Sometimes, fake news is neither malicious nor even intentional - it’s just bad journalism. Facebook groups are incredibly prone to the echo chamber effect. Popular tweets or threads can provide insight and show how others have developed their views, but avoid “echo chambers,” or groups with a predefined ideological leaning. So don’t let your guard down.īe skeptical of what you see on social media.
Even then, plenty of supposedly neutral, reliable sites may have highly biased writers on staff. Trustworthy news sources usually provide a balanced account of the facts, especially when taken together. So what do you do when you encounter stories with this kind of framing? The words looting and finding each tell a different story.
The way a story is framed affects how audiences perceive the story. Here’s an example from Hurricane Katrina: The distinction between propaganda and biased news comes down to how much misinformation is present and how heavily the writer’s personal opinions are baked into the article.īut commentary isn’t the only thing that can make news biased: phrasing and context can also warp how a real-life story is perceived. Political bias in news outlets is so common that it can be tracked and graphed.īiased news and propaganda can distort facts, present information that reinforces false views, or provide speculative commentary. Some news sources have a clear ideological leaning. It’s easier to detect fake news when you’re open to new ideas. To identify propaganda you need to understand your own biases and recognize when they’re being used against you. This is known as confirmation bias - when we choose to consume information that confirms the beliefs we already hold. Modern propaganda seeks to validate pre-existing beliefs and spur action from the people who already agree with it. A scientist makes an isolated observation, and the writer follows up by saying, “See? Case closed.” Readers will fall for the author’s confidence and share the article without a second thought. Propaganda may contain a fact or two, but these facts are merely an introduction to an emotional plea. Since fake news is so easy to make and can be tricky to catch, propaganda like this has become a cornerstone of modern politics. Propaganda is where a writer strategically tries to convincingly frame a bad political argument. It’s safer to avoid clickbait altogether, unless you’re protected by a powerful antivirus like AVG AntiVirus FREE.
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This man is actually a professional zoologist who’d been working with this lion for years.Ĭlickbait articles can be used by hackers and in phishing attacks to trick you into visiting malicious websites that can infect your device with malware or collect your personal data.
Every website wants to encourage clicks, but clickbait does so through deception, sensationalism, or both. Clickbait will say and show anything to get you to click. ClickbaitĬlickbait exists for one reason: to be clicked on. So it’s crucial to critically evaluate everything you see on the internet. Most deepfakes fall into the “uncanny valley,” a term that describes how digital videos (or robots) become deeply unsettling as they grow more realistic.Īnd as technology improves, there’s no telling how convincing deepfakes may become in a few years.
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The newest type of fake news, deepfakes superimpose somebody’s face or head onto another person’s body in full live-action video, making it possible to create a video of anyone doing or saying anything. Here are some common types of fake news stories so you can better spot them. Some of them are harmless, while others can be used to push destructive conspiracy theories. You can learn to recognize fake news by familiarizing yourself with examples of fake news stories. The creators of fake news pieces intentionally play up the emotional appeal of their stories to encourage impulsive sharing and discussion. Excited readers then share the post without double-checking the source. It’s easy to cherry-pick a few facts from a story and construct an emotional narrative.