How do we derive authority?

What is authority?

When we refer to “authority" in this MOOC, we’re referring to “cognitive authority:” what people know and how they know it. We know that authority is both constructed and contextual; a person who is authoritative in one instance may not be in another. Identifying and recognizing appropriate cognitive authority is critical to making informed decisions.

You can evaluate a source’s authority by looking at his or her credentials: do they hold a degree on this topic? Research or work experience? What’s their job, and does it relate to this topic? Are you listening to this person because they're famous or "important?" Looking for credentials might also give you insight into any potential sources of bias. An engineer working for a large, international oil company may have a more biased view of climate change than an unaffiliated climate scientist.

For help with evaluating authority, check out the National Association of Media Literacy Education's key questions to ask when analyzing media messages Links to an external site.. 

Authority and news

The relationship between media and authority can be messy. We put our trust in the ethics and integrity of reporters and news anchors who often do not have experience or expertise in the fields on which they are reporting. As we have learned in recent years, some of that trust may have been misplaced Links to an external site..

It’s not just individual reporters that we must be wary of, but entire news outlets. “Corporate” news, or news created and sponsored by corporations are biased toward their funders and political parties, catering to interests that may not be known to the public. For more information on corporate news, check out this week’s additional readings.

 For more tips on selecting trustworthy news sources, watch the following TEDEd video on choosing news:

Appealing to Authority Fallacy

When evaluating information, be careful of falling into the appealing to authority trap Links to an external site..  We often look to authority to lend credibility to our own ideas and arguments - be sure that your sources are deriving their authority from the proper context.