Breaking Your News Bubble: Media Literacy

This graphic from the infodemic article below demonstrates the value of checking news sources. Sharing and using the resources on this page will slow the spread of misinformation.

Some news is intentionally false (satire, hoaxes, disinformation). Other news aims to be real. The creator, author, journalist, director, editor, publisher, producer, and sharer each have an opportunity to contribute a perspective or bias on their news products.

This video from How Stuff Works provides an introduction to fake news and an accompanying article "10 Ways to Spot a Fake News Story."   

Evaluating the News

Fake or Real: Social Media

Wondering to what extent misinformation infiltrated your social media?

How can you tell if an article is real, biased, or false? 

1. Start with this checklist from On the Media's Breaking News Consumer's Handbook, Fake News Edition. 

• Breaking News Consumer's Handbook: On The Media  From the radio news show, On The Media, more information and tips to help you evaluate breaking news, health news, celebrity experts, stock market news, and more.]

2. Visit websites that investigate news stories and urban legends. We link to sites that not only investigate the stories, they provide you with enough information that you can fact check their fact checking. 

3. Conduct your own research. 

Google the article (or use other Internet search tool)

• was the article really published by the news outlet it claims?
• look at the other results from your search, do they call the article into question or confirm the information?
• when was the article published? 

Google the author

• Is there an author? If not, why not?
• Has the author written other articles? 
• What are the authors credentials? Do they have a background in journalism or a field related to what they are writing about?
• What do other people say about the author? 

Google the facts

• Is anyone else reporting on the same story? If not, why not?
• Do other sites contradict the article? If so, why?

Google the money

• How is the site where you found the article funded? The site might indicate the funding sources under an About or FAQ page, but also search the internet to learn what you can about the funders and if they are, in fact, funding the site.

Fact check photos and other media using these sources. Some biased or created news stories use photos or videos that are old, are from other events, or have nothing to do with the article. Others may use photo or video created or altered using artificial intelligence algorithms. Investigating if and where the photo or videos appeared before can uncover these discrepancies.

Search for other photos of the event or person. Other photos may offer a different perspective or provide context.

Simple search options include:

More advanced researchers can try:

Photos and videos that have been altered or created using advanced technology can be difficult evaluate. "The term deepfake is typically used to refer to a video that has been edited using an algorithm to replace the person in the original video with someone else (especially a public figure) in a way that makes the video look authentic."  from Merriam-Webster, Words We're Watching: 'Deepfake', July 31, 2019.