Title: Spotting Fake News

Byline: Allison Wolf

Publication Date: 2/28/2018

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Is This Real or Fake News?

Fake news is everywhere, but determining whether a story is real or fake can be very hard. Let's watch a video before

really getting into the grit of fake news.  Is this real or fake news?  Erick Tucker, a Twitter user and co-founder of a

marketing company in Austin, posted, “ Anti - Trump protesters in Austin today are not as organic as they seem”

(as qtd in Maheshwari, 21 December 17).  Here are the busses they came in.”  Watch this Buzzfeed video on people

being quizzed about fake news before reading anymore and answering that last question: Click Here

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Erick Tucker’s Tweet

News flash, it is fake.  However, Sapna Maheshwari (21 December 2017), author of “How Fake News Goes Viral: A Case Study” from The New York Times, claims Mr. Tucker’s tweet, as seen in Figure 1, involving paid protesters was shared at least 16,000 times on twitter, as well as Facebook at least 350,000 times. The story behind the tweet: Mr. Tucker heard news that Trump protesters were rallying around the area he lives in.  Because he heard this and saw all the buses in Figure 1, he came to the conclusion that all those buses were filled with paid protesters.  Maheshwari (21 December 2017) says, “The buses were, in fact, hired by a company called Tableau Software, which was holding a conference that drew more than 13,000 people.”  Angie Holan (22 October 2017), author of  “Fake News’ Is Not Always Fake” and writer for Tampa Bay Times, claims Politifact named this as the lie of the year in 2016: during the rise of election season, Pope Francis endorsed Donald Trump, and Hillary Clinton sold weapons to ISIS.  Even though all of these were false information, thousands and thousands of people fueled the fire and believed these posts.  

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Definition of Fake News

The real definition of fake news has been misinterpreted because of well known people throwing the term around to defend themselves.  According to “Fake News on Social Media” (2017), from Opposing Viewpoints in Context found on Gale Database, “The term fake news has been coined by the media to refer to news that resembles legitimate journalism in its content format or delivery but is in fact circulated either to propagate a specific agenda or to make money for the source organization by stirring up controversy with outrageous or sensational headlines.”  Yes, people are posting fake news and making money off it.  Even worse, fake news has been used on social media to try and cover up real stories so well known peoples reputations do not get destroyed.  For example, President Trump, on 153 separate occasions, has used the word fake news on social media to make himself look better.  Holan (22 October 2017), confirms Trump tends to target CNN, NBC, The New York Times, and The Washington Post for posting “fake news” about him.  But on the more important topic, what are social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook doing about the enormous amount of fake news?

 

Facebook & Twitter

Social media is one of the, if not the most, prominent place to have fake news.  The article “Fake News on Social Media” (2017), explains that most of what goes online  is not filtered.  Therefore, Facebook and Twitter have pledged to make their policies more vigorous (The Monitor’s Editorial Board, 4 January 2018).  “Fake News on Social Media” (2017) said, ”In November, Mark Zuckerberg announced that fake news sites have been banned from Facebook’s ad network.  One month later, the company announced its intentions to partner with fact-checking organizations and introduce more options for users to identify fake news stories on the platform.”  Instead of doing the red disputed flags that did not work, Facebook is trying to do related articles.  When a fake news article comes up, there will be a section of two or three other Facebook posts related to the article.  According to Ray Suarez (24 December 2017), host of a broadcast on Gale Database, said, Facebook is hoping with the availability of other articles on the same topic, beside the one being viewed,  people will be able to get the correct general understanding of what the story is about.  Suarez (24 December 2017), later on states, “Facebook is adding more context to get any individual consumer to read more, think harder, take more on-board, Twitter’s just taking content out.  It’s censoring it and saying - sorry, can’t say that on our place.”  Twitter and Facebook are taking action against fake news, which means it is very common on their sites. So, how common is fake news on the internet?

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Statistics

Carefully read  these mind-blowing statistics on fake news.  According to “Fake News Claims Circulated Through Online                                                                      New Sources” (2015), from Opposing Viewpoints in Context found on Gale Database, the statistic involving the story                                                                          about “Mass Grave”, seen in Figure 2A, has had 14 articles published about this fake news story from many well-known,                                                                      trusted news and social media groups.  Five of those news and media groups posted follow up articles exposing that the story                                                                  was fake. Take a look at  Figure 2B.  The statistic involving the story about “ISIS” also has had 14 articles published about it                                                                    from similar trusted media groups.  “Fake News Claims Circulated Through Online New Source” (2015) chart showed,                                                                          only two of these news sources came back in a follow up article to claim the story was fake.  That is a total of 28 articles                                                                            published by source like/similar to CNN, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post on a story that was fake.  Now,                                                                  take a look at Figure 3.  According to Martin Armstrong (17 November 2016), a data journalist for Statica, a total of                                                                                  960,000 people on Facebook interacted with the fake news article involving Pope Francis and Donald Trump.  During the                                                                      election season, specifically between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, 8.7 million people interacted with the top 20 fake                                                                    news election stories. According to “Guidelines for Recognizing Fake News Online” (2017), from Opposing Viewpoints in                                                                  Context found on Gale Database, from a US adult survey, surveyed in 2016, 16 percent of the people surveyed admitted to                                                                      sharing a fake political story.  The article also states that, 32 percent admitted to seeing fake news online that is completely                                                                        made up, while 51 percent of the people surveyed normally see political news online that is not 100 percent accurate.  Go                                                                          back and take a look at all these statistics again.  Do you see a similar correlation?  There is a lot of fake news out on media                                                                        sites, in which people believe and end up sharing to all their friends.  From there, the fake news continues to spread, causing                                                                    everyone to believe something that is not real.

