Fake News Vs Real News
Recent Roy Morgan research has revealed that over 12.7 million Australians (60.8% of the population) use the Internet as their main source of news. Having the world at our fingertips is a glorious thing but without a fundamental sense of media literacy it’s simply too easy to click a link from your Facebook account and be taken to a disreputable source.
Fake News is at its best an annoyance and at it’s worse a danger to society, you only need to think about the pro-Trump mob descending on the Capitol in 2021 to see how prolonged misinformation can have deadly consequences. Fake News isn’t actually a new concept, the Mirriam-Webster dictionary traces the first use of the phrase to 1890 but social media makes it easier to create and disseminate these stories.
There are two types of fake news
Stories that aren’t true – these are entirely made up and designed to make people believe something false in order to buy a certain product or visit a certain website
Stories that have some truth but aren’t 100% accurate – this is when a journalist might only quote part of what a source is saying to give a false impression of their meaning. It CAN be deliberate in order to convince readers of a particular viewpoint, or it could be an innocent mistake. Either way it quickly attracts an audience and misinformation can spread.
Here are a few tips to help you separate fact from fiction…
Check the source – Established news organisations will have their own domains, so always look at the domain name in your address bar. Spelling errors in company names or strange sounding extensions like “.infonet” and “.offer” rather than “.com” or “.co.uk are giant red flags. Also be aware that people who spread fake news sometimes create web pages, newspaper mock ups and doctored images that all look very official. If you see a suspicious post that looks like it’s from the World Health Organisation (WHO) for example, check the WHO’s own site to verify the content is there to.
See if other news outlets are covering it – Has anyone else picked up the story? What are the other sources saying? Avoid thinking that all mainstream media is fake, outlets such as the ABC and BBC have rigorous guidelines they have to follow, but no one is unbiased and mistakes can be made so look around for how other outlets are covering the story.
Examine the evidence – A credible story will include plenty of facts, quotes from experts, survey data and official statistics. All of these you can cross check with the original sources websites. Eyewitness accounts that are corroborated with multiple people is also a great way to know the story is factually accurate. If these elements are missing you should start to question the validity of the story.
A picture can tell a 1000 lies – We’re all savvy about photoshop but just a gentle reminder that fake images are rife on the internet and only about 50% of the population can tell if an image is fake. Some warning signs to look out for are weird shadows and jagged edges around a person. An image can also be used out of context so using Google Reverse Image Search will enable you to check where an image originated from and whether its been altered.
Does it pass the pub test? – At the end of the day use your common sense when consuming news from the internet, fake news is designed to ‘feed’ your biases, hopes or fears. Check the comments section before clicking into an article, if everyone is saying it’s fake news, well, it probably is.
Unfortunately fake news is a growing industry, this report by the BBC outlines how new innovations in technology are making these stories harder to spot.