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8th Grade

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Learners gather information appropriate to the task by:
3. Systematically questioning and assessing the validity and accuracy of information.

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Fake News

Fake news is information that is clearly and demonstrably fabricated and that has been packaged and distributed to appear as legitimate news. This narrow definition seeks to distinguish fake news from other types of misleading information by clarifying that the former is patently false and was created and presented in a way meant to deceive consumers into thinking it is real. Fake news refers to a specific piece of information; it does not refer to any particular type of news outlet, individual, or other actor.

Fake News Purveyor

Fake news purveyors are websites, social media pages and accounts, or individuals who share or aggregate fake news stories. Purveyors may attempt to spread fake news stories on purpose, and unknowing purveyors may share fake news without realizing it's fake. The vast majority of purveyors do not exclusively share fake news, but instead push some combination of fake news and other types of content, including real news or misleading information. Most -- but not all -- fake news purveyors are hyperpartisan in nature. Only the small number of sites and pages that exclusively post fake news should be considered "fake news sites" or "fake news pages."

Fake News Creator

Fake news creators are entities responsible for conceiving of, writing, and disseminating fake news. This can include the owners and operators of sites that publish fake news stories and affiliated social media accounts, as well as the manufacturers of the fake news stories -- whether they are publicly identified or remain anonymous.

Hyperpartisan Websites, Facebook Pages, and Social Media Accounts

These are websites, social media pages, or accounts designed to spread information presented through a highly partisan, biased lens. Hyperpartisan websites or Facebook pages may share a combination of fake news and partisan content (misleading stories, partisan memes and videos, et cetera) that is not considered fake news, but could still contain misleading or out-of-context information designed to confirm a particular ideological view. Hyperpartisan pages and accounts are often fake news purveyors that generate shares and clicks in order to either push a particular political view or profit from user engagement on social media platforms.

Misleading Information

Misleading or out-of-context information does not on its own constitute fake news. This kind of information is not wholly fabricated, and it can exist within a news report that is based on actual events that occurred. Hyperpartisan sites often share a combination of fake news and posts that simply contain misleading information or lack proper context. Widely shared stories that contain misinformation but do not rise to the level of fake news can feed the larger ecosystem by creating a friendly audience for fabrications.

Clickbait

Clickbait pieces are articles that feature headlines designed to get people to click on them, often by presenting a misleading or warped sense of what the post is about. This does not necessarily constitute fake news, as these types of headlines or accompanying posts can be technically factually true (not fabricated) but nevertheless misleading. Fake news itself also often uses a clickbait format, particularly since its goal is to spread to the maximum number of consumers for ideological or financial gain. Clickbait headlines are often paired with fake news, as well as with content from hyperpartisan sites that contains misleading or out-of-context, but not necessarily fake, information.

Satire

Satire is writing or art designed to make social commentary based on mockery and imitation of real-life events or actors. Satire is different from fake news in that its purpose is to entertain or inspire consumers, rather than to deceive them. Some fake news sites may claim to be satirists but do not openly advertise themselves as satire, therefore suggesting an intent to deceive. An example of legitimate satire is The Onion, which is widely known and transparently presented as such.

Propaganda

Propaganda is misleading or highly biased information that is specifically designed to confirm or promote a particular ideological viewpoint. Propaganda is distinct from fake news in that it originates from politically motivated actors with the intention of driving public discussion, apart but not separate from financial and ideological gain. It is not necessarily completely fabricated, and it is not always -- though most of the time -- designed to appear as legitimate news. Propaganda can be packaged as fake news, with the result is both (a) patently false and (b) designed to appear real.

Conspiracy Theory

A conspiracy theory is an explanation or interpretation of events that is based on questionable or nonexistent evidence of a supposed secret plan by a group -- often governments and mainstream media outlets -- to obscure events. Like propaganda, conspiracy theories -- which are almost always completely fabricated, even if individual elements of the theories contain nuggets of fact -- can be presented as fake news when they are packaged as factual news stories.

Mistakes In Reporting

A legitimate news outlet that makes an error in reporting is not creating fake news. Journalists may sometimes lack necessary facts, be misled by a source, or choose poor wording to convey news stories. Instances of erroneous reporting do not reveal an intent to deceive on their own, nor do they imply the complete fabrication of a story.
Image created by Sarah Wasko.

