Fake News: How to identify and avoid it 

With the rise of the Internet, information of all kinds is more accessible than ever. However, due to the overwhelming amount of information, it is a daunting task to sift through and find the truth. Fake news is seemingly unavoidable and even semi present in some mainstream news media. 

Ms. McDonnell, a guidance counselor at NHS says that research is key. 

“I think the best thing is to do your research and look at both sides of it and do some digging,” she said.

Along with doing research on news sources and looking at different sides of every issue it also pays to wait on hot button news topics to get more concrete information. Also, avoid partisan-biased sources in favor of more balanced and fair ones. 

On top of digging into sources, educating yourself on the news and journalism, in general, is also smart.  This idea was reinforced by Mrs. McGowan, a paraprofessional at NHS.  

“You should educate yourself by reading all kinds of news instead of sticking to the same kind of source,” she said.

Another issue that many run into is "echo chambers" where individuals stick to one group of collaborating sources for their news. This means that readers will never truly understand the other side of an argument or issue. This is a problem since debate and discourse cannot properly happen unless both sides fully understand the argument being presented. 

This sentiment is shared by paraprofessional Alanna Keady.

 “A big problem is that they get in the same circles of news and keep reading the stuff over and over again without understanding the other side,” she said.

Especially in the current toxic political miasma, fake news and misinformation are rife all over both mainstream news and the internet so it is important to understand how to navigate and avoid many, many false news sites. So remember to always dig a bit deeper for the truth.