up as "dangerous to our democracy."

Image via Amy Schumer/Twitter.

A source familiar with the matter told BuzzFeed News that Schumer hopes to never have to work with a Sinclair-owned station again.

As some have wondered, will other public figures follow suit?

If you’ve ever been anywhere near a college dorm room, you’ve seen the phrase “Keep Calm and Carry On.”

The saying does have real historical context rooted in WWII Britain, but it’s better known for the period of time in the mid-2000s when it became a near-ubiquitous decorative staple.


Everywhere you went, the bold crimson and sans-serif lettering could be found taped up on walls, printed on mugs, tucked away in planners, hanging on keychains, slapped on bumper stickers — quickly followed by variations on theme, which became arguably more popular than the original.

This boom in commercial popularity quickly erased all of its original meaning and turned “Keep Calm and Carry On” into nothing more than a trite cliché.

Photo by Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images.

But “Keep Calm and Carry On” wasn't originally designed to be a novelty. It was actually an urgent plea — one of three slogans the British government released to rally the spirits of the people against the threat of Naziism during World War II.

Just before the outbreak of the war, the British government was in the midst of developing something they called “home publicity.” Up against the threat of Nazi forces, who famously garnered much of their support through propaganda, it was imperative the British government make efforts to unite the national community under the common goal of victory.

The publicity committee ultimately distilled their message into a poster campaign consisting of three simple slogans:

The attitude the government aimed to encourage — one of resiliency and strength — relied on all three parts of the message, not just the one we're most familiar with today.

While “Keep Calm and Carry On” by itself does communicate a certain measure of resoluteness, it can also easily become a message that encourages complacency. It's only when taken together with the other two parts of the campaign that we're able to understand the tough fighting spirit the British sought to promote.

During the war, two of the three slogans could be found printed all across the U.K. Photo by H.F. Davis/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images.

Funny enough, “Keep Calm and Carry On” was the only poster of the three the government never actually published.

There are conflicting ideas as to why “Keep Calm and Carry On” was never released to the public. One such report says it was decided the phrase was too condescending or too obvious. Another theory is that while the campaign itself was designed for the war, “Keep Calm and Carry On” was a survivalist message reserved for only the direst of circumstances: a German ground invasion in Britain. Since that never happened, the message was never released.

In 2017, let’s take a page out of Britain’s book and make sure all three of these posters are the ones that define our outlook.

Everyone is talking about how much 2016 sucked, but realistically, the number on the calendar had nothing to do with it. And the number on the calendar once the ball drops on New Year's isn't going to magically make all of the terrible things that happened this year go away. If we approach 2017 intending to just "Keep Calm and Carry On," there won't be anything standing in the way of next year turning out exactly the same way.

That's why we need those missing two-thirds of this message — because they remind us that a world we're proud of is one we need to work for. And your courage, your cheerfulness, your resolution — your willingness to defend freedom and justice with all your might — these are the things that could bring us a brighter year ahead.