Fake News - Graphics Free Version

Did your mother call you to tell you that liberals hate science? Did your Facebook feed pop up with an article on how chickens aren't laying eggs because RNA is being added to their feed? Did one of your friends breathlessly tell you that president Donald Trump was going to pardon mass shooter Dylann Roof? You might have heard any or all of these stories, but there's one thread connecting all of them: THEY ARE NOT TRUE.

The ability to tell accurate news from fake news is an important skill that you'll use for the rest of your life. This LibGuide will give you valuable insight in telling fact from fiction online, plus a chance to exercise your new skills. 

1. It can’t be verified. A fake news article may or may not have links in it tracing its sources; if it does, these links may not lead to articles outside of the site’s domain or may not contain information pertinent to the article topic.
2. Fake news appeals to emotion. Fake news plays on your feelings – it makes you angry or happy or scared. This is to ensure you won’t do anything as pesky as fact-checking.
3. Authors usually aren’t experts. Most of these authors aren’t even journalists, but paid trolls.
4. It can’t be found anywhere else. If you look up the main idea of a fake news article, you might not find any other news outlet (real or not) reporting on the issue.
5. Fake news comes from fake sites. Did your article come from abcnews.com.co? Or mercola.com? Realnewsrightnow.com? These and a host of other URLs are fake news sites.

There are four broad categories of fake news, according to media professor Melissa Zimdars of Merrimack College. Some articles fall under more than one category!

Category 1. Fake, false, or regularly misleading websites that are shared on Facebook and social media. Some of these use distorted headlines and decontextualized or dubious information in order to generate likes, shares, and profits.

Category 2. Websites that may circulate misleading and/or potentially unreliable information

Category 3. Websites which sometimes use “clickbait-y” headlines and social media descriptions

Category 4. Satire/comedy sites, which can offer important critical commentary on politics and society, but have the potential to be shared as actual/literal news Assessing the quality of the content is crucial to understanding whether what you are viewing is true or not. It is up to you to do the legwork to make sure your information is good.

1. 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. You have every right to be insulted when you read fake news, because you are in essence being treated like an idiot.
2. 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.
3. Fake news can hurt you and others. Purveyors of fake and misleading medical advice like Mercola.com and NaturalNews.com help perpetuate myths like HIV and AIDS aren’t related, or that vaccines cause autism. These sites are heavily visited and their lies are dangerous.
4. 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 as possible so you can vote for the person who best represents your ideas. Fake news will not help you make money or make the world a better place, but real news can.

Please feel free to share this guide with others.  If you are a librarian or teacher, you are welcome to use this guide and its contents for your own purposes. It was created by KT Lowe at Indiana University East and she would love to know if you reuse it. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Adaptations were made by Jaclyn Savolainen at Dutchess Community College.