Social Media And Fake News. How to identify fake news.

It is very difficult to tell what is real and what is fake on social media these days. Fake news is easily spread because sharing on social media sites is so easy and many users tend to not check the source credibility. It is important to understand what the difference between real and fake news looks like.

Real news is credible. It has sources and facts that are supported by research and they are original facts.This news shares both sides of a story and does not include, satire, propaganda, is not coming from a specific political viewpoint, and there are no errors.

Fake news on the other hand is news that includes propaganda, skewed view points, completely untrue stories, can be satirical, and do not necessarily include facts. Fake news attempts to unfairly persuade the public with opinