LibGuides: Fake News: How to be a Responsible Information Consumer: Evaluating a Source

What's So Bad About Fake News?

Why should you care about whether or not your news is real or fake?

You deserve the truth. You are smart enough to make up your own mind - as long as you have the real facts in front of you.
Fake news destroys your credibility. If your arguments are built on bad information, it will be much more difficult for people to believe you in the future.
Fake news can hurt you, and a lot of other people. Purveyors of fake and misleading medical advice help perpetuate medical myths, which is dangerous.
Real news can benefit you. If you want to buy stock in a company, you want to read accurate articles about that company so you can invest wisely. If you are planning on voting in an election, you want to read as much good information on a candidate so you can vote for the person who best represents your ideas and beliefs. Fake news will not help you make money or make the world a better place, but real news can.

How to Spot Fake News

5 Ways to Spot Fake News

Ask Yourself...

Here are a few basic questions to ask yourself when you encounter an online story:

Who made this?
Who is the target audience?
Who paid for this? Or, who gets paid if I click this?
Who might benefit or be harmed by this information?
What is left out of this story that might be important?
Is this credible? Why or why not?

Verification Tools

Use the following tools to verify, cross-check, and compare content you see online:

Fact Checkers

Factcheck.org
FactCheck.org fact-checks claims made by presidents, members of Congress, presidential candidates, and other members of the political arena by reviewing TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews, and news releases.
PolitiFact: Fact-checking US politics
Politifact fact-checks claims by politicians at the federal, state, and local level, as well as political parties, PACs, and advocacy groups and ates the accuracy of these claims on its Truth-O-Meter.
Snopes
Snopes.com was originally founded to uncover rumors that had begun cropping up in chain emails and message boards and is now highly regarded for its fact-checking.
Verification Handbook: An ultimate guideline on digital age sourcing
Handbook is a step by step guide for verifying digital content initially created for reporters and emergency responders.

Verify Webpage History

Wayback Machine
Web archive that captures websites over time and can be used to verify content history and edits.

Verify Images

Found an image you think may have been manipulated or photo-shopped? Use these tools to check for any digital changes:

FotoForensics
Identify parts of an image that may have been modified or “photoshopped”.
Google Reverse Image Search
Upload or use a URL image to check the content history or to see similar images on the web.
Google Street View
Identifying the location of a suspicious photo or video is a crucial part of the verification process.
Jeffrey’s Exif Viewer
Upload or enter the URL of an image and view its metadata.
TinEye Reverse Image Search
Upload or enter an image URL to the search bar and see a list of related sites. Has plug-ins for your browser.
Wikimapia
Crowd-sourced version of Google Maps, featuring additional information.

References

Common Sense Media. (2017). 5 ways to spot fake news. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/g2AdkNH-kWA

Filucci, S. (2017). How to spot fake news (and teach kids to be media-savvy). Retrieved from https://www.commonsensemedia.org/blog/how-to-spot-fake-news-and-teach-kids-to-be-media-savvy

How To Spot Fake News. (n.d.). Retrieved February 13, 2017, from http://www.ifla.org/publications/node/11174

Indiana University East Campus Library. (2017). What's wrong with fake news? Retrieved from http://iue.libguides.com/fakenews/resources

William H. Hannon Library. (2017). Tools for verifying. Retrieved from http://libguides.lmu.edu/c.php?g=595781&p=4121899