Fake news are very common to come by nowadays, making it more common to fall into them. These often cause more damage than what people usually think of, and they are much more common to come across than what one would think. According to a study conducted by MIT in 2018, fake news is 70% likelier to be shared than real ones. But how can they cause damage? Well, we form ideas and make decisions according to the information we receive, and if this information is false, we will be making decisions and ideas under false pretenses. In this article, we are going to show what fake news consist of, and how you can avoid them.
First of all, what are fake news? As stated in the Cambridge Dictionary, the concept of fake news is best described as “false stories that appear to be news, spread on the internet or using other media, usually created to influence political views or as a joke.”
Examples of fake news you might’ve believed:
THE PICTURES OF “ALL THE WILDFIRES IN AUSTRALIA”:
The fires are real; however, an app’s depiction of the fires deceived many people, as it wasn’t accurate. How do we know it’s fake? Because the fire-detection app, MyFireWatch not only detects fires but also heat sources than are hotter than its surrounding (gas flares, refinery furnaces, etc.). This means than the pictures of the app aren’t 100% accurate.
HILLARY WOULD’VE ATTACKED IRAN IF SHE’D BECOME PRESIDENT:
A video of Hillary Clinton shows her saying that is she became president, the U.S. “will attack Iran”. Why is it fake? Because the video was editing her speech in order for it to sound like that when she was really talking about what the U.S. would on a hypothetical nuclear attack by Iran to Israel.
Now that you know a couple of fake news that circulated the media, let us tell you how you can know if you have been set up to believe a fake piece of news.
Tips to avoid believing fake news:
1. Check the publisher’s credibility. If it’s from a known news website, you’re in a good position but keep in mind that the websites may have a political preference, which makes them mold the story according to their agenda.
2. Beware of click baits. If the article contains scandalous information, it’s best to Google the topic to see if other credible sources have talked about the same topic.
3. Look at the headlines. If the title is scandalous or too-good-to-be-true, it’s probably very exaggerated in order to get more clicks.
4.Check the grammar. If the article contains multiple spelling or grammar mistakes, it probably hasn’t been revised through an editorial process.
5. Disables Google’s personalized search. With personalized search, you get exposed to a narrow range of ideas and perspectives that would allow you to get a full perspective on a topic.
6. Read the references. Ethical journalists always make sure to include references on the topic they’re talking about.
7. Turn to fact-checking websites. Yes, there are websites that check if the information is valid, so if you’re in doubt, turn to snopes.com or politifact.com to confirm the veracity of a particular article.
All in all, everyone has the right to know the truth. Otherwise, they would be living a life full of lies and making misinformed decisions, so don’t you think you should also stop and reflect on the news you’re reading to know if it’s actually true? Take a second and think about it.
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