What is Fake News?
Broadly speaking, fake news is disinformation that is disseminated for political purposes, economic gain, or entertainment. Fake news falls into a few different categories:
1) Deliberately deceptive stories (or images) intended to create confusion or division, posted on websites, blogs, or social media.
2) Click bait and native advertising - stories that present themselves as "news" but are written for the purpose of driving traffic to a website or promoting a product.
3) Satire or parody.
What is NOT Fake News?
Recently there has been a surge in accusations of "Fake News" regarding factually accurate news stories. This seems to arise for a number of reasons. First, when the news is critical of the accuser. Second, when the accuser does not support coverage of the story being reported. Third, when the accuser doesn't agree with a particular perspective.
However, just because a news story presents negative information, this does not make the story "fake news." Additionally, just because bias exists in the selection of which stories are covered in a particular news source or in the reporting, this does not categorically make those news stories "fake news." Bias is distinct from misinformation, disinformation, fabrication, etc., though one could argue there is a slippery slope in this regard.
For this reason, professional journalism standards strive to cultivate unbiased and balanced reporting of events. By relying on media sources that adhere to professional journalism standards you are more likely to avoid bias in the reporting. Ideally, opinion oriented stories are relegated to the editorial pages of the news source and clearly labeled as opinion pieces.
For more information on journalism standards see the section of this guide called Journalism Ethics and Standards.
For where to go to find "real news" see the section of this guide called Find Real News.
For a deeper discussion of bias in the news, please see "Five Types of Bias" from the News Literacy Project.
Tips for Avoiding Fake News
Fight fake news by recognizing it, steering clear of it, and never forwarding it. Friends don’t let friends forward fake news!
- Do you recognize the source? If not, read the “About” section on the website AND look up the website on Wikipedia or Snopes for more information about the source.
- Are known/reputable news sites also reporting on the story? While a lack of coverage could be the result of corporate media bias and other factors, there should typically be more than one source reporting on a topic or event.
- A photograph (or chart) can’t lie, right? Don’t fall into the trap of trusting a story just because it includes a photo or statistics. You need to track down and assess the source of images and figures, the same way you verify any news source.
- A study can't lie, right? When an article mentions a study, go directly to the source to verify the findings.
- The top hits in google are reliable, right? Don’t trust Google to evaluate your sources for you. Attempts at developing a “truth algorithm” to rank results have been elusive — it turns out that truthfulness is an exceedingly challenging thing for a computer program to measure.
- Use of ALL CAPS? This is a potential sign that the source you’re looking at should be verified and/or read in conjunction with other sources. Be suspicious of the sensational.
- The story makes you really angry? If the article has an exaggerated or provocative headline, it’s probably a good idea to keep reading about the topic via other sources to make sure the story you read wasn’t purposefully trying to lure you (with potentially misleading or false information) in order to generate shares and ad revenue.
- What exactly are you reading? Even when you find yourself in a traditional news site, identify what type of writing you are reading. Is it news reporting, a feature story, an editorial, work by a guest blogger, a review, an op-ed, a disguised ad, or a comment? Keep in mind that some news organizations allow bloggers to post under the banner of particular news brands, but many of these posts do not go through the same editing and review process.
- Confirmation Bias? Is your search language biased in any way? Are you paying more attention to the information that confirms your own beliefs and ignoring evidence that does not?
- Website ends in “lo” or .co? If you are you seeing a slight variation of a well-known URL, do a little investigating. For instance, what looks like an .edu domain, followed by .co or “lo” is likely a fake or deceptive site.
- Web address is odd? If the web address is unusual or unrelated to the news reported, you may be looking at an unreliable source.
- Lack of author attribution? This may, but not always, signify that the news story is suspect and requires verification.
- What the “dox”? If a website you’re reading encourages you to DOX individuals (i.e., search for and share private information about someone, typically with malicious intent), it’s unlikely to be a legitimate source of news.
These tips were compiled from Melissa Zimdars' list of tips, and Joyce Valenza's blog post Truth, Truthiness, Triangulation: A News Literacy Toolkit for a "Post-Truth" World.
Learn more about detecting fake news at the News Literacy Project. NLP is a nonpartisan national education nonprofit organization which provides programs and resources for educators and the public to teach, learn and share the abilities needed to be smart, active consumers of news and information and equal and engaged participants in a democracy.
