Research Guides: Research FAQs: What is "Fake News?"

Resources for FACT-CHECKING

Emergent
According to Emergent: "Emergent is a real-time rumor tracker. It's part of a research project with the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University that focuses on how unverified information and rumor are reported in the media."
First Draft News
"Might be my new favorite website, ever. Not only does it include all sorts of categories of “news” but it also includes tools and tutorials for sniffing out hoaxes yourself. Reference collections, student services and even fake news quizzes." -- Julie Smith "11 tools to verify online info"
Google Reverse Image
"This is a fantastic way to determine if old news photos are being re-purposed and turned into political memes" -- Julie Smith "11 tools to verify online info"
Hoax Slayer
About Hoax-Slayer: "Hoax-Slayer debunks email and social media hoaxes, thwarts Internet scammers, combats spam, and educates web users about email, social media, and Internet security issues." - www.hoax-slayer.com/index.html
Page Rank Checker
According to Check Page Rank: "That’s where CheckPageRank.net can come in handy. We are now reporting the open source PageRank number which provides the same simple 1 to 10 ranking that website owners around the world have come to know and trust for years! Plus our new cPR metric will be the latest authority number (0.00 to 10.00) that weighs together other important ranking metrics with our proprietary algorithm, much like Google has been doing, to come up with a number much like what the old PageRank used to be."
Politifact
According to the Politifact site: "Fact-checking journalism is the heart of PolitiFact. Our core principles are independence, transparency, fairness, thorough reporting and clear writing. The reason we publish is to give citizens the information they need to govern themselves in a democracy."
Snopes
From the About Snopes.com: "The Snopes.com web site is (and always has been) a completely independent, self-sufficient entity wholly owned by its operators and funded through advertising revenues. According to Julie Smith (media literacy educator) Snopes is the “The Granddaddy of them All”.
Trends Map
According to Trendsmap: "Trendsmap allows you to explore trends now and from the last week from anywhere in the world." Julie Smith states "Trendsmap Plus is our base subscription product that allows you to explore trends now and from the last week from anywhere in the world."
Verification Junkie
Julie Smith States that Verification Junkie is "an excellent collection of tools put together by my Twitter Brain Crush Josh Stearns. He puts new tools on his site constantly, which means by midnight this blogpost will already be outdated" (11 tools to verify that online info)
Who Is
According to the Domaintools website: "DomainTools helps security analysts turn threat data into threat intelligence. We take indicators from your network, including domains and IPs, and connect them with nearly every active domain on the Internet. Those connections inform risk assessments, help profile attackers, guide online fraud investigations, and map cyber activity to attacker infrastructure."

More Information

National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE)
NAMLE's Mission "NAMLE’s mission is to be the leading voice, convener and resource to foster critical thinking and effective communication for empowered media participation.
We define both education and media broadly. Education includes both formal and informal settings, classrooms and living rooms, in school and after school, anywhere that lifelong learners can be reached. Media includes digital media, computers, video games, radio, television, mobile media, print, and communication technologies that we haven’t even dreamed of yet." -- namle.net/about/vision-mission

Educate Yourself

Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers
"Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers" is a OPEN SOURCE eBook.
written by Michael A. Caulfield.

______________________________________________________________________

Excellent Example of How Internet Algorithms Can Supply Misinformation:

"Google Snippets" from Caulfield's Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers

________________________________________________________________________________

11 Tools to Verify that Online Info - Julie Smith
Julie has been teaching media literacy and media-related classes at the university level since 1997. She holds her B.A. in Public Relations from the University of Tulsa and her M.S. in Mass Communication from Southern Illinois University – Edwardsville. Julie is currently on the faculty at Webster University in St Louis.

Cognitive Bias "Cognitive biases are judgment errors that people commit due to irrational thought processes. Despite the fact that they often produce unfavorable consequences, cognitive biases are considered psychologically satisfying and convenient. Cognitive biases are often difficult to overcome because they help people simplify the world around them." ("Cognitive bias." Salem Press Encyclopedia of Health. Salem Press)

Avoiding Cognitive Bias (© Epigeum Ltd 2012 First published in 2012 by Epigeum Ltd)

Fact-Checking 3 C's

Context, Credibility, Construction (Adapted fom John Spencer's "Problem with Fake News")

Context: When was it written?, Where does it come from?

Credibility: Is there journalistic integrity?, Does the author use credible sources?, Could it be an advertisement? Does the information corroborate with other news stories?, Compare the information to other credible sources.

Construction: Analyze the article. What is the tone, the bias? Is there a distinction between the facts and opinions?

Media Bias Fact-Checking

Media Bias/Fact Check (MBFC News),
"Media Bias/Fact Check (MBFC News), founded in 2015, is an independent online media outlet. MBFC News is dedicated to educating the public on media bias and deceptive news practices" © Media Bias Fact Check, LLC
University of Michigan News Bias
"Unlike many other sites focused on news bias, our mission is not to expose the "Liberal Media" or the "Conservative Media". Our mission is to teach people "the art of reading the news."" - our mission: www.umich.edu/~newsbias
SourceWatch
SourceWatch has a comprehensive list of both conservative and liberal media outlets. Use the search box at the top right to search for "Liberal News Outlets" or "Conservative News Outlets"

Research FAQs: What is "Fake News?"

What is Media Literacy?

Resources for FACT-CHECKING

More Information

Educate Yourself

Fact-Checking 3 C's

Media Bias Fact-Checking