Back in the old days, when individuals got their news primarily from magazines, radio, newspapers, and television. During this particular period, it was easy to detect on whether someone was pulling your leg. However, there has been the growth of fake stories and site due to increased usage of internet and social media. A lot of sites currently exist and they intentionally write fake news, amusing stories under the satire genre. Fake news has been there for sometimes now, and the news can currently reach a lot of people within a second via social media as compared to the use of Gmail that dominated before social media took over. Not every misinformation being passed along online is complete fiction, though some of it. However, a lot of fake news sites deliberately try to pass themselves off as real by hiding their identity deep within their website. Others sites peddle false and salacious tales to drive traffic to their sites and rake in ad revenue. So how can individuals spot the fake new? The essay focuses on various ways that you can use to spot fake news.
The first thing that you need to do is to verify the source of the content. A lot of fake news articles always state a blatant story without giving out the source. The get away with it since they are continuously bombarded with information. Individuals browse without paying attention to the source under cognitive constraints. Furthermore, when there is a source that has been given out, most of these articles classically fake expert technique (Mele, Nicco, et al.). A fake expert is an individual who seems professional but has no or little knowledge regarding the subject matter. Sometime the article might be able to articulate verifiable facts regarding the subject matter. However, the issue can be more understated, for instance, the factual fact can be presented out of context. If you can tell me something which appears concerning and you end up leaving out fact, the that context is satirical, the way the story will be interpreted will be different (Kiely & Robertson).Read beyond the headline
The headlines that appear to these fake articles can also tell if the story is fake. If you are interested in a story with a certain headline, for instance, a 10-year old accidentally discovers a cure for Aids you are required to read a little further before you can share the information with other people. Even in well recognized new outlets, the headline do not always tell the story. However, fake news mostly tends to be satirical and can have various revealing signs in the text (Kiely & Robertson).
Checking the author is also essential in trying to detect fake news. The first thing you should check is the byline which is a line in a newspaper that names the writer of an article. You should inspect the byline of the author and check if it make sense. There was a story that hit the headline on the ABS News, claiming that a protester was given $5000 to protest against Trump. The article was allegedly written by Jimmy Rustling. Dr. Jimmy Rustling won fourteen Peabody awards and various Pulitzer Prices. There is also another bogus story on a different story. However, the byline this time around is Darius Rubric with the same photo of Rustling.
Checking the supporting sources is also essential in detecting on whether the news is fake. Most of these fake stories always cite official sources, however, when you visit the referenced sources, they dont back up what the story is claiming (Glen). For instance, some months ago, there was a fake story that was showing statistics on the number of whites killed by the black. The bogus story went forward and cited the FBI crime data as the source. However, when you go to the FBI website and look at those figures, they are totally different.
The story can also sound too ridiculous to be true; it is probably is! Most of these headlines are designed such a way that you are always tempted to click on them. Dont fall a victim of clicking on websites that sounds too ridiculous to be true. Some of the headlines that you might come include, North Korea leader says that he will launch a missile to hit the United States in the next two days. The readers may be sure that this is a satirical column, but some of them fall victims of clicking on these headlines since they want to be sure about the news (Glen).
Lastly, you should be aware of the politically framed content. You need to check your biases. During this time, you should ask questions such as does it take you a few seconds to fervently agree or disagree with the article. Confirmation bias can result to individuals to put more stock in information that confirms their bias beliefs and discount information that does not (Mele, Nicco, et al.). The increased use of internet means that fake news appears to increase even with more sensitization on how to detect such news. The creators of this news appear to change tactics and detecting these stories might become difficult as times goes by.
Works Cited
Kiely, Eugene, and Lori Robertson. "How to Spot Fake News - Factcheck.Org." FactCheck.org. N. p., 2016. Web. 28 Nov. 2017.
Glenn Kessler. "The Fact CheckerS Guide for Detecting Fake News." Washington Post. N. p., 2017. Web. 28 Nov. 2017.
Mele, Nicco, et al. "Combating Fake News: An Agenda for Research and Action." (2017).
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