10/23 Misinformation and Disinformation
What we will do:
Questions from last week (Explore the world)
See discussion board
Presentation: Misinformation and Disinformation
Group activity: Class on Checkology
Homework:
Review lesson
Study images
Watch videos
View resources at end
Use discussion board to share insights
Pulled from the news: Comment on one of the following news items in this week's news which has to do with misinformation
In Class and Homework activity
We are testing out a new tool, a lesson online on misinformation, offered through Checkology. We will do this in class. After class, you can return and try the conspiracy theories lesson.
After class activities for misinformation
Be a digital detective to check for misinformation
What is Misinformation? Disinformation?
Misinformation
Misinformation is the act of sharing information without recognizing it is wrong.
Disinformation
Disinformation is the deliberate creation and/or sharing of false information in order to mislead. The difference is Intent.
Why do people promote misinformation or disinformation?
Fulfill a social agenda
Earn advertising revenue
Misinfo_inBrief_NNLW.pdfLearn more
Video:
A primer to identify real vs fake news.
Video:
How an 18 year old disrupted the US election. Why advertising continued. Why it was allowed to go forward.
Video:
How does misinformation spread through social media?
Types of misinformation or disinformation
Propaganda: Stories that are created to deliberately mislead audiences, promote biased point of view or particular cause or agenda
Satire and Parody: Lots of websites and social media accounts publish fake news for entertainment and parody. (Examples, The Onion, Waterford Whispers, The Daily Mash)
Misleading headings or content: Sensational headings can result in stories that spread quickly on social media where only headlines and small snippets of the full article are displayed.
Biased/Slanted news: Stories that confirm your own beliefs and biases. Our news feeds tend to display news and articles that we might like, based on our personalized searches. May not be entirely true or entirely fake.
Imposter content: Some websites will try to confuse readers into thinking they are online outlets of traditional or mainstream media sources. They may have a similar name or logo, but are not the same. It is difficult to see who owns them.
Fabricated content: New content that is 100% false, designed to deceive and do harm. Used during elections. Can involve payment for others to create fabricated content.
a. Clickbait: Stories deliberately fabricated to gain website visitors and increase advertising revenue for websites. Use sensationalist headlines and the words shocking, amazing, unbelievable or you won’t believe what happened next. Can involve celebrities or mysterious stories. May challenge your IQ or guess your personality type based on what you eat (drink, wear, your pets, etc.).
b. Fabricated content is more interesting. And deceiving. According to Pew, about 1 in 4 reported sharing fabricated news, whether aware at the time or not.
Where to find reputable news sites: An online tool
Best sites for news
The best news sites are those with high levels of truth and low levels of bias. Newspapers, magazines and news sites which are Pulitzer Prize publications include Associated Press, Center for Public Integrity, Chicago Tribune, Reuters, The New York times, The New Yorker, the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post.
News sites and online news magazines are less likely to have fake news, although they may be biased. If a source is reliable, they will let you know their point of view.
To clearn things up, you can check your sources for truth and bias on the Media Bias/Fact Check site. (https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/) This site analyzes websites, using a rating system to determine media and truth.
Media Bias/Fact Check
View Interactive chart which outlines facts and bias on a number of publications. Note that results are found by taking one story and evaluating it. As a result, some ratings may change periodically. Click here for an interactive view of this chart.
After going to the site online, look at some of your trusted news sources. Are you surprised?
Tips to tell if information is correct:
• Check the source: Do you recognize the website, is the source reliable, can you find more about the author?
• Go beyond the headline: Read the entire story, as sometimes they use sensational headings to grab attention. Be wary of headlines in all caps and using exclamation points. Look at the quotes. Are they from professionals (academics, experts)? Double check their credentials using Google search
• Check other sources: Is anyone else reporting on this? Are there sources in the story? Are they reliable? Do they even exist?
• Check the facts: Check when article was published; is it current, or an old news story?
• Check your own biases: Are your own views and beliefs affecting your opinion of a news feature or report?
Is your source biased? This interactive site will give you some insight on the source. https://www.adfontesmedia.com/interactive-media-bias-chart#GOIMBC
• Check the website: Many people have trouble recognizing sites that are satire. Satire sites include The Onion and ClickHole. Check the About Us section, which should tell you about the company that runs it, the members and mission statement.
You can also use this tool to determine the validity of the information.
Additional Tools to evaluate a news article or source
What makes a site reputable?
Publication reputation and/or bias: Well balanced, factual and fair
Relies on facts: Doesn’t appeal to emotion, but actual facts readily available and verified
Cites sources: Provides links or citations for sources
Not unique: Can be confirmed by other reputable sources
Is that footage from Ukraine current?
What are some of the misinformation claims regarding Ukraine? Let's see some of them from BBC.
Images: Are they real? Are they current? Do they represent this crisis?
Misleading videos: Is the video related to the current situation?
Deep fake video: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky telling his countrymen to surrender to Russia. Deep Fake!
Fact checking sites
There are a number of ways that you can check the accuracy on a site. Some options:
Snopes (snopes.com)
Hoax-slyer (hoax-slyer.net)
PolitiFact (politifact.com)
Fact Check (factcheck.org)
OpenSecrets (opensecrets.org)
That’s Fake (thatsfake.com)
Resource: Have you seen anything unusual lately? This Gallery of Fake Viral Images might bring back some memories.
Resource: The world's most famous myths. Which do you believe?
Other tools for checking for accuracy:
Check the comments on social media. Are they questioning the legitimacy of the news?
Reverse image search. If there is a picture on a potentially fake news site, do a reverse image search. Use Google image to help. To access Google Image search, go to www.google.com/images. Click on the little camera icon on the right of the search bar, next to the microphone. You will be prompted either to enter the URL of a photo you've found online or to upload a photo from your computer. Then your results will appear. Often you'll be able to get additional information about when and where the photo first appeared, along with the people who appear in the photo, if they're well-known. OR, try TinEye, which can be used as a browser attachment for a quick search.
Additional resources
There are so many online tools to help you spot the fake news. Too bad there is still so much of it. See if you can become an expert (or at least learn a little more!)
Resource: This 38 page document was created by an college instructor for her students. The best part of it is the exhaustive list of fake news websites. Very useful tool!
Website: Is it possible to put words into someone else's mouth? This webpage (and video) by computer scientists demonstrate how easy it is.
Tutorial: Short introduction to Fake news on GCFLearnFree
Tutorial: Short introduction to Trolling and Trolls on GCFLEarnFree.
Website: From NPR, study reviewed sharing of real and fake news on Facebook and Twitter.
Website: One teacher has visited 81 school to spread fake news and then tell the students that it was fake. Interesting!
beyond-fake-news_COLOUR_WEB.pdfWorksheet_-_CRAAP_Test_and_Rubric_v2.pdfMore resources
SHEG Evaluating Information Online.pdfCombattingmisinformation.pdf