Research Guides at CSU Pueblo Library: Fake News: Real news vs fake news

How to Spot Fake News

How to Spot Fake News

Video: 5 Ways to Spot Fake News
This video for students will help them easily identify suspicious sites and information on the Web.

Real news vs fake news

What makes real news real?

Presented by real news sources- does the news source have a code of ethics or mission statement?
Written by reporters with degrees in journalism, and often, in the fields they cover
Primary goal is to inform. If you are having an emotional reaction: anger, fear, anxiety, you should investigate the article further.
Real news can be verified by checking statistics, reports, and other (real) news sources to verify what you’re seeing.

In their Code of Ethics, the Society of professional journalists declares these four principles as the foundation of ethical journalism and encourages their use in its practice by all people in all media:

Seek Truth and Report It
Minimize Harm
Act Independently
Be Accountable and Transparent

One of the ways in which a news source demonstrates its authenticity and responsibility to its readers is through a publicly accessible code of ethics or standards. A sample of various codes, mission statements and ethics handbooks are listed below.

NPR Ethics Handbook

New York Times: Standards and Ethics

American Society of News Editors: Codes of Ethics A comprehensive list of codes of ethics from 47 different news outlets and professional organizations dedicated to journalism

Use these sites to check news stories' claims:

FactCheck.org
"We are a nonpartisan, nonprofit “consumer advocate” for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. We monitor the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews and news releases. Our goal is to apply the best practices of both journalism and scholarship, and to increase public knowledge and understanding."
Fact Checker
From Glenn Kessler of The Washington Post.
"The purpose of this website, and an accompanying column in the Sunday print edition of The Washington Post, is to “truth squad” the statements of political figures regarding issues of great importance, be they national, international or local. It’s a big world out there, and so we rely on readers to ask questions and point out statements that need to be checked."
Hoax-Slayer
Works to debunk internet and email hoaxes
Is it propaganda or not?
"We are an independent team of concerned American citizens with a wide range of backgrounds and expertise, including professional experience in computer science, statistics, public policy, and national security affairs. We are currently volunteering our time and skills to identify propaganda - particularly Russian propaganda - targeting a U.S. audience. We collect public-record information connecting propaganda outlets to each other and their coordinators abroad, analyze what we find, act as a central repository and point of reference for related information, and organize efforts to oppose it."
PolitiFact
"Fact-checking journalism is the heart of PolitiFact. Our core principles are independence, transparency, fairness, thorough reporting and clear writing. The reason we publish is to give citizens the information they need to govern themselves in a democracy."
Snopes
"The oldest and largest fact-checking site on the Internet, one widely regarded by journalists, folklorists, and laypersons alike as one of the world’s essential resources."

Pre-class reading:

N. Kshetri and J. Voas, "The Economics of “Fake News”," in IT Professional, vol. 19, no. 6, pp. 8-12, November/December 2017. doi: 10.1109/MITP.2017.4241459. URL: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=8123490&isnumber=8123452

Acknowledgements

Material in this guide is heavily borrowed from LibGuides at SUNY Geneseo and Indiana University East.