Hyperlinks are important. It drives me nuts that many journalism outlets disagree. I see it all the time in The Globe and Mail, the New York Times and others.

Here’s a perfect worked example of why they are important. The Economist writes about how college students can’t read. They talk about a study where students have trouble reading Dickens.

Well. Except it turns out that’s not the whole story! Mark Lieberman at Language Log did the work to find the study, which tells a more subtle narrative than the Economist. Read his post, it’s good.

This brings me to my main point: Journalism needs to learn to love the hyperlink. You want to develop trust in media? Link your sources. Think about a generation raised on media literacy classes that, where they are able to visit the source links for articles and compare; a generation that starts to understand the torquing and nuance loss that comes from a 6 paragraph opinion column. Think about the trust engendered by discovering that some outlets are really good at accurately reflecting their sources, and think about how the lack of links can become a signifier of dishonesty.

“But the sources journalists are talking about are complicated!” Sure! Not everyone will read them. Yet some will. Some will strive, some will learn, and grow. We have to give people the opportunity.

Maybe, just maybe, the Hyperlink is a key part of making sure that we understand the society we live in.