As some have suggested, this should be “a doozy of a news year.” And our ability to determine fact from fiction will be tested. We’ll be inundated with press releases, statements and advertisements from politicians at the local, statewide and federal levels.
“So, we need to defend ourselves against being duped,” says Harvard University in its primer on how to recognize fake news. “Keeping track of good and bad news requires us, as readers, to do a little legwork.”
We’ve all seen the fake news. The claim recently that France had deployed troops to fight in Ukraine – not true. Or that actor Robert DeNiro was caught on video yelling at anti-Israel protestors, when he was actually rehearsing a scene for his upcoming Netflix series “Zero Day.”
It will get much worse. It will require us to look behind the headlines, soundbites, videos, or social media posts to ferret out fact from fiction, to vote intelligently. And that goes for local elections as well.
When that prospective candidate – council, school committee, legislator – knocks on your door looking for your signature, ask questions. Learn about who they are, what they represent, and, most of all, whether they have the level of integrity that we must require of our elected officials.
When browsing the internet or social media sites, be careful. We know about the abuses that show up on X or Facebook, Instagram or Tik Tok, among others. There are lots of questionable sites, and so many of us are relying upon them for our news. According to Pew Research “a large majority of U.S. adults (86%) say they often or sometimes get news from a smartphone, computer or tablet, including 56% who say they do so often.”
Let’s look at the worst offender list, sites that regularly publish disinformation, according to Spot Fake News — Before It’s News, CatholicVote, World Net Daily, Postal Times, Newsmax, Zero Hedge, Epoch Times, Counterpunch, RT.com, Sputniknews.com., OAN News, Global Research, News Front, Southfront, WhatDoesItMean.com.
There are a number of sources that provide tips for evaluating the news, among them the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions. Here’s what it says:
- Consider the source – click away from the story to investigate the site, its mission and its contact information.
- Read beyond the headlines. They can be outrageous in an effort to get clicks. What’s the whole story?
- Check the author – are they credible? Are they real?
- Supporting sources – are they credible? Are they real?
- Check the date – be careful about reposting old news stories that may not be relevant.
- Be careful of satirical sites, like the Onion.
- Check our biases. “Consider if your own beliefs could affect your judgement.”
Other sites suggest being careful about domain name, like com.co. And Harvard says to be wary if you notice “a glaring lack of quotes and contributing sources,” and whether the information is available on other sites.
There are a few excellent factchecking sites when it comes to national or international news:
- Politifcact, a Pulitzer winning site run by the Tampa Bay Times, with partners at various news organizations nationally. They include deep research on all topics and measure the veracity of the claims from false to true, with the worst, “Pants on Fire.”
- FactCheck.org, a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. They describe themselves as an advocate for voters “that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics.”
- OpenSecrets.org, follows the money in U.S. politics.
- Washington Post fact checking, with its “truth squad of statements of political figures.”
- Snopes is like Politifact and FactCheck.org.
- Media Bias/Fact Check. My favorite site, with a tremendous amount of information covering thousands of sites, publications, media outlets of all kinds. It measures how they might be biased – least biased, right leaning, left leaning, etc. It also has a long list of questionable sites and publications.
In this environment, it becomes increasingly difficult to determine facts from factions, legitimate news sites, and organizations from those that are dedicated to creating and spreading disinformation in support of a particular cause, political party, or individual. That only raises the level of responsibility for each of us.