The buzzwords are legion: Fake news, alternative facts, falsehoods. In the last three months, all these terms have been printed in newspapers, flashed on screens and rehashed on television on a nearly daily basis. It’s difficult to discern reliable data from opinion or lies these days. While there is no single sure-fire method for telling fact from non-fact, here are some tools to help you sort through the news today.
Know your news
First, it would help to know more about different kinds of inauthentic news sources.
Fake news: While it’s simple to say that fake news is simply news that isn’t real, the truth is more complicated than that. According to media scientist Melissa Zimdars, fake news falls under four major categorizations
- Completely fabricated news
- News that incorporates fact and fiction
- News with clickbait-y titles that have little relevance to their article’s content
- Satire
Fake news is often inflammatory as well, inciting feelings of anger, fear or rage. If you are angry or scared after reading an article you need to dig deeper to determine if it’s fake.
Sponsored news: On many websites, a section of content will often say “Sponsored” or “From Our Partners.” Those sections may look like this:
Sponsored content is paid for by others – in the above example, Allstate has paid for the right to place an article on public education on a news website. The article may not reflect the views of the original publication, nor does it necessarily go through a peer review process. The content is immediately suspect because it’s been provided by an advertiser and may be biased or incorrect.
What makes real news real?
It’s a good question these days. Real news possesses certain qualities that fake news doesn’t. For instance, real news is written by real journalists. The Society for Journalistic Ethics, established in 1909 and headquartered in Indianapolis, has produced a code of ethics for journalists that reflect the industry’s best practices. Real journalists abide by this code. In addition, real news is produced by real news sites, such as the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and the BBC. Real news is generally written to inform and the claims in the article can be verified. You should be able to double-check statements and claims made in real news and find evidence for them. Last, real news generally has less bias than fake news, but may not be entirely bias-free. In contrast to fake news, real news is closer to neutral and does not incite as much fear or anger as fake news usually does.
Test your news
Now that you know the terms, you also need to know how to identify real news.
- First, check the source. Real news comes from real sources, not a meme or a site you’ve never heard of before. If the source seems suspect, you might be dealing with fake news.
- Second, check the author’s credentials. LinkedIn is a terrific tool because it gives you the full resume of the author of an article. If the author is associated with a particular group, university or publication, you will want to look those up as well.
- Third, verify the claims in the article. Our academic databases offer a wealth of resources for verifying any number of claims made online. If you can’t find any information that corroborates with the claims in an article, that article might be fake.
There are no alternatives for real news. You deserve access to real facts and real information. As librarians, we’re here to help you find what you need to know in a timely, professional manner. Contact us at iueref@iue.edu for all of your real news needs.