library lesson: Recognizing Fake News

By the end of this lesson you will be able to:

• Apply strategies to evaluate information
• Identify different types of misinformation

Check audio on your computer or have headphones ready.

Fake News: Sources that intentionally fabricate information, disseminate deceptive content, or grossly distort actual news reports.

Misinformation: Information that is false or misleading, 

Disinformation: False or misleading information which is deliberately created with the intent to spread. There is intent. 

Satire: Sources that use humor, irony, exaggeration, ridicule, satire, and false information to comment on current events.

Junk Science: Sources that promote pseudoscience, metaphysics, naturalistic fallacies, and other scientifically false or dubious claims.

Bias: Sources that come from a particular point of view and may rely on propaganda, decontextualized information, and opinions distorted as facts.

Confirmation Bias: When we search for, interpret and recall information in a way that supports what we already believe to be true.

Filter Bubble: A situation in which someone only hears or sees news and information that supports what they already believe or believe to be true. This can be created on the internet as a result of algorithms and personal activity.

Fact: A piece of information that is known to be true, can be proven, or that really happened.

 What Can You Do? Be Informed, Not Influenced.

• Investigate your sources. Use the lateral reading strategy to go outside the source.
• Become familiar with trusted news sources that are held accountable for their content.
• Use multiple sources to confirm information.
• Learn to recognize your own biases. 
• Think before you share. Before sharing especially on social media, investigate and think critically about the story or photo.

Take a look at these fact checking sites to help evaluate or debunk news or viral media.