Fake News: Discerning Fake News

Fake news engages both our minds and emotions as we encounter, process and react to it. Scientists and psychologists have studied those efforts, and fake news creators leverage those attitudes and behaviors. 

• Borel, B. (2018).Clicks, lies and videotape. Scientific American (Oct.), 39-43.
• Cook, G. (2017, Sept. 27). Understanding the influential mind. Scientific American.
• University of Southern California. Hard-wired: The brain's circuitry for political belief. Phys.org
• Lauzen-Collins, L. (2017). Fake news and the psychology of the brain. Circulating Idea, episode 116.
• Common Sense Media. (2017). News and America's kids: How young people perceive and are impacted by the news.
• Colbert, S. (2005).The Word--Truthiness. The Colbert Report.
• Society. (2017). How youth navigate the news landscape.
• Fowler, S. (2020). Where do your beliefs come from? SmartBrief
• Hamrick, D., & Marquardt, M. (2020). Cognitive ability and vulnerability to fake news. Scientific American.
• Henderson, L. (2018, June 22). Why our brains wee the world as "us" versus "them." The Conversation.
• Horrigan, J. (2017). How people approach facts and information. Washington, DC: Pew Research Center.
• Khan, M., & Idris, I. (2019). Recognise misinformation and verify before sharing. Behaviour & Information Technology.
• Kramer, J. (2020, Dec.).  Why people latch on to conspiracy theories, according to science. National Geographic
• Menczer, F., & Hills, T. (2020, Dec.) The attention economy. Scientific American. 
• Moyer, M. (2019, March). Why we believe conspiracy theories. Scientific American.
• Nyham, B., & Reifler, J., (2010). When corrections fail: The persistence of political misperceptions. Political Behavior, 32, 303-330.
• Nielsen, K., & Graves, L. (2017, Oct. 24). What do ordinary people think fake news is? Columbia Journalism Review.
• Brien, A. (2018, Aug. 8). Deepfakes are coming. CNN Tech.
• Ohler, J. (2017, Aug. 16). What's the real problem with fake news? We are wired to believe it. Cyberwise.
• Resnick, B. (2017, Oct. 31). The science behind why fake news is so hard to wipe out. Vox.
• Rothwell, J. (2018, Sept. 26). Borel, B.. New York Times
• Sisson, C. (2019, Sept. 14). I create fake videos. FastCompany
• Sundar, S. (2016, Dec. 7). What do we fall for fake news? The Conversation
• Wineburg, S., & Ziv, N. (2020, Nov. 6). Op-ed: Why can't a generation that grew up online spot the misinformation in front of them? Los Angeles Times
• Fake news’: Incorrect, but hard to correct. The role of cognitive ability on the impact of false information on social impressions:https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160289617301617
• Knight Foundation. (2020). American views 2020: Trust, media and democracy
• Media theorized: Reading against the grain
• Cognitive bias survival guide
• Confirmation bias
• The miseducation of Dylann Roof
• PBS. Facts don't win fights. video
• 5 ways to beat bias confirmation
• Above the Noise. Why do our brains love fake news?
• Crash Courses on cognition video AND Media and the Mind explain several reasons for processing and bad judgment, such as fake news
• Deepfakes
• Scott, T. (2021). Trying to create an AI Tom Scott (on a $100 budget) -- YouTube video about deepfakes

Also look at the advertising section of the Media Literacy box.

Fact- checkers are people who verify the authenticity and accuracy of news. Their findings are published in the following websites.

• FactCheck is a nonpartisan, nonprofit “consumer advocate” for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. They monitor the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews and news releases.
• Snopes explains the veracity of websites, and fact-checks fake news.
• Reporters' Lab maintains a database of global fact-checking sites.
• FakeorFact, available for Chrome and Firefox, analyzes articles based on 6 criteria.
• First Draft provides resources for reporting and sharing information that emerges online.
• Media Bias Fact Check, available on Chrome and Firefox, focuses on level of bias.
• Truth or Fiction focused on looking at internet hoaxes and rumors, but extended its range to include general fake news.
• Hoax-Slayer (run by an Australian) focuses on hoaxes and misinformation shared on social media.
• Polygraph.info (a joint venture between Voice of American and Radio Free Europe) fact-checks information, mainly coming from Russia.
• Full Fact is a British charity that fact checks and provides a fact-checking toolkit.
• Lead Stories helps users fact-check information and debunks fake news.
• SurfSafe evaluates the authenticity of images.
• Politifact scores media claims.
• NewsGuard uses journalists to check validity using 9 criteria.
• Trusted News, for Google Chrome, places stories on a spectrum from good to harmful.
• Our.News encourages users to review the sources behind each news article.
• Credder rates news items and permits feedback.
• The Trust Project indicators disclose a news organization's ethics, other standards for fairness and accuracy, and writers' background.
• Google's Fact Check Explorer is targeted to journalists, and is available to the public.
• Trusted News is a Chrome browser plugin that alerts users when they are on a site they may carry fake/biased news.
• Hoaxy visualizes the spread of claims and fact checking.
• Media Matters fact checks political statements.
• AllSides rates media bias, and searches across the political spectrum to provide balanced news.
• NewsRadius.news covers news thematically providing left, right, center documents.
• Digital Polarization Initiative is a cross-institutional project to helps students fact-check and contextualize stories.
• Civikowl is a fact-checking app.
• NewGuard analyzes news for trustworthiness or misinformation.
• TinEye and other techniques help trace an image's source.
• Fotoforensics.com checks the veracity of photo images.
• This image reviewer checks URL's metadata.
• SurfSafe checks the validity of photos.
• MIT discusses the use of algorithms to discern fake news
• Media Bias/Fact Check checks the bias of media sources. They list 10 fact checking sites.
• Web literacy for student fact-checkers is a handbook that teaches valuable critical thinking skills and habits; it includes a list of fact-checking sites:

