Birnbaum-Fake News
"Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts."
-Former Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Sensationalized news articles on social media are often "shared" or "retweeted" with out a second thought. This has led to the rise of the "Fake News" or "Alternative Facts" phenomenon. As a result, many social media users are unknowingly contributing to the problem of "Fake News." The underlying commonalities of "Fake News"/misinformation is fear and bias.
Many social media users lack the necessary information literacy skills needed to decipher sensationalized news from reality. Before you share a news article, be sure it passes the CRAAP test.
Requirements:
- Your topic and claim must be approved by Mr. Birnbaum.
- Your paper must be 1,200-1,750 words (5-7 pages) in length.
- Your essay must be in MLA 8 Format including heading, 12-point font, 1 inch margins, double-spacing, last name/page number header, in-text citations, and correctly formatted Works Cited page.
- Please see O.W.L. Purdue University for all formatting concerns.
- You must include a minimum of 6 scholarly texts.
Here is a list of controversial topics that have been associated with "Fake News" and misinformation.
Affordable Care Act
Alt-right
Bitcoin
Black Lives Matter
Confederate memorials
Crytocurrencies
Cuba - U.S. relations
DACA
Electoral College
Environmental Protection Agency
Executive order
Federal interest rates
Flint water crisis
Free speech
Gerrymandering
Hate speech
Health insurance
Hydraulic fracturing (fracking)
Immigration
Iran nuclear deal
White nationalism
Vaccination
UK leaving EU (Brexit)
Travel ban
Transgender rights
Syrian civil war
Sexual harassment
Russian hacking
Refugee crisis
Racism in America
Puerto Rico
Prescription drug addiction
Poverty gap
Political activism
Paris Climate Agreement
No fault insurance
Net neutrality
Minimum wage
Mass incarceration
Lobbying / lobbyists
Affirmative Action
Alternative medicine
America's global influence
Artificial intelligence
Assisted suicide
Atheism
Bilingual education
Biofuels
Bitcoins
Capital punishment
Censorship
Charter schools
Childhood obesity
Climate change
Concealed weapons
Drug legalization
Eating disorders
Extremism
Factory farming
Foreign aid
Fracking
Freedom of speech
Genetic engineering
Hacking
Zero tolerance policies
Women's rights
Violence in the media
Vaccines
Urban agriculture
Title IX
Sweatshops
Stem cells
Standardized testing
Social security
Sex education
Self-driving cars
School uniforms
Racial profiling
Privacy
Outsourcing
Offshore drilling
Organic food
Nuclear energy
Minimum wage
Labor unions
Immigration
Identity theft
Health insurance
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