LibGuides CMS: Identifying Fake News: Home

What is Fake News?

"What is fake news exactly? Fake news is just as it sounds: news that is misleading and not based on fact or, simply put, fake...fake news has the intention of disseminating false information, not for comedy, but for consumption."

— Barbara Alvarez, "Public Libraries in the Age of Fake News." Public Libraries, Nov 2016: 24-7.

What makes it fake?

Fake News - A Real Problem

Fake News is more engaging than Real News! In fact, the chart below demonstrates that fakes news can get more traction than real news. During the 2016 Presidential election, fake news stories on Facebook were viewed 1.4 million times more than real news stories.

Terminology Breakdown

Fake news is the hot topic in the News these days, so what is it? The term is most often used to describe completely fabricated stories, but can also be applied to a broader continuum of news. Many news outlets will exhibit some form of explicit or implicit bias while not falling into the fake news category. Assessing the quality of the content is crucial to understanding whether what you are viewing is true or not.

Fake News: Sources that intentionally fabricate information, disseminate deceptive content, or grossly distort actual news reports.
Satire: Sources that use humor, irony, exaggeration, ridicule, and false information to comment on current events.
Bias: Sources that come from a particular point of view and may rely on propaganda, decontextualized information, and opinions distorted as facts.
Rumor Mill: Sources that traffic in rumors, gossip, innuendo, and unverified claims.
Junk Science: Sources that promote pseudoscience, naturalistic fallacies, and other scientifically dubious claims.
Clickbait: A strategically placed hyperlink designed to drive traffic to sources that provide generally credible content, but use exaggerated, misleading, or questionable headlines, social media descriptions, and/or images.