This morning I found the most relevant article related to my graduate studies when we discuss content creation and lessons in digital literacy. The article from December 5th, 2016 titled Fake or Real? How to Self-Check News and Get The Facts by Wynne Davis offers practical tips for those who know that information found on a Facebook stream comes with a Reader-be-ware disclaimer.
The article itself is worth the read but a short list of suggestions might be helpful.
- Pay attention to the domain and URL
- Read the "About Us" section
- Look at the quotes in a story
- Look at who said them
- Check the comments
- Reverse image search
These tips are ones that we think about when researching. There are some powerful questions to ask yourself when considering articles that come from Davis's suggestions.
Things to ask yourself when reading anytime (not just the web).
- What is the source, who is the author and what bias may they have?
- "I can't believe he said that!" 😠then take time to search for the full context of a quote and who said it.
- Watch out for clickbait headlines and check out the comment section, what type of discourse happens may be indicative of target audience.
- Use the reverse image search feature on Google to see where something originated from.
Thanks Wynne Davis for summing it up when you call all of us to do our part to battle 'fake news'
"If this happens or if you see your friends sharing blatantly fake news, be a friend and kindly tell them it's not real. Don't shy away from these conversations even if they might be uncomfortable. As said, everyone has to help fix the fake news problem." (December 5th, 2016 titled Fake or Real? How to Self-Check News and Get The Facts by Wynne Davis)
