Falling for Fake News
Bias, misinformation, and fake news are hot topics of discussion. Some news stations have a way of misconstruing information to scare viewers, cause drama, or gain views. Whether it is an article title that suggests a different meaning, a false headline (clickbait), or search engines spreading false information, the news has a clever way of misconstruing the facts. Although some social media networks and news companies have a "fact check" feature, not every false article is deemed as "false". Janice Hovis, the author of the article "Fake News & Misinformation: How to Spot and Verify", offers some suggestions for avoiding being the victim of believing false information on the internet. One helpful suggestion is that "when you see a 'news' story, you need to dig a lot deeper than the headline or the text of the article to know whether what you are seeing is fact rather than speculation, opinion, or outright fiction" (Hovis, 2021). Clickbait is real, and it is easy to fall for.
Listed below are some websites that provide information on how to avoid bias, misinformation, and fake news.
References:
Hovis, J. (2021, December 17). LibGuides: Fake News & Misinformation: How to Spot and Verify: Fact Checking Websites. https://guides.stlcc.edu/fakenews/factchecking
This is a very helpful post! Fake news is everywhere you look now a days. People never know when they can trust. These links provide us with good information in order to protect us. Great post!
ReplyDeleteI have fallen for Click quite a few times and I have definitely learned my lesson. Fact checkers work so hard to stay on top of all the news that is circling around but they cannot get to everything. I agree that we have to take added steps to formulate a true understanding of what we are reading and telling other people that we have read.The little reminder on Twitter that tells you to read the article before reposting has been so helpful in keeping me from retweeting false information.
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