Ms. Gouker, Ms. Despines, Ms. Rentschler Spring, 2017
“Fake News” vs. “Real News”
What is “fake news”?
The Encyclopedia Britannica Online explains the advent of ‘fake news’ in this way:
In the second decade of the 21st century and especially during the U.S. presidential election campaign in 2015–16, social media platforms in particular facilitated the spread of politically oriented “fake news,” a kind of disinformation produced by for-profit Web sites posing as legitimate news organizations and designed to attract (and mislead) certain readers by exploiting entrenched partisan biases (“Journalism”).
According to CBS news, Phil Howard, who leads the Internet Institute at the University of Oxford (https://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/about/), which examines misinformation on social media:
Part of political campaigning these days involves a very widespread strategy that involve[s] manipulating public opinion over social media. Twitter and Facebook are part of the advertising strategy (“What’s ‘Fake News’?”).
Jeff Green, CEO of the Trade Desk, an internet advertising firm that helps companies steer clear of fraudulent sites, states that, “….[fake news] is definitely a phenomenon that affects both sides….[Liberals and Conservatives] (“What’s ‘Fake News’?”).
POINTS OF VIEW ONLINE DATABASE RESULTS LIST Fake News:
1. FAKE NEWS FREAKOUT. By: USCINSKI, JOSEPH E. Reason. Mar2017, Vol. 48 Issue 10, p54-59. 6p. 3 Black and White Photographs. Reading Level (Lexile): 1260. The article discusses the problem of fake news circulating over the internet and social media in the U.S.
2. Don't get fooled again: Mount A session on 'fake news' aims to test, teach
Quebec Express. 03/08/2017, p16. Did Google put fake news at the top of its search page? Did the U.S. House Science Committee tweet that climate change is bogus?
3. Flock Fake News Detector Protects Messaging and Collaboration Platform Users Against Fake News Epidemic. By: Marketwired. Marketwire (English). 01/18/2017. SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 01/18/17 -- Flock, the fastest and slickest team messaging and collaboration platform with users across 25,000 global organizations, today announced availability of the Flock Fake News Detector (FND).
4. Warning: may contain fake news.
By: Parry, Steve. New Internationalist. Mar2017, Issue 500, p43-43. 2/3p. In this article, the author expresses concern over impact of fake news on lives of Americans, as of March 2017.
FAKE NEW SITES VS. AUTHENTIC WEBSITES Using the “How to Identify Fake News in 10 Steps” worksheet, determine whether your two sites are fake or authentic.
1) Dog Island http://www.thedogisland.com/
Dog sanctuary zaguates-dog-sanctuary
2) Sasquatch http://zapatopi.net/bsa/
Big Foot https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/tetrapod-zoology/if-bigfoot-were-real/
3) Which came first – chicken or the egg? http://time.com/4475048/which-came-first-chicken-egg/
Which came first – chick or the egg? http://www.ovaprima.org/
4) Fisher Price Airplane History http://www.weathergraphics.com/tim/fisher/
History of Fisher Price http://www.fisher-price.com/en_US/ourstory/how-it-began/index.html
5) Cats afraid of photos of bearded men http://www.improbable.com/airchives/classical/cat/cat.html
Why some animals are afraid http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/why-are-some-wild-animals-more-tolerant-to-human- interaction-than-others
SOME FACTCHECKING SITES:
A good fact checking service will write with neutral wording and will provide unbiased sources to support their claims.
Snopes– Snopes has been the definitive Internet reference source for urban legends, folklore, myths, rumors, and misinformation for a long time. Snopes is also usually the first to report the facts.
Fact Check– FactCheck.org is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. They are a nonpartisan, nonprofit “consumer advocate” for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. They 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.
Flack Check– Headquartered at the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, FlackCheck.org is the political literacy companion site to the award- winning FactCheck.org. The site provides resources designed to help viewers recognize flaws in arguments in general and political ads in particular.
Open Secrets– Open Secrets is a nonpartisan, independent and nonprofit, run by the Center for Responsive Politics, which is the nation’s premier research group tracking money in U.S. politics and its effect on elections and public policy.
Politifact– PolitiFact is a fact-checking website that rates the accuracy of claims by elected officials and others who speak up in American politics. PolitiFact is run by editors and reporters from the Tampa Bay Times, an independent newspaper in Florida.
The Sunlight Foundation– The Sunlight Foundation is a national, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that uses the tools of civic tech, open data, policy analysis and journalism to make our government and politics more accountable and transparent to all. Sunlight primarily focuses on money’s role in politics.
Poynter Institute– The Poynter Institute is not a true fact checking service. They are however a leader in distinguished journalism and produce nothing but credible and evidence based content. If Poynter reports it, you can count on it being true.