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The fake news universe is vast and ephemeral, and to some extent its dimensions are unknowable. But Media Matters' research team spent hundreds of hours trying to map out as much of it as possible. Below is what we've learned and how we've come to define many of the moving parts that create an ecosystem for fake news to spread and thrive.

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Here are two news articles covering the topic.

http://occupydemocrats.com/2018/03/22/reports-just-revealed-first-concrete-link-trump-campaign-russian-military-intelligence/

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/house-probe-overlooked-most-trump-russia-contacts-report-claims-n858931

Using the resources on this padlet compare and contrast the articles to determine which one is a more reliable source. You must be able to explain your reasoning.

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Media have tremendous power in shaping political and cultural narratives-telling us what and who matters, why things are as they are and what it would mean to change them. An informed and critical audience challenges news media to be fair, independent and accurate.

Here are some questions to ask yourself about news you consume, whether it's in print, online, on TV or radio or in your social media feed.

Who are the sources?

Make note of the people quoted in the story, and at what length. Who is considered an expert on the subject?

Media tend to over-rely on "official" sources like government, corporate and think tank representatives, and often fail to highlight the perspectives of ordinary people most affected by a problem, or their advocates.

When the US withdrew its troops from Afghanistan, only 31% of the sources in ABC, CBS and NBC nightly news reports on the story were Afghan or Afghan-American, and only 5% were Afghan women, although coverage often claimed to focus on Afghan women's rights. No scholars or antiwar activists from either the US or Afghanistan were featured ( FAIR.org, ).

Be wary of unnamed sources: News outlets have rules restraining the use of anonymous sources to specific circumstances, including when the information is vital to the story, and when the individual providing the information could be at risk if their name is published. Reporters should also explain in the story the reason the source requested anonymity-beyond "because the source was not authorized to speak on the record."

Pay attention to the diversity of people appearing as sources in the news. In cable news, a 2014 FAIR snapshot found that 84% of guests appearing in interview/discussion segments were white and 72% were male ( FAIR.org, ).

Who is telling the story?

In order to fairly and accurately represent a wide range of stories, news outlets should have a diverse array of identities represented as decision-makers. But a 2018 Columbia Journalism Review study found that US newsroom staff is 83% white, even though people of color make up 37% of the population.

Question the impact of having, for example, a newsroom with no Black employees, making decisions about how to cover the Black Lives Matter movement, or an all-male editorial team reporting on reproductive rights. What might they miss, or misunderstand?

Where does this journalism's funding come from?

Who owns or pays for this news source-a multinational corporation? A billionaire? A hedge fund? Journalists are charged to report the news "without fear or favor," but media outlets' owners and sponsors generate conflicts of interest and affect the agenda behind that outlet's work.

For example, Amazon's Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post. The paper has repeatedly extolled the billionaire's vanity space project ( FAIR.org, ), and railed against wealth taxes that would impact his personal bank account ( FAIR.org, ).

Sometimes owner influence is explicit: Axel Springer, which bought Politico in 2021, required reporters to follow the parent company's principles-including support for "a united Europe," "the trans-Atlantic alliance" and "a free market economy" ( FAIR.org, ).

Other times, conflicts are more about the primacy of ratings over journalism. CBS executive Les Moonves acknowledged that Donald Trump's candidacy "might be bad for America," but, because of the ratings-grabbing (and consequent advertiser-spending) spectacle, "it's damn good for CBS."

What are the unchallenged assumptions and stereotypes?

Often the most important message of a story is not explicitly stated.

For instance, corporate media often report heavily on low-level street crime like shoplifting while ignoring widespread corporate crime like wage theft, which has cost workers billions ( FAIR.org, ).

When a gunman in Atlanta opened fire in three Asian-owned spas in 2021, six of the eight victims were Asian women. Media coverage relied heavily on law enforcement narratives, which came with the assumption that all Asian spa workers are sex workers-and an underlying suggestion that sex workers' lives are less valuable. Slanted sourcing meant that a bias about the disposability of some women's lives was a significant, but unexamined, part of the story's framing ( FAIR.org, ).

Does this story include loaded language?

When media adopt loaded terminology or buzzwords, they shape public opinion.

