Media Literacy

What is Fake News?

There are four broad categories of fake news, according to media professor Melissa Zimdars of Merrimack College:

Fake, false, or regularly misleading websites that are shared on Facebook and social media. Some of these websites may rely on “outrage” by using distorted headlines and decontextualized or dubious information in order to generate likes, shares, and profits.

Ex. PizzaGate

Websites that may circulate misleading and/or potentially unreliable information.

Ex. Goop (Google for access)

Websites that sometimes use clickbait-y headlines and social media descriptions.

Ex. You Won't Believe How These 9 Shocking Clickbaits Work

Satire/comedy sites, which can offer important critical commentary on politics and society, but have the potential to be shared as actual/literal news.

Ex. The Onion

From: http://libguides.columbiasc.edu/fakenews/intro

Fake News is Not new

Three Historical Examples of "Fake News"History is littered with examples where the the facts were altered to suit a specific purpose. Here are three instances where falsified public accounts were used to chart the course of history

How Do you evaluate News Articles?

How fake news can spread?

How to Choose Your News?

5 Ways to Spot Fake News

Media Bias Chart

Created to help evaluate the bias in various news sources so people can make informed choices about from they are getting their news.

Click on the picture to view the interactive version of the chart.

All Sides

AllSides empowers readers to understand the role media bias plays in the news and information consumed. While there is no such thing as unbiased news, hidden media bias, misleads, manipulates and divides people.

Click on the picture to view their site.

Critical Media Project

Critical Media Project (CMP) is a free media literacy web resource for educators and students (ages 8-21) that enhances young people’s critical thinking and empathy, and builds on their capacities to advocate for change around questions of identity. CMP has a two-fold mission:

To raise critical awareness and provide the tools to decode media representations of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, socio-economic class, religion, age, and disability, and develop an understanding as to how these identities intersect
To encourage and offer guidance for students to tell their own stories, create their own representations, and uphold their status as active and engaged participants in civic society.

Click below to review their resources and check out their Critical Makers Lab.