Search, fake news and politics - an international study How are people using search, social media and other forms of media to get information about politics, politicians and political issues? Are we right to be worried about the impact search algorithms have on shaping political opinions or about inaccurate, false and politically biased information that distorts public opinion? A study, conducted jointly by researchers from the Oxford Internet Institute (University of Oxford) and the Quello Center (Michigan State University) questioned 14,000 internet users from France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, the UK and the USA about how they used traditional and online media. Search performance has the potential to support or undermine democratic processes. Does search enable citizens to obtain better information about candidates and political issues or does search bias distort search results? The filter bubble issue is overstated The echo chamber issue is overstated We shouldn’t be too concerned about fake news
Lesson Plan: How to Spot Fake News | Channel One News The problem of fake news came to a dizzying head in 2016 when a man fired a shot in a family pizzeria as he “self-investigated” a false report of a child abuse ring led by top democrats. A BuzzFeed report confirmed that fake news stories, such as the one that claimed Hillary Clinton sold arms to ISIS, were actually viewed more times than articles from established and legitimate news sources. Did fake news have an impact on the election? Opening Activity Warm up: Ask students: How do you get your news? Words in the News: Review this word prior to viewing the video. propaganda (noun): Information that is often exaggerated or false and spread for the purpose of benefiting or promoting a specific individual or cause. Heard on the Air: “If we can’t discriminate between serious arguments and propaganda, then we have problems.” Watch Video: “Fake News on Facebook” Discuss Why did people, particularly the teens in Macedonia, create fake news sites? Take a Survey Write
Who Stands Between Fake News and Students? Educators Every week, Dave Stuart hands out a current news article to his world history students so they can digest and evaluate the credibility of the information and its sources. One day this fall, Stuart, now in his tenth year at Cedar Springs High School in Michigan, distributed a couple of stories about the 2016 presidential candidates. In the middle of a uniquely controversial and divisive campaign, it was perhaps inevitable that during the discussion some students would dredge up information that didn’t appear in the articles their teacher had provided. It was quickly apparent, says Stuart, that much of it was untrue and probably gleaned from dubious sources – or peddlers of what has now been famously dubbed “fake news.” Source: Buzzfeed News The conversation in Dave Stuart’s class, however, was focused more on larger questions of how students as news consumers reach conclusions and how they can and should use evidence to support these conclusions. When Information Becomes Polluted
Good Tools for Teaching Students How to Evaluate Web Content Credibility Source: Butler University Library, adapted from Meriam Library at CSU, Chico One of my favorite lessons to teach is about evaluating the credibility of web sites and other digital content. I often start by showing the classic “Can't Lie On The Internet” video from AllState, which gets a laugh and helps to get students in the right mind set. Next, we check out the classic “DHMO” site and talk about what we see there. Another tool I came across recently that I like is this 60 Second Guide for evaluating web resources. There are countless resources on the web for evaluating content credibility, and it is easy to get a bit overwhelmed. The Challenges of Video and Social Media Credibility Another challenge when it comes to evaluating credibility is in regard to video content. Of course, one only has to scan the comments in the video (be warned there are plenty of “NSFS” comments here) to realize that it isn't legitimate, but what about the first viewers, before all those comments were there?
The Smell Test: Educators can counter fake news with information literacy. Here’s how. Illustration by Steve Brodner Discerning fact from fiction in news and online content has never been more challenging. From “pizzagate”—false reports of a child sex ring operating in a DC pizza parlor—and creepy clown attacks to retweeted election headlines touting events that never happened, fake news is rampant. Twenty-three percent of Americans say they have shared fabricated reports, knowingly or not, according to a December Pew Research Center report. Librarians have an opportunity to take leadership in the current crisis. That requires expertise—and perseverance. “Our ‘digital natives’ may be able to flit between Facebook and Twitter while simultaneously uploading a selfie to Instagram and texting a friend,” state the researchers from the Stanford History Education Group. The Stanford team designed assessments that requested students to distinguish between a news item and an ad. Lessons to combat fake news Frank W. Librarians on the front lines Resources and tools Legislation
How to Spot Fake News - FactCheck.org Fake news is nothing new. But bogus stories can reach more people more quickly via social media than what good old-fashioned viral emails could accomplish in years past. Concern about the phenomenon led Facebook and Google to announce that they’ll crack down on fake news sites, restricting their ability to garner ad revenue. Perhaps that could dissipate the amount of malarkey online, though news consumers themselves are the best defense against the spread of misinformation. Not all of the misinformation being passed along online is complete fiction, though some of it is. A lot of these viral claims aren’t “news” at all, but fiction, satire and efforts to fool readers into thinking they’re for real. We’ve long encouraged readers to be skeptical of viral claims, and make good use of the delete key when a chain email hits their inboxes. In 2008, we tried to get readers to rid their inboxes of this kind of garbage. Here’s our advice on how to spot a fake: Consider the source. Check the date.
Battling Fake News in the Classroom In this post-election period, there has been a lot of discussion about fake news, particularly about how it is spread and shared online, and whether it influenced the recent presidential election. On November 22, Stanford University released an influential study showing that middle and high school students—and even some in college—have trouble distinguishing which online resources are credible. The inescapable fact is that young people need to be prepared for the Wild West of information that they live in and will grow up in. It is also imperative that we, as educators, prepare young people for the important job of responsible and informed citizenship. Media Literacy and “Crap Detection” Teaching media literacy is not new, but with the explosion of social media and the lightning speeds at which information is shared, critical evaluation skills have never been more important. The Role of Educators So how can educators address this emerging crisis in digital literacy? What’s Next?