Here are techniques to uncover fake news.

• IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions) "How to spot fake news" and  infographic on how to spot fake news
• NewsGuard uses 9 criteria to rate news sites
• Enoch Pratt Public Library. Fake news: How to spot it
• California State University, Chico  Evaluating information - Applying the CRAAP test
• All Generalizations are False with infographic: http://www.allgeneralizationsarefalse.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Media-Bias-Chart_Version-3.1_Watermark-min.jpg
• Keepin it real: Tips and strategies for evaluating fake news
• https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2016/12/05/503581220/fake-or-real-how-to-self-check-the-news-and-get-the-facts
• http://theconversation.com/six-easy-ways-to-tell-if-that-viral-story-is-a-hoax-47673
• https://thetrustproject.org/
• Infographic on spotting fake news
• Teaching students to recognize bias
• Euro myths and the news
• 10 questions for fake news detection
• https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/
• Global Disinformation Index
• Advice from journalists on how to verify stories from social media
• Adornato, A. (2016, Nov. 6). Fake news: What's the real deal?
• Bolluyt, J. (Jan. 18, 2017). 5 browser extensions to help you spot fake news. Cheatsheet.
• Greller, J. (2017, Jan. 1). Can your students spot fake news? Here are 48 links to help.
• Inskeep, S. (2016, Dec. 11). A finder's guide to facts. NPR.
• International Fact-Checking Network. Fred Fact doesn't fall for fake news.
• MIT. (2019). Using algorithms to detect fake news
• Robins-Early, N. (2016, Nov. 27). How to recognize a fake news story. Huffington Post.
• Scholastic Choices. (2019). How to fact check the Internet
• Schulten, K. (2015, Oct. 2). Fake news vs. real news. New York Times.
• Stahura, D. (2020). ACT UP for evaluating sources. College and Research Libraries News.
• Steinmetz, K. (2018, August 20). Real news: The fake crisis. Time.
• CommonCraft. Disinformation and Bias Detection
• C-SPAN. Problems in identifying fake news
• TED Talks. How to separate fact from fiction online
• Common Sense Media video. 5 ways to spot fake news
• MediaWise: Why your newsfeed sucks
• FactCheck.org video. Spotting fake news
• Verizon. Fighting fake news on social media
• CNET video. How to spot fake news
• TED Ed. How to choose your news
• PBS Idea Channel. How NOT to spot fake news
• WNET Take on Fake series

Try your hand at evaluating these news stories and other websites:

• Factitious
• Break the Fake
• Kraken the code
• Ultimate guide to fake news
• Real or satire?
• False, misleading, clickbait-y, and satirical "news" sources
• The credibility challenge
• Website evaluation
• Web and internet hoaxes and misinformation
• Newseum Believe it or not?
• NewsHero
• Politico: Is this true?
• Ukraine's Learn to Discern online game for teaching media literacy (must be at least 18 years old)
• Scholastic: Which one is #FakeNews?

Here are some of the strategies people use to combat and fix fake news.

• Aspen Institute. Infodemic: half-truths, lies, and critical information in a time of pandemics
• Verizon. Fighting fake news on social media
• Belluz, J. (2017, April 29). Doctors have decades of experience fighting "fake news." Vox
• Bransby, T. (2018, April 18). Deciphering information and misinformation
• Caulfield, M. 2018, Dec. 19). Recalibrating our approach to misinformation. Edsurge.
• Kenrick, D. et al. (2018, July). The science of anti-science thinking. Scientific American
• Leetaru, K. (2016, Dec. 11). How data and information literacy could end fake news. Forbes.
• Lippincott, J. (2018, Nov.) Managing the cultural record in the information warfare era. Educause Review.
• McBride, K. (2019). The liar's dividend is dangerous for journalists. Here's how to fight it. Poynter
• Metz, C. (2016, Dec. 16). The bittersweet sweepstakes to build an AI that destroys fake news. Wired.
• Socolow, M. (2018, March 22). How to prevent smart people from spreading dumb ideas. New York Times
• Stanley, J. (2016, Dec. 12). Fixing fake news. ACLU.
• The Yes Men fix the world.
• Ethical Journalism Network. To tell you the truth
• Thoughtful Learning. Lessons for combating fake news and video Can fake news be stopped?
• The remedy for fake news? History teachers
• 5 ways to beat bias confirmation