Fact Checking Tools
- Snopes.comA comprehensive reference source on urban legends, folklore, myths, rumors, and misinformation.
- FactCheck.orgA nonpartisan, nonprofit “consumer advocate” for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. It monitors 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. FactCheck.org is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania.
- Science FeedbackScience Feedback is a worldwide network of scientists sorting fact from fiction in science based media coverage. Their goal is to help readers know which news to trust.
- PolitiFact.comPolitiFact 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.
- PunditFact.comA project of the Tampa Bay Times and the Poynter Institute, dedicated to checking the accuracy of claims by pundits, columnists, bloggers, political analysts, the hosts and guests of talk shows, and other members of the media.
- Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkersby Mike Caulfield. This is a practical guide for the student fact-checker. It supplements generic information literacy with the specific web-based techniques that can get you closer to the truth on the web more quickly.
- SCU Fact Checking GuideThis fact checking guide was created by a first-year honors English class at Santa Clara University in May 2017. After learning how to assess the credibility and purposes of news sources and scholarly articles, the class developed this guide to help other SCU students evaluate sources they discovered online.
- Verification HandbookThe Verification Handbook is a groundbreaking new resource for journalists and aid responders, which provides step-by-step guidelines for using user-generated content (UGC) during emergencies. While it primarily targets journalists and aid providers, the Handbook can be used by anyone. Its advice and guidance are valuable whether you are a news journalist, citizen reporter, relief responder, volunteer, journalism school student, emergency communication specialist, or an academic researching social media. The Handbook is developed and managed by the European Journalism Centre.
Lists of Fake News Websites
- False, Misleading , Clickbait-y , and Satirical “News” SourcesCompiled by Professor Melissa Zimdars.
- Archived Fake News WebsitesThis is a collection of archived fake news websites, collected by Mark Graham, Director of the Wayback Machine, at the Internet Archive. This collection is based on a "seed" list of URLs from a Google Doc about "False, Misleading, Clickbait-y, and/or Satirical “News” Sources" published on November 18th, 2016, by Melissa Zimdars, an assistant professor of communication and media at Merrimack College.
- Archived Fake News Websites II (2019)Another collection of fake news websites archived by Mark Graham, Director of the Wayback Machine, at the Internet Archive.
Find Real News
- Access World NewsThrough nearly 7000 news sources, find diverse global, local, regional, and national perspectives on topics related to controversial issues, the environment, health, education, science, the arts, literature, business, economics, criminal justice, and more.
- Nexis UniReplaces LexisNexis Academic.
More than 15,000 news, business, and legal sources from LexisNexis—including U.S. Supreme Court decisions dating back to 1790. - San Francisco Chronicle 1865-presentThe San Francisco Chronicle provides researchers and scholars with online, easily-searchable first-hand accounts and unparalleled coverage of the politics, society and events of the San Francisco Bay Area, California, and the world.
- ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times 1851-recentThe historic New York Times provides researchers and scholars with online, easily-searchable first-hand accounts and unparalleled coverage of the politics, society and events of the time. It provides search capability using subject terms and topics for focused and targeted results in combination with searchable full text, full page, and article-level images from the Historical New York Times.
- Ethnic NewsWatchEthnic NewsWatch covers 1990 to present and includes newspapers, magazines, and journals of the ethnic and minority press, providing researchers access to essential, often overlooked perspectives. The publications offer both national and regional coverage
- African American Newspapers 1827-1998African American Newspapers 1827-1998 provides online access to more than 350 U.S. newspapers published by or for African Americans, chronicling a century and a half of the African American experience. This unique collection, which includes historically significant papers from more than 35 states, features many rare 19th-century titles.
- Institute for Nonprofit NewsThe Institute for Nonprofit News' vision is to build a nonprofit news network that ensures all people in every community have access to trusted news. View the interactive map to find member newsrooms across North America.
Journalism Ethics and Standards
- Society of Professional Journalists Code of EthicsMembers of the Society of Professional Journalists believe that public enlightenment is the forerunner of justice and the foundation of democracy. Ethical journalism strives to ensure the free exchange of information that is accurate, fair and thorough. See also a handy collection of codes of ethics from journalism organizations, media outlets, media owners, and journalism groups from around the world.
