How You Can Stop The “Fake News” Madness
July 26, 2017 Leave a comment
By Linda Fisher Thornton
We all need to know how to tell what’s real news and what’s not. While a headline may be compelling, we can easily damage our personal reputation and brand if we share it and it turns out to be “fake news.”
It’s our job to “check stories out” to be sure that what we share is real.
Our “Human Software” is Buggy
While it’s important for us to tell the difference between the real and the fake, our “human software” comes with bugs. One type of bug we all have is cognitive biases, and one of our biases causes us to readily believe headlines we already agree with (confirmation bias). Here is a great article by Better Humans about the many flaws in our thinking. The article includes a codex graphic of our cognitive biases that will definitely get your attention.
We all have “human processing flaws” so we need to actively learn how to consume information responsibly.
Content curators including Google and Facebook are working on finding ways to flag fake news, but an algorithm won’t ever completely solve this problem. I’ve gathered sources that will help you learn how to separate the real from the fake. They include links to organizations that check out stories, an informative video, and games for testing your ability to detect fake news and altered photos.
Learn to Separate the Real From the Fake
Organizations Checking What’s Real and What’s Not
Hoaxy (How unverified stories spread on social media)
Fake News Website List
Wikipedia – Fake News Websites List
How False News Can Spread Video
How to Spot Fake News Video
Check It Out Before You Share
Stories are frequently made up to attract readers to sites with advertising. Photos and videos can be altered. It’s our job to “check stories out” to be sure that what we share is real. Otherwise, we’re stepping into a carefully laid trap. This trap helps unethical “fake news” sites earn more money from advertisers. It damages people’s reputations by sharing untruths about them. It hurts our credibility. It spreads falsehoods and misleads people who don’t know how to spot fake news. It becomes part of a ripple effect that can lead to serious unintended consequences.
How Do You Stop The Madness? Check it before you share.
Try Maggie Farley’s game Fictitious for testing and improving your ability to spot fake news, and practice detecting altered photos with Adobe’s game Real or Photoshop.
What Else Can You Do? Teach young people how to identify credible information online.
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Linda Fisher Thornton
