Fake `news was not a term many people used four years ago but it is now seen as one of the greatest threat to democracy and the western order until it was also named 2017 World of the Year. Raising tension between nations that lead to regulation of social media and yet nobody can agree on what it is, the extent of the problem and what to do about it.
The term is most often used to describe completely fabricated story and can also be apply to broad continue more news, accessing the quality of the content is crucial to understand whether what you are viewing is true or not, therefore it is up to you and I to do the leg walk to make sure our information good.
Before the internet it was much more expensive to distribute information, building up trust and there are much simpler definition of what constituted news and media. Making regulation or self regulation easier, but the rise of social network has broken down many of the boundaries that prevented fake news from spreading in democracy.
In particular, it has allowed anyone to create and disseminate information especially those who have proven most adapt, gaining how social network operate, with that in mind. The next pertinent question then become ‘’How Can One Identify Fake News?’’ Here are six ways you can utilize to identify and correct fake news.
- Satire or parody – no harm is intended, but it has the potential to fool.
- False connection – headlines, visuals, or captions that do not support the content and thus mislead the reader.
- Misleading content – content is purposefully framed to portray a person or issue in a particular light.
- False context – stories are presented with false or missing contextual information.
- Imposter content – uses fabricated quotes or information from genuine sources.
- Manipulated content – manipulated information or images meant to deceive.
- Fabricated content – 100% false content intended to deceive and do harm.
These stories are increasingly dangerous in the digital age. Many people consume stories on social media without fact-checking or confirming that such headlines exist for a “shock” factor.
Once these stories are shared and popularized, people begin to believe them and accept them as the truth.
Often, this can happen subconsciously. This is a particularly vicious cycle on social media, where stories that make it to the top of the news feed are all too often untruthful clickbait.
1. Develop critical mindset: One of the main reason fake news is such a big issue is that, it is often believable this mean, it is easy to get cut out. Many fake news stories are also written to create shock value, which mean it is essential that we keep our emotional response to such story in check. Instead approach what you see and hear rationally and critically. Ask yourself, why has this story been written? Is it to persuading me of some certain view point, is it selling me a particular product or is it trying to get me to click through to another website?
2. Check the source: If you come across a story from a source that you have never heard of before, do some digging. Find out bit more about the publisher. Is he a professional and well known news agency, or is it someone personal blog? Check the URL of the page too. URL or ‘’Uniform Resources Locator’’ is a web address that help browsers to find the site on the internet. Strange sounding URL that ends with an extension like; .infonet and .auto rather than .com or .co.uk or that contains spelling error may mean that the source is a suspect.
If the information is something that you have been told by another person, consider his reputation and professional experience, is he known for his expertise on the matter or does he tend to exaggerate the truth?
3. See who else is reporting this story: Check whether the story has been pick up by other well known news publishers. If the information you have is not from a well known source then there is a chance that it could be fake, however you need to be careful even here. People who spread fake news and alternative facts sometimes create web pages, newspaper mucus or doted images that look official but aren’t, so if you see a suspicion post that look like it’s from an established media house, make sure to check the homepage of the media house in question to verify that it is really there.
4. Examining the evidence: A credible news story will include plenty of facts, call from experts, survey data and official statistics. For example, if things are missing or the source is an unknown expert or a friend, question it. Ask question like, does the evidence proved that something definitely happened? Has the fact been twisted to back up at a particular view point?
5. Look for a fake images: Modern editing software has made it easy for people to create fake images that look professional and real, in fact, research showed that only a half of us can tell when images are fake, however there are some warning signs you can look out for like strange shadow of the image. For example, darkest ages around the figures, if you still have doubt you can use tool such as Google Reverse Image Search to check whether the has been author or used in the wrong context.
6. Check that it sound right: Finally use your common sense, if a story sound unbelievable, it probably is. Bear in mind that fake news is designed to feed our biases or fear and remember just because the story sound right and true does not mean it is. For example, it is unlikely that your favourite designer brand is giving away million free dresses to people who turn up to its, equally just because your colleague believe that two married co-worker are having an affair, does not mean its true.
Now that we all notice, let me just reiterate the fact that spreading fake news hurt a lot more than it help. So let us all try to verify our information before we pass it on to the next person.
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