Media Literacy
How to Spot Fake News Online Excerpted from the New Jersey State Library
gory 4.) Some articles fall under more than one category. Assessing the quality of the content is crucial to understanding whether what you are viewing is true or not. Additionally, the act of censorship itself very often creates “false news.” It is up to you to do the legwork to make sure your information is good. What makes a news story fake? . 1. It can’t be verified: A fake news article may or may not have links in it tracing its sources; if it does, these links may not lead to articles outside of the site’s domain or may not contain information pertinent to the article topic. 2. Fake news appeals to emotion: Fake news plays on your feelings – it makes you angry or happy or scared. This is to ensure you won’t do anything as pesky as fact-checking. 3. Authors usually aren’t experts: Most au- thors aren’t even journalists, but paid trolls. 4. It can’t be found anywhere else: If you look up the main idea of a fake news article, you might not find any other news outlet (real or not) reporting on the issue. 5. Fake news comes from fake sites: Did your article come from abcnews.com.co? Or merco- la.com? Realnewsrightnow.com? These and a host of other URLs are fake news sites.
What kinds of fake news exist? There are four broad categories of fake news, according to media professor Melissa Zimdars of Merrimack College. CATEGORY 1: Fake, false, or regularly mis- leading websites that are shared on Facebook and social media. Some of these websites may rely on “outrage” by using distorted headlines and decontextualized or dubious information in order to generate likes, shares, and profits. CATEGORY 2: Websites that may circulate misleading and/or potentially unreliable information CATEGORY 3: Websites which sometimes use clickbait-y headlines and social media descriptions CATEGORY 4: Satire/comedy sites, which can offer important critical commentary on politics and society, but have the potential to be shared as actual/literal news No single topic falls under a single category - for example, false or misleading medical news may be entirely fabricated (Category 1), may intentionally misinterpret facts or misrepre- sent data (Category 2), may be accurate or partially accurate but use an alarmist title to get your attention (Category 3) or may be a critique on modern medical practice (Cate-
The media’s the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that’s power. Because they control the minds of the masses. Malcolm X Malcolm X was an American Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figure during the civil rights movement. He was a vocal advocate for Black empower- ment until his assasination in 1965 at the age of 39.
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Students Pocket Guide for Civic Engagement
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