"Proxy" is a word with a negative connotation that implies one country is using another to carry out its interest abroad. By that definition, the US has "proxies," yet US media tend to refer to US-linked countries like Saudi Arabia and Israel as "allies." In the past decade, the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post used the word "proxy" to describe Iran's foreign relations four times more often than it used the word "proxy" to describe the US's ( FAIR.org, ). The corporate press has also used "divisive" as shorthand for "unpopular with elites" ( FAIR.org, ). In 2020, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman ( Twitter, ) described a $2,000 Covid relief check as "divisive," even though 75% of Americans (and 72% of Republicans) the government to prioritize another universal payment.

Does this story present a false balance between sides of an issue ("both-sidesing") ?

Both sides are not always equal-especially when one is based on disinformation or hate. When reporting gives as much voice to truth as it does to lies and propaganda, it stokes a harmful debate and normalizes disinformation. "Objectivity" without accurate analysis is not ethical journalism.

Coverage of 2021 violence in Israel/Palestine described Israel's attacks on Palestinians as simply justified "retaliations" to aggression by Hamas, ignoring the military siege the Israeli government has been carrying out on Gaza for more than a decade. Words like "clash" are also often used to position both groups as equally participating in violence, despite the disproportionate violence Palestinian civilians receive at the hands of Israeli forces ( FAIR.org, ). According to the human rights group , since 2000 there have been eight times as many Palestinians killed by Israelis as there have been Israelis killed by Palestinians in Israel and the occupied territories.

Are the visuals misleading?

We often think of photographs as objective, but they can easily skew a story line or point the reader toward one perspective. Misleading visuals can also come in the form of a graph or chart that looks as if it is showing accurate statistics but is manipulating data.

In 2016, the New York Times reported that employment rates for white Americans were dropping, while rates for Black, Asian and Hispanic Americans were rising. The Times' chart misled by omitting key context: The main reason for the difference is that the number of working-age whites had fallen, while the number of working-age people in the other groups had risen ( FAIR.org, ).

Does the headline match reality-or the rest of the piece?

Generally written by editors, not reporters, headlines may be restricted by space or search engine requirements. But many people get the bulk of their news from skimming headlines alone, so misleading headlines have a significant impact.

"Hundreds of Thai Medical Workers Infected Despite Sinovac Vaccinations," read one Reuters headline (7/11/21). The story itself revealed that it was 618 workers out of 677,348-or 0.09%. The New York Times (11/11/20) headlined a story, "Brazil Resumes Chinese Vaccine Trial After a Brief Suspension Following the Death of a Volunteer." Readers who didn't read past the headline would never guess that the volunteer's cause of death was suicide, and not vaccine-related ( Extra!, 8-9/21).

Other headlines are misleadingly vague. In 2022, after Senate Republicans voted against legislation to counter voting restrictions across the country, the New York Times ran with the headline, "After a day of debate, the voting rights bill is blocked in the Senate" ( ). This passive wording fails to acknowledge who was responsible for blocking the bill. "GOP Blocks Voting Rights Bill in Senate" would not have only been a clearer headline-it also would've taken up less space!

How prominently are stories placed?

Where a story is shown and how easily it can be accessed affect how many people read it, and how significant it is deemed to be. Keep note of whether stories on crucial topics are featured on the homepage of the website, the front page of a paper, or given time on TV news.

During the New York City mayoral primaries in 2021, tabloids' front pages were emblazoned with sensationalist headlines about shoplifting and other street crimes. Readers were eight to ten times more likely to read about local crime than the local housing crisis, a story that rarely graced the front pages. This coverage imbalance suggested to readers that crime was a more prevalent problem, while in reality the chances of being severely rent-burdened in New York were 1 in 6, while the chances of being shot were 1 in 5,000 ( FAIR.org, ).

In 2019, Congress approved a $22 increase in the military budget from the year before. Ten major outlets gave the story less than half the coverage of that given to a Peloton ad ( FAIR.org, ).

HOW TO TAKE ACTION

In recent years, newspapers have been phasing out the use of ombuds public editors who field critiques from readers and publish their own commentary on the paper's editorial choices. The only major outlet that still has a public editor is NPR, which appointed Kelly McBride for the role in 2020. Finding the right people to reach out to can be difficult, but most journalists and editors publicly display their email and social media in their writers' bios. FAIR believes respectful, concise and direct communication with outlets makes a difference in corporate media's reporting.

Visit FAIR's Media Contacts page for more information on how to reach out.

