Research: Evaluate Your Sources: Media Bias & Fake News

Fake News is:

• Authentic material used in the wrong context 
• Imposter news sites designed to look like brands we already know
• Blatantly, intentionally false
• Hyper-partisan (displaying extreme political bias) 
• Manipulated content 
• Parody, satirical or patently absurd content

"Creators of fake news and fake news sites use facts from verified news outlets and layer it with misinformation to intentionally confuse and misinform the reader." The power of Fake News is that when confronted by both the fake news and verified news, people tend to simply discount both the misinformation and the facts!

Source: https://libguides.lmu.edu/fakenews

• FactCheck.org

• Politifact

• Snopes.com

• The Washington Post Fact-Checker

• Try FACTICIOUS. A game that makes spotting fake news fun! Hone your skills while earning points. Swipe right for "Real" and left for "Fake." 

• Take the Fake News Challenge and find out how good you are at spotting fake news. 

• Play Go Viral and find out how your "filter bubble" on the internet is created based on the way you interact with social media. 

Tools for verifying images:

Found an image you think may have been manipulated or photo-shopped? Use these tools to check for any digital changes:

• FotoForensics

  Identify parts of an image that may have been modified or “photoshopped”.

• Google Reverse Image Search

  Upload or use a URL image to check the content history or to see similar images on the web.

• Google Street View

  Identifying the location of a suspicious photo or video is a crucial part of the verification process.

• Jeffrey’s Exif Viewer

  Upload or enter the URL of an image and view its metadata.

• TinEye Reverse Image Search

  Upload or enter an image URL to the search bar and see a list of related sites. Has plug-ins for your browser.

• Wikimapia

  Crowd-sourced version of Google Maps, featuring additional information.

 Ask a Librarian!