Can you spot fake news? Maybe, as readers this week, you all wondered and clicked through to this article in Monday’s post. Monday’s most clicked article is now Friday’s Feature. Presenting Friday’s Feature article:
Five tips for spotting fake news.
Check it out. Once you have, I’ll throw in a couple more thoughts.
1. What’s the draw to the sensational stuff anyway?
We all read these “Check out what happens when the bride is confronted by her ex at the wedding” type headlines. Are you tempted to click through?
A great question is: why?
As the writer suggested we should guard our anger, we should guard all emotion when scouring the headlines.
2. The best advice here is “wait”.
Of course I write a blog. I try to find well thought out articles to share. I do my best to think and discern before I share someone else’s work. A lot of times the race in media work is to be “first on the scene”. This does not always make a great atmosphere for accuracy.
In many cases things just take time to unfold. Responding and grasping in the heat of the unfolding moment may not always prove best.
Think. Why are we drawn to fake news?
Act. Does this article give you some meaningful skill in discerning things you see online or in the news? It did for me!