Test Yourself
How good are you at identifying fake news? Here's a game from the American University Game Lab. It presents an article, and you must determine if it's real or fake. It gives you an option to see the source before deciding. Ready to try?
Should You Share?
Play a game that tests your sense of whether information is legit and should be shared or questionable and should be skipped.
Tips to consider
What to do:
-
Read/watch/listen very widely.
-
Some generally reliable sources are (may require a subscription for access to all content; most available in some format through Pace University Libraries): The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, The Atlantic, Al Jazeera, National Public Radio, The Christian Science Monitor , PBS NewsHour, The Economist, The Pew Research Center, Democracy Now, as well as various local sources.
-
Recognize that even typically reliable sources, whether mainstream or alternative, corporate or nonprofit, rely on particular media frames to report stories and select stories based on different notions of newsworthiness.
-
Be critical of the sources we share and engage with on social media.
What to avoid:
- “Fake, false, regularly misleading sites” which rely on “outrage” using distorted headlines and decontextualized or dubious information in order to generate likes, shares, and profits” (examples: Politicalo, AmericanNews.com)
-
Websites that may circulate misleading and/or potentially unreliable information (examples: ConsciousLifeNews.com, CountdownToZeroTime.com)
-
These websites sometimes use clickbait-y headlines and social media descriptions (examples: BipartisanReport.com, TheFreeThoughtProject.com)
-
Purposefully fake satire/comedy sites that can offer critical commentary on politics and society, but have the potential to be shared as actual/literal news (examples: Christwire.org, TheOnion.com)