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Fake News: What is fake news?
- This guide discusses the issue of fake news.
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What is fake news?
The term "fake news" most literally applies to completely fabricated stories, but recently has come to refer to a broader continuum of news sources. It's important to note that many (arguably, most) news sources have some kind of explicit or implicit perspective, but that this doesn't mean that those sources automatically qualify as fake news. That's why it is extremely important to be able to assess the quality of content - ultimately it is up to you to make sure that your information is good.
Types of fake news
- Fake News: Sources that intentionally fabricate information, disseminate purposefully deceptive content, or grossly distort actual news reports
- Satire: Sources that use humor, irony, exaggeration, ridicule, and false information to comment on current events, but do not provide actual information on those events.
- Bias: Sources that are more interested in convincing readers that a particular point of view is "right" than with accurate reporting of events. They often rely on propaganda, decontextualized information, and opinions framed as facts .
- Rumor Mill: Sources that traffic in rumors, gossip, innuendo, and unverified claims.
- State News: Sources that operate under the control of the government in a repressive state.
- Clickbait: Sources that use exaggerated, misleading, or questionable headlines, social media descriptions, and/or images to drive web traffic. The content of these sources may or may not be credible. The headline will be more concerned with driving web traffic than with accurately representing the story or events.
- Junk Science: Sources that promote pseudoscience, metaphysics, naturalistic fallacies, and other scientifically dubious claims.
What makes a news story fake?
It can't be verified
A fake article may or may not have links tracing its sources, and if it does, they may not lead to articles outside of the site's domain or may not contain information pertinent to the topic of the article. It might refer to a retracted study, be based on a naturalistic fallacy, or not refer to a study at all.
Fake news appeals to emotion
Fake news plays on your feelings - it makes you angry or happy or scared. This is intentional - an emotional response makes you more likely to believe it and less likely to fact-check the article.
Authors usually aren't experts
They might have no credentials at all, or inappropriate credentials from the topic, they might not be professional journalists, and they might even be paid trolls.
It can't be found anywhere else
If you look up the topic of a fake news articles, you might not find any other news outlet (real or not) reporting on the topic.
Fake news comes from fake sites
Did your article come from abcnews.com.co? That's a website designed to trick you into thinking you're on ABC News' website. Did you find an article on a natural treatment from a random website not affiliated with a university, library, research institution, or other reliable source? Proceed with caution - it might be fake news.