Back in November, Nick Robins-Early (Photo, right), World News Reporter at The Huffington Post, published an article on how to recognize a fake news story. He also provided 9 helpful tips to stop yourself from sharing false information.
Fake news articles have become increasingly prevalent on social media. With the primary intent to deceive the reader – whether it is in regards to how you perceive a candidate for election, key social and environmental issues of the day, down to the lowest level denominator of dissing your favorite entertainer, these new articles are often difficult to prove true or false.
Below is one example of fake news.
Per Mr. Robins-Early,
The publication of blatantly inaccurate stories is certainly not new to the digital age, or even the analog era ― just check your local supermarket aisle for tabloids ― but what is new is how easy it is for a reader to scan a headline on Facebook, hit share and watch his 500 followers do the same.
In the final three months before the election, 20 top-performing fake news stories on Facebook outperformed 20 top-performing factual stories from 19 major media outlets in terms of engagement, according to a BuzzFeed study published last week.
As it stands, there are few checks and balances to prevent any outlet from posting an article that is made up of false facts. In the coming months social media platforms will need to address many broader questions, including what level of editorial control sites like Facebook should exercise over the content on their platforms.
After initially downplaying the problem, Facebook announced on Friday that it would begin seeking out ways to weed out some kinds of fake news from feeds. Google, too, said it plans to stop fake news sites from using its ad-selling service.
But part of stopping the spread of hoaxes and misinformation also falls on readers who email these articles to friends and family or post them on social media, lending these stories their own credibility.
Here is another example of fake news.
Resources to help you spot Fake News
On The Media Fake News Handbook
Snopes.com
Melissa Zimdars’ List Of Fake News Sites
FactCheck.org
Poynter’s Tips For Debunking Fake News
TinEye Reverse Image Search
Washington Post Fact Checker
Source: Nick Robins-Early, How to Recognize A Fake News Story, The Huffington Post, November 22, 2016, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/fake-news-guide-facebook_us_5831c6aae4b058ce7aaba169?
Filed under: Fake News, Huffington Post, Journalism, Uncategorized