Pathways SU24 Digital Magazine

SAFEGUARDING DEMOCRACY

Avoiding Deception... ...continued from page 53

on your online profile. You might receive false information attacking a candidate that goes only to a select set of readers. That candidate will never have a chance to see and refute the false attacks. Disinfor - mation campaigns often play on fears or uncertainties to hook you in and make their stories more clickable. One of your best defenses is to step back, look for context, question why you might be seeing a piece of content at a particular time. And explore the resources listed below, to get the skills to detect disinformation. Look for Trusted Sources and Acknowledge Your Mistakes It isn’t easy to be constantly on your guard, figuring out what’s true or false. So you might well be taken in by some piece of disinforma- tion. It often makes sense to share content that people you trust al- ready endorse. But if you post a story that you later learn is false, go public with your discovery. Your admission can help build trust with your online community. Know the source of your information. Information shared by your friends may also be false because they either interpret it wrong or are repeating false information. If you get information that looks shock- ing, ask for the source. If it’s not available, don’t believe that informa- tion. Prioritize reputable and trusted sources, as in the chart included here from the International Federations of Library Associations and Institutions. Know that the vast majority of journalists are profession - als who know how to get accurate information and are reliable sourc- es. Social media, on the other hand, is likely the least reliable source of information; information from more credible institutions is far more so.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES • The Poynter Institute’s articles on online fact-checking • FactCheck.org’s debunking of false stories on Facebook and other platforms • Other credible professional fact-checking sites, such as Politifact and Snopes • California University of Pennsylvania’s comprehensive site on Fake News • Arizona State University’s tools to identify fake images and videos • The Washington Post’s guide to manipulated video • guides.vote, home of our nonpartisan candidate guides, researched and edited by veteran journalists This information is provided by and reprinted with permission from Guides.vote, which produces nonpartisan candidate guides that show where candidates stand, with links to credible sources, so you can go to the polls with confidence. facebook/guides.vote | @ guidesvote | instagram/guides.vote Ed. Note: Visit the Pathways Digital Edition , where underlined sections link directly to additional resources: www.pathwaysmaga - zineonline.com/magazine/current-issue/.

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