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Citing Sources

Actions need to be taken against fake news.  Fake news can create negative opinions towards topics where it is important to

hear nothing but the truth - like elections and other political problems.  According to “Is 2018 The Year To Defeat 'Fake

News’?” (4 January 2018), found on Gale Database, “Several US states have begun to fight fake news by ramping up the

teaching of news media literacy in schools.  Students should be able to not only cite sources for material they present in

their school work but also be able to explain why the sources are credible.”  In school, college, or your career,  writing an

official paper using reliable and real resources is very important.  If someone finds any of your sources to be fake, then all

the work you have done should be thrown in the trash.  Having real news within an official paper makes the writer a more

reliable source and allows the audience to find more trust within the writer.

 

Spotting Fake News

How do you spot fake news?  Refer to Figure 4 to accurately view the important steps in spotting fake news.  “Guidelines

for Recognizing Fake News Online” (2017), remarks the first step to spotting fake news is knowing the source.  If the

source is Cookie Lover and the topic is on the election, then most likely that is not going to be a reliable source.  If the

source checks out, read beyond the title.  Look for spelling error, misuse of vocabulary, extreme punctuation error, and

other mistakes.  Be sure to check the author.  If the author is Brownie123 and there is no way to view any information

about this author, then most likely the author is not legit.  “Guidelines for Recognizing Fake News Online” (2017),

continues on by saying if no red flags were raised so far, then check the in-text citations.  Go to the citations within the

article and see if the citation matches the article.  If the citation is to Gale Databases, but it links somewhere else, that

should raise major questions.  Dates are another very important aspect to citing sources.  Be sure the date is current and

relevant to the work.  For an informational video on how to spot fake news, Click Here.  Determining if a source is reliable

and not fake can be difficult in certain cases.  Luckily, there are websites on the internet that will determine if the

information is real or fake for you.  The websites include - Snopes.com, FactCheck.org, FakeNewsWatch.com,

ThoughtCo.com, PolitiFact.com, or google search fake news checker.

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Conclusion

Too much of what we look at on the internet is fake or not entirely truthful.  Because of this, it is important for everyone

to learn how to spot signs of fake news.  In political times, natural disaster, or  any national headline, there will be incorrect

information out on the web.  Keeping your mind filled with factual information is important because it allows you to make

the right decision in certain situations.  Fake news is impacting many lives negatively, so don’t let it impact yours.  

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REFERENCES

Armstrong, M. (2016, November 17). Infographic: Fake News Is A Real Problem. Retrieved January 23, 2018, from https://www.statista.com/chart/6795/fake-news-is-a-real-problem/

 

Fakes News Claims Circulated Through Online News Sources, 2015. (2017). In Gale Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Detroit: Gale. Retrieved from http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/JAGJPR267194651/OVIC?u=pl1910&xid=8f06acce

 

Fake News on Social Media. (2017). In Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection. Detroit: Gale. Retrieved from http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/OBOYIA996440220/GIC?u=pl1910&xid=dce7dd30

 

Guidelines for Recognizing Fake News Online. (2017). In Gale Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Detroit: Gale. Retrieved from http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/GESSLY695956259/OVIC?u=pl1910&xid=66eb1f42

 

Holan, A. (2017, October 22). 'FAKE NEWS' IS NOT ALWAYS FAKE; Trump uses the term to describe news coverage that is unsympathetic to him. Tampa Bay Times [St. Petersburg, FL], p. 1. Retrieved from http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A511003059/GIC?u=pl1910&xid=de9bd3cc

 

Is 2018 the year to defeat 'fake news'? (2018, January 4). Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved from http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A521443259/GIC?u=pl1910&xid=9c6b0fee

 

Maheshwari, S.  (2017, December 21). How Fake News Goes Viral: A Case Study. Retrieved January 23, 2018, from https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/20/business/media/how-fake-news-spreads.html

 

Suarez, R. (2017, December  24). Facebook, Twitter Issue Policy Changes To Manage Fake News And Hate Speech. Weekend All Things Considered. Retrieved from http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A521334209/GIC?u=pl1910&xid=f233fd3b