Other ways to be a media activist include:

Supporting independent, nonprofit news outlets

Publicly discussing bias, omissions and other issues in reporting on social media (Most outlets, editors and journalists have public Twitter and Facebook pages-tag them!)

Organizing public demonstrations (For more on how to effectively demonstrate, visit FAIR's " " page.)

Sign up for FAIR's Action Alerts to receive an email every time FAIR documents an instance of media inaccuracy or bias and encourage members to communicate directly to journalists to demand more responsible reporting.

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Media Literacy Guide: How to Detect Bias in News Media

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Media have tremendous power in shaping political and cultural narratives-telling us what and who matters, why things are as they are and what it would mean to change them. An informed and critical audience challenges news media to be fair, independent and accurate. Here are some questions to ask yourself about news you consume, whether...

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Breaking Down an Article for Reliability

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Breaking Down an Article for Reliability

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What Questions Should I ask when reading an article?

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What Questions Should I ask when reading an article?

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LibGuides: Finding News and News Evaluation: Evaluating News Sources

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LibGuides: Finding News and News Evaluation: Evaluating News Sources

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Look for Author Information. Is there any?

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Look for Author Information. Is there any?

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All Main Campus Library facilities are open and operating at full capacity to Georgetown faculty, students, and staff. The Library will be closed to external community members and guests through December 2021, with limited exceptions. Find the most current information available on the Library's COVID-19 FAQ.

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Graphic Organizers for Compare/Contrast. Find one that fits your purpose

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Graphic Organizers for Compare/Contrast. Find one that fits your purpose

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Fake news stories can have real-life consequences. On Sunday, police said a man with a rifle who claimed to be "self-investigating" a baseless online conspiracy theory entered a Washington, D.C., pizzeria and fired the weapon inside the restaurant.

So, yes, fake news is a big problem.

These stories have gotten a lot of attention, with headlines claiming Pope Francis endorsed Donald Trump in November's election and sites like American News sharing misleading stories or taking quotes out of context. And when sites like DC Gazette share stories about people who allegedly investigated the Clinton family being found dead, the stories go viral and some people believe them. Again, these stories are not true in any way.

Stopping the proliferation of fake news isn't just the responsibility of the platforms used to spread it. Those who consume news also need to find ways of determining if what they're reading is true. We offer several tips below.

The idea is that people should have a fundamental sense of media literacy. And based on a study recently released by Stanford University researchers, many people don't.

Sam Wineburg, a professor of education and history at Stanford and the lead author of the study, said a solution is for all readers to read like fact checkers. But how do fact checkers do their job?

Alexios Mantzarlis, director of the International Fact-Checking Network at Poynter, says fact checkers have a process for each claim they deal with.

"You'll isolate a claim that has something that can be objectively verified, you will seek the best primary sources in that topic. Find whether they match or refute or prove the claim being made, and then present with all limitations the data and what the data says about the claim being made," Mantzarlis says.

That's the framework for professionals, but there are ways for everyone to do a bit of fact checking themselves.

Melissa Zimdars is an assistant professor of communication and media at Merrimack College in North Andover, Mass. When she saw her students referencing questionable sources, she created and shared a document with them of how to think about sources, as well as a list of misleading, satirical and fake sites.