How To Spot Fake News Critical thinking is a key skill in media and information literacy, and the mission of libraries is to educate and advocate its importance. Discussions about fake news has led to a new focus on media literacy more broadly, and the role of libraries and other education institutions in providing this. When Oxford Dictionaries announced post-truth was Word of the Year 2016, we as librarians realise action is needed to educate and advocate for critical thinking – a crucial skill when navigating the information society. IFLA has made this infographic with eight simple steps (based on FactCheck.org’s 2016 article How to Spot Fake News) to discover the verifiability of a given news-piece in front of you. Download the infographic Translations If you would like to translate the infographic into your language, please contact us.
‘Who shared it?’ How Americans decide what news to trust on social media Published 03/20/17 8:00 am This research was conducted by the Media Insight Project — an initiative of the American Press Institute and the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research Introduction When Americans encounter news on social media, how much they trust the content is determined less by who creates the news than by who shares it, according to a new experimental study from the Media Insight Project, a collaboration between the American Press Institute and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Whether readers trust the sharer, indeed, matters more than who produces the article —or even whether the article is produced by a real news organization or a fictional one, the study finds. As social platforms such as Facebook or Twitter become major thoroughfares for news, the news organization that does the original reporting still matters. The identity of the sharer even has an impact on consumers’ impressions of the news brand. Media Insight Project
La Comisión Europea renuncia a la legislación contra las noticias falsas La Comisión se vio obligada a tomar alguna medida contra las injerencias antieuropeas después de constatar la diseminación de noticias falsas en el referéndum del Brexit; las elecciones en Francia y Alemania, y la crisis independentista catalana. La comisaria Gabriel, responsable del área digital, se dio hasta abril para tomar una decisión, después de las insistentes peticiones de otros comisarios, eurodiputados y Gobiernos de países afectados por campañas de desinformación rusas, como las repúblicas bálticas. “Las noticias falsas son un instrumento que los enemigos de la democracia usan para que fracase Europa”, dice una de esas voces que han llamado a la acción, el eurodiputado español Esteban González Pons, del Partido Popular. “Necesitamos una normativa que proteja a la democracia de las noticias falsas. Ningún país podrá luchar contra este problema en solitario, necesitamos una normativa europea”. Las elecciones europeas tendrán lugar en un año.
How to outsmart fake news in your Facebook feed It doesn't have to be this way. Fake news is actually really easy to spot -- if you know how. Consider this your New Media Literacy Guide. 1. Does the story come from a strange URL? Zimdars says sites with strange suffixes like ".co" or ".su," or that are hosted by third party platforms like WordPress should raise a red flag. 2. Mantzarlis says one of the biggest reasons bogus news spreads on Facebook is because people get sucked in by a headline and don't bother to click through. Just this week, several dubious organizations circulated a story about Pepsi CEO Indra Nooyi. However, the articles themselves didn't contain that quote nor evidence that Pepsi's stock saw a significant drop (it didn't). 3. Sometimes legitimate news stories can be twisted and resurrected years after the fact to create a false conflation of events. A blog called Viral Liberty recently reported that Ford had moved production of some of their trucks from Mexico to Ohio because of Donald Trump's election win. 4. 5.
“El ‘Brexit’ no habría sucedido sin Cambridge Analytica” Pregunta. ¿Cuál ha sido su motivación para hablar? Respuesta. Mi intención original era exponer el trabajo de Cambridge Analytica, en parte porque yo ayudé a montarla y tengo una responsabilidad. Si no para corregir lo que ya se ha hecho, pues hay cosas que no pueden deshacerse, al menos para informar a las autoridades y a la gente. P. R. P. R. P. R. P. R. P. R. P. R. P. R. P. R. P. R. P. R. P. R. P. R. P. R. P. R. P. R. P. R. P. R. P. R. P. R. The Honest Truth about Fake News … and How Not to Fall for It (with Lesson Plan) | The Lowdown | KQED News Did you hear that Pope Francis endorsed Donald Trump for president? Or that Hillary Clinton sold weapons to ISIS? Crazy, right? And … 100 percent false. But if you were one of the millions of people drawn to a bogus headline in your Facebook feed — or other social media platform of choice — and found yourself reading an article on what seemed like a legitimate news site (something like, say, The Political Insider, which “reported” the Clinton-ISIS story), then why wouldn’t you believe it? Welcome to the world of “fake news.” Digital deception It comes as little surprise that the web is chock full of commercial click-bait hoaxes: get-rich-quick schemes, free Caribbean cruises, erectile dysfunction treatments … you name it. But as it turns out, the internet is also teeming with bogus information sites that masquerade as real news. Even President Obama weighed in, assailing the rapid accumulation of fake news as a “dust cloud of nonsense.” Fake news, real profit, serious consequences
Las redes rotas de la campaña electoral en México José Antonio Meade fue ovacionado durante más de medio minuto el pasado noviembre cuando el presidente de México, Enrique Peña Nieto, le presentó en el Palacio Nacional como su candidato para sucederle en las elecciones del próximo 1 de julio. En Twitter, los aplausos eran ficticios. Cientos de cuentas tuitearon casi al mismo tiempo @JoseAMEade hasta conseguir que el nombre del candidato del PRI se convirtiera en trending topic, según un análisis del periodista mexicano especializado en redes Alberto Escorcia. Pero según este experto, no es el único. Para los usuarios de redes en el país norteamericano se ha vuelto difícil distinguir entre la conversación política auténtica y la impostada. La creación de portales de noticias falsas, el pago a influencers, las suplantaciones de identidad en la red y el acoso a usuarios son prácticas frecuentes de los partidos, según jóvenes que trabajaron como trolls, analistas y empresarios de marketing político contactados por este diario.