- Ethical Journalism Network - 5 PrinciplesThe Ethical Journalism Network is a coalition of more than 70 groups of journalists, editors, press owners and media support groups from across the globe. The EJN aims to strengthen the craft of journalism and to promote for the public benefit high ethical standards in media through education, training and publication of useful research. This page from the EJN website lists the core principles of ethical journalism.
- Seven Standards of Quality Journalismfrom the News Literacy Project.
- New York Times Ethical Journalism HandbookA Handbook of Values and Practices for the New York Times News and Editorial Departments
- Codes of Ethics for individual newspapersHandy list of codes of ethics for dozens of newspapers, compiled by the News Leaders Association.
- Understanding BiasBias is one of the most important and controversial concepts in news literacy. This guide from the News Literacy Project explains issues of reader bias and journalistic bias. See also the poster on the 5 Types of Bias.
Test Your Real News Detection Skills
- News Lit Quiz: Is It Legit? Vetting News Sources for CredibilityMany sources compete for attention online, including partisan blogs and bogus sites posing as legitimate news organizations. It can be tough to know what to trust. So, what does “credibility” look like, and how can you recognize it?
- News Lit Quiz: How News Literate Are You?Test your news literacy knowledge with these 12 questions. Brought to you by the News Literacy Project.
- News Lit Quiz: Should You Share It?The best way for you to help reduce misinformation online is to avoid sharing it. But can you tell the difference between social media posts that are false or misleading and those that are credible? This online quiz is brought to you by the News Literacy Project.
- Pew Research Quiz: News Fact or OpinionTest your ability to classify 10 news statements as either factual or opinion. Then see how you did in comparison with a nationally representative group of 5,035 randomly selected U.S. adults surveyed online between February 22 and March 4, 2018.
Fake News Glossary
- confirmation bias: the tendency to believe information is credible if it conforms to the reader’s/viewer’s existing belief system, or not credible if it does not conform
- container collapse: my own term for our trouble discerning the original information container, format or information type–blog, book, pamphlet, government document, chapter, magazine, newspaper, journal, or section of the newspaper or magazine or journal–once publishing cues are removed and every source looks like a digital page or a printout.
- content farm or content mill: a company that employs a staff of freelance writers to create content designed to satisfy search engine retrieval algorithms with the goal of attracting views and advertising revenue.
- echo chamber: “In news media an echo chamber is a metaphorical description of a situation in which information, ideas, or beliefs are amplified or reinforced by transmission and repetition inside an “enclosed” system, where different or competing views are censored, disallowed, or otherwise underrepresented.” (Wikipedia)
- fact checking: the act of verifying assertions either prior to publication or after dissemination of the content
- filter bubble: When search tools present with the stories we are likely to click on or share based on our past activity, potentially affirming our biases, we need may be experiencing what Eli Pariser calls a filter bubble,
- herding phenomenon: as more journalists begin to cover a story, even more journalists are likely to join the herd, imitating the angle the story initially took rather than developing alternate or original approaches or angles.
- native advertising: paid, sponsored content designed to look like the legitimate content produced by the media outlet
- satisficing: a portmanteau of the words satisfy and suffice introduced by Herbert Simon in 1956 to refer to the tendency of people, bounded by time limitations, to select good enough information over optimal information
- triangulation or cross verification: Researchers establish validity by using several research methods and by analyzing and examining multiple perspectives and sources in the hope that diverse viewpoints will can shed greater light on a topic.
- virality: the rapid circulation of media from one user to another. When we forward sensational stories, often from social media without checking their credibility in other sources, we increase their virality.
Excerpted from a blog post by Joyce Valenza, Truth, Truthiness, Triangulation: A News Literacy Toolkit for a "Post-Truth" World.
Recent Articles about Fake News
Tiny number of ‘supersharers’ spread the vast majority of fake news, Kai Kupferschmidt, Science, May 30, 2024.
How misinformation on social media has changed news, Anastasia Micich and R.J. Cross, U.S. PIRG Education Fund, August, 14, 2023.
Recognizing fake news now a required subject in California schools, Carolyn Jones, Cal Matters, November 10, 2023.
You’re more likely to believe fake news shared by someone you barely know than by your best friend, Joshua Benton, NiemanLab, July 18, 2024.
Fake news: Susceptibility, awareness, and solutions, Tiziana Assenza, Alberto Cardaci, Stefanie Huber, VoxEU (CEPR), May 21, 2024