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FAKE NEWS & COVID-19 LEARN TO IDENTIFY & AVOID FAKE NEWS WHAT IS FAKE NEWS? INFO THAT IS UNRELIABLE AND UNSUPPORTED: DISINFORMATION (deliberately misleading) MISINFORMATION (unintentionally misleading) HOW DO WE SPOT IT? HEADLINES ARE NOT ARTICLES Headlines are meant to grab our attention and can be designed to mislead. Keep this in mind while reading and especially before sharing. SOURCE MATTERS Seasoned reporters and publications list their sources. If there are no sources or unreliable sources, question the piece. KNOW THE AUTHOR Take the time to learn about the author’s credentials. Is the author using reliable sources? CHECK THE DATE Double check the date and time of the article. Is this old news? Especially important with how rapidly COVID-19 information is changing. WHAT’S THE POINT? Understand the intent behind the article. Most articles are written to inform, educate or entertain. Be aware of articles written to further political agendas or to sell something. IDENTIFY BIAS - YOURS & THEIRS Be aware of author and source bias. Be aware of yours - we all have them! Read multiple sources to get the bigger picture. CONSULT THE EXPERTS COVID-19 Experts Fake News Experts • World Health Organization: • Snopes: who.int snopes.com STAY • Center for Disease Control: • Politifact: cdc.gov politifact.com • Johns Hopkins Interactive Map: • Factcheck.org: SAFE! coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html factcheck.org • IL Dept. of Public Health: • Media Bias Chart: dph.illinois.gov adfontesmedia.com • WI Dept. of Health: • Washington Post Fact Checker: dhs.wisconsin.gov washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker.

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THE EFFECTS of FACT-CHECKING THREAT Results from a Field Experiment in the States
NEW AMERICA FOUNDATION Research Paper THE EFFECTS OF FACT-CHECKING THREAT Results from a field experiment in the states Brendan Nyhan and Jason Reifler* October 2013 Executive summary Politicians in the United States are coming under increasing scrutiny from fact-checkers like PolitiFact, Factcheck.org, and the Washington Post Fact Checker, who examine the accuracy of public statements that are often reported without challenge by traditional news organizations. However, we know little about the effects of this practice, especially on public officials. One possibility is that fact-checking might help to deter the dissemination of misinformation, especially for candidates and legislators at lower levels of government who receive relatively little scrutiny and are sensitive to potential threats to re-election. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a field experiment during the 2012 campaign evaluating the effects of reminding state legislators about the electoral and reputational threat posed by fact-checking. Our experimental sample consisted of nearly 1200 legislators in nine states with state PolitiFact affiliates. We found that legislators who were sent reminders that they are vulnerable to fact-checking were less likely to receive a negative PolitiFact rating or have the accuracy of their statements questioned publicly than legislators who were not sent reminders. These results suggest that the electoral and reputational threat posed by fact-checking can affect the behavior of elected officials. In this way, fact-checking could play an important role in improving political discourse and strengthening democratic accountability. * Brendan Nyhan ([email protected]) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Government at Dartmouth College.
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