become wary of any image which seems too unlikely. But we still assume video footage must be real. However, emerging technology is enabling people to manipulate videos in incredibly realistic ways. One group of professors has already found a way to realistically change the facial expressions of someone as they talk in real time. And another technology allows you to put words into another person’s mouth. Simply feed 20 minutes of a person’s voice into the program and then type whatever words you want them to say, and the software produces a completely realistic recording. If someone combined these two technologies, and invented a believable story about what the leader of one country has said about another, fake news could be the cause of a diplomatic incident. Or worse. As new technology allows the line between real and fake news to become ever more blurred, it’s vital that we develop 21st
century skills ever that we learn to assess which media
sources we can trust, and that we apply our critical reading and thinking skills as we read and watch stories.
