Apparently traditional news sources are giving way to whatever happens to pop up in people's social media feeds. This should concern us, not least because of the potential for misinformation to spread more readily. Anecdotally, I have also noticed an increase in people relying on whatever happens to pop up in the highlight box when they submit a query to a search engine. "Google says ..." is probably the most frustrating opening to a sentence that I come across these days and "" is the most frustrating response to a request for the source of a claim. I fear that this will only get worse as Generative AI becocomes more pervasive, with its abstemious attitude to references and propensity for hallucination.

Journalists know the importance of using reputable sources and academics know the importance of citing references for their claims. How can we impress on the public at large the importance of citing reputable sources so that others can assess the veracity of their assertions?