Investigate to discern fact from fiction:

• Step 1 - Study the purpose of the article/information. Does it focus on the facts or does it support hidden motive? Evaluate your own biases and why you may have been drawn to a particular headline or story. What is your interpretation of it? How did you react to it? Does it challenge your assumptions or tell you what you want to hear?
• Step 2 - Analyze how the story is presented. News should be objective and professionally written, not emotionally charged. It should be free from bias (see the Media Bias Charts below for help finding neutral providers of news/information).
• Step 3 - Look up the author. Is the author a real person or credible? Is s/he a professional journalist or in his/her field? Is the author pushing an agenda?
• Step 4 - Assess the story and review the source. Who shared the information with you and where did they get it from? Is this a recent story? Is it up to date and relevant to current events? Has a headline, image or statistic been used out of context?
• Step 5 - Be suspicious and look beyond the headline(s) - read the entire story. Life is rarely black and white, and real news rarely is either.
• Step 6 - Explore different sources (at least 3!). The more high-quality news you get, the more informed you will be and the easier it will be to tell fact from fiction. Credible stories have supporting facts to back up their claims. If there are quotes, are they from experts or links to statistics or studies? Verify that experts are reliable and that links actually support the information.