Why should you care about whether or not your news is real or fake?
You deserve the truth. You are smart enough to make up your own mind - as long as you have the real facts in front of you. You have every right to be insulted when you read fake news.
Fake news can hurt you, and a lot of other people. Purveyors of fake medical advice like Mercola.com and NaturalNews.com help perpetuate myths like HIV and AIDS aren't related, or that vaccines cause autism. These sites are heavily visited and their lies are dangerous.
Real news can benefit you. If you are writing a research paper, your professor will expect you to vet your sources. If you are planning on voting in an election, you want to read as much good information on a candidate so you can vote for the person who best represents your ideas and beliefs. Fake news will not help you get a good grade or make the world a better place, but real news can.
The Washington Post seeks "to explain difficult issues, provide missing context and provide analysis and explanation of various “code words” used by politicians, diplomats and others to obscure or shade the truth."
A search engine that focuses on statistics and computational data, it can be used to check weather at different locations and times so that the freak snowstorm that was reported can be verified.
From the Annenberg Public Policy Center, FactCheck.org is “a nonpartisan, nonprofit “consumer advocate” for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. We monitor the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews and news release”
Created by the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan, independent and nonprofit organization, this site tracks money "in U.S. politics and its effects on elections and public policy."
Politifact is a division of the Tampa Bay Times. Politifact “fact-checks statements from the White House, Congress, candidates, advocacy groups and more, rating claims for accuracy on our Truth-O-Meter. “ They link to all their sources.