Both Mantzarlis and Zimdars agreed there are a few best practices people can use when reading articles online.
Pay attention to the domain and URL
Established news organizations usually own their domains and they have a standard look that you are probably familiar with. Sites with such endings like .com.co should make you raise your eyebrows and tip you off that you need to dig around more to see if they can be trusted. This is true even when the site looks professional and has semi-recognizable logos. For example, abcnews.com is a legitimate news source, but abcnews.com.co is not, despite its similar appearance.
Read the "About Us" section
Most sites will have a lot of information about the news outlet, the company that runs it, members of leadership, and the mission and ethics statement behind an organization. The language used here is straightforward. If it's melodramatic and seems overblown, you should be skeptical. Also, you should be able to find out more information about the organization's leaders in places other than that site.
Look at the quotes in a story
Or rather, look at the lack of quotes. Most publications have multiple sources in each story who are professionals and have expertise in the fields they talk about. If it's a serious or controversial issue, there are more likely to be quotes - and lots of them. Look for professors or other academics who can speak to the research they've done. And if they are talking about research, look up those studies.
Look at who said them
Then, see who said the quotes, and what they said. Are they a reputable source with a title that you can verify through a quick Google search? Say you're looking at a story and it says President Obama said he wanted to take everyone's guns away. And then there's a quote. Obama is an official who has almost everything he says recorded and archived. There are transcripts for pretty much any address or speech he has given. Google those quotes. See what the speech was about, who he was addressing and when it happened. Even if he did an exclusive interview with a publication, that same quote will be referenced in other stories, saying he said it while talking to the original publication.
Check the comments
A lot of these fake and misleading stories are shared on social media platforms. Headlines are meant to get the reader's attention, but they're also supposed to accurately reflect what the story is about. Lately, that hasn't been the case. Headlines often will be written in exaggerated language with the intention of being misleading and then attached to stories that are about a completely different topic or just not true. These stories usually generate a lot of comments on Facebook or Twitter. If a lot of these comments call out the article for being fake or misleading, it probably is.
Reverse image search
A picture should be accurate in illustrating what the story is about. This often doesn't happen. If people who write these fake news stories don't even leave their homes or interview anyone for the stories, it's unlikely they take their own pictures. Do a little detective work and reverse search for the image on Google. You can do this by right-clicking on the image and choosing to search Google for it. If the image is appearing on a lot of stories about many different topics, there's a good chance it's not actually an image of what it says it was on the first story.

These tips are just a start at determining what type of news an article is. Zimdars outlined these and others in a guide for her students.

If you do these steps, you're helping yourself and you're helping others by not increasing the circulation of these stories.

And you won't be the only one trying to stop the spread of this false content. The company leaders behind the platforms these stories are shared on are trying to figure out how to fix the issue from their side, but they are also trying to make sure not to limit anyone's right to freedom of speech. It's a tricky position to be in, but they've said they'll try. In the end, it really does depend on taking responsibility and being an engaged consumer of news.

Here's one last thing. Satirical publications exist and serve a purpose, but are clearly labeled as exaggerated and humorous by the writers and owners. Some of the more well-known ones like The Onionand ClickHole use satire to talk about current events. If people don't understand that, they might share these articles after reading them in the literal sense.

If this happens or if you see your friends sharing blatantly fake news, be a friend and kindly tell them it's not real. Don't shy away from these conversations even if they might be uncomfortable. As said, everyone has to help fix the fake news problem.
Wynne Davis is a Digital News intern.

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Fake Or Real? How To Self-Check The News And Get The Facts

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Your friend shares a story on Facebook. You read the headline and you think it's too good to be true, but it looks like it's from a news site. Experts offer tips to help you sniff out fact from fake.

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Examples of fake News Websites and Stories

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Examples of fake News Websites and Stories

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These are two examples of satirical and fake news sites that deliver news with distorted or false information, biased viewpoints and fabricated facts:

The World News Daily Report

To confuse and add to the misleading of readers, World News Daily Report mixes some true stories with their fake ones. Their disclaimer starts with a large headline reading "NEWS YOU CAN TRUST," however, when you scroll to the bottom of the page, it reads:

WNDR shall not be responsible for any incorrect or inaccurate information, whether caused by website users or by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilized in this website or by any technical or human error which may occur. WNDR assumes however all responsibility for the satirical nature of its articles and for the fictional nature of their content. All characters appearing in the articles in this website - even those based on real people - are entirely fictional and any resemblance between them and any persons, living, dead, or undead is purely a miracle. ( http://worldnewsdailyreport.com/disclaimer_/)

The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus

https://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/

Your help is needed to save the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus from extinction! Visit the official site to learn more about this elusive species, what you can do help, and share sitghings of this temperate rainforest cephalopods.

It is pretty obvious that this clever and entertaining website is fake. It is not intended to be misleading, but a satirical site for a fictional animal that gained a surprise following.

Disclaimer

These internet links are provided to you as a courtesy. Walden University, LLC. (Walden) does not own or operate and is in no way responsible for the content of the web sites to which you will be directed upon accessing the links. Walden makes no representations or warranties as to the sites' content, does not attest to the accuracy or propriety of any information located there and does not endorse the sites or information on the sites in any way.

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Academic Guides: Fact Check: How to decipher online news and information: Examples of Fake News

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Academic Guides: Fact Check: How to decipher online news and information: Examples of Fake News

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Organizing Information for Comparing and Contrasting

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Organizing Information for Comparing and Contrasting