EAST LANSING, Mich. (WXYZ) — Students, parents, and the public were desperately searching for the latest updates as the shootings unfolded. Unfortunately, as events rapidly unfolded, it was frequently more misinformation than fact getting to the public. Some were listening to the police scanner, while others were sharing posts on their phones about multiple shooters, nearly a dozen shooting locations, and even falsely identifying the shooter.
Emily Moore is a freshman at MSU. She was in her dorm room February 13 when she received an emergency text that said “Run. Hide. Fight.”
“I just suddenly saw my roommates running around and closing all the blinds of the windows and turning the lights off. That’s when it hit me. I was like, ‘This is serious,’” explained Moore.
She explained where she was getting information as events unfolded.
“I was part of a big Snapchat story with a bunch of MSU students and that was where I was honestly getting a lot of my info from, other than my roommate listening to the police scanner,” said Moore.
Information was pouring in and Moore said she was trying to sort it out.
“People were posting photos of the alleged shooter which later ended up being inaccurate and I just kind of end up screen-shotting it and sending that photo to my dad. And he was like, ‘I’m not sure that’s an accurate photo.’ And I kept seeing more,” Moore explained.
Her dad was right.
“I remember like out of the ones I screen shotted, I don’t think any of them actually were the shooter. I don’t think I found who the shooter was until after it ended,” explained Moore.
She said many people had shared a picture of three individuals with guns on campus. Consequently, when police announced the shooter was dead, she still felt unsafe.
“Are there two more? Are there still people out there that want to hurt us?’” remembered Moore.
RELATED: News Literacy Week 2022: Why news literacy is an essential skill for everyone
Adina Schneeweis is a professor of Journalism at Oakland University. She explained why people behave the way they do during an emergency.
“In that climate, there’s so much pressure to get out information, and there’s so much desire to have information readily available as it happens in real time,” said Schneeweis.
She said it’s a bad idea to grab at unreliable sources for information.
“I think we are so used to getting information right away that we sometimes forget that it takes time to verify information,” Schneeweis said.
She said verification is the foundation of journalism and police scanner chatter is merely a conversation.
“Things that we’re hearing on a police scanner is a conversation, is chatter, is information as it’s developing. It’s not verified information, we don’t have full sources, we can’t attribute that information,” Schneeweis explained.
Dan Evon is the senior manager of education design at the non-profit the News Literacy Project.
“One of the things that we’re trying to do with the News Literacy Project is to get people to slow down, to get people to re-evaluate their feeds and not just immediately accept everything as the truth,” explained Evon.
RELATED: News Literacy 2023: What to look out for to spot fake news
He said it has always taken time to make an accurate report, and immediately reposting information is problematic.
“It often turns into misinformation. It’s not intentional, but it just doesn’t paint the entire picture,” Evon explained.
Take scanner chatter for instance.
“Journalists take those scanners as a jumping off point. And then go to verify that information,” said Evon. “It’s a little slower but then turns into more accurate information which leads to a more informed public.”
He admits, emergencies provide unique situations.
“Even though these situations might create anxiety and you may desire for information, it’s important to slow down and make sure you get information from credible sources.”
