MC Library Research Guides: Evaluate Information and Fake News: Get Media Literate &amp; Understand Fake News

Things to Consider

Fake news can destroy your credibility.
- If your arguments are built on bad information, it will be much more difficult for people to believe you in the future.
Fake news can hurt you, and a lot of other people. Purveyors of fake and misleading medical advice like Mercola.com and NaturalNews.com help perpetuate myths.

As Mad-Eye Moody said in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, "Constant Vigilance!"

What is the main idea of the article? What is the point this article is trying to make? Was it easy to find? Does the title of the article make sense?
How does the article make you feel? What kind of language is being used -- does it provoke anger or another emotion? Are the images positive or negative? Do you see lots of exclamation points and bolded words?
Does this article provide evidence for its claims, and is that evidence from reliable sources? Are you able to independently verify them?

Published newspapers go through a fact checking process that while not perfect, provides more confidence than random websites and blogs.

Click the link below to see MC Library's newspaper databases including historical newspapers.

News Literacy Project Podcast Podcasts discussing various disinformation and fake news sources, trends, and movements. Guests are experts and well respected sources.
All Sides Presents media stories on topics, labeling each from the left, right or center.
FactCheck.org Check the accuracy of statements, including advertisements, from politicians, pundits and special interest groups.
Washington Post Factchecker focuses on accuracy of statements of political figures "regarding issues of great importance, be they national, international or local."
Pro Publica ProPublica is an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest.
MediaWell From site: MediaWell curates research and news on digital disinformation and misinformation. Our research reviews present the latest scholarship from the social sciences, and we aggregate news content and events from around the web
Politifact Includes "Truth-O-Meter" for each topic explored. Also includes social media news stories.
Five Ways to Identify Fake News This video for students will help you easily identify suspicious sites and information on the Web.
Making Sense of the News: An Interview with Richard Hornik

Practice evaluating sources using these tutorials and activity linked here.

Learn more about media bias using the website linked below.

Interactive Media Bias Chart This link opens in a new window Advanced news source curation resource for educational institutions. It contains dynamic reliability and bias data on over 1700 news and “news-like” sources. Ratings are established by professional media analysts with diverse political perspectives. The IMBC Campus Pro Portal also includes media literacy content analysis training materials.