Tuesday, September 23, 2008

So Much for Truth in Advertising...

Based on a lawsuit brought on my an anti-abortion Christian group, Google is now allowing religious organizations to use the keyword "abortion" in their ads, according to the New York Times. This means that the sponsored links of these groups will be called up much like those from secular groups, doctors offering abortions and resource sites like Our Bodies, Ourselves. According to the article, Google will only allow "ads linked to abortion from religious groups as long as they were determined to be factual, and not graphic or emotional ads." Hmmm. When was the last time I saw a factual anti-choice web site? Like, never. That's when.

Rulings like these make it more important to teach media literacy to all people -- young and old. Everyone needs to know how to assess a web site for quality information, and be wary of all sites that come up in the sponsored links, but not very high up in a regular search. This needs to be taught in the schools as soon as kids start to surf the net all the way through college. This resource is a great one for young people. Created in the UK, it takes a person through a series of questions designed to determine whether a web site's information is reliable and accurate. If we all took the time to think about the information we are reading, and the biases behind it, I wouldn't be so concerned about this latest news article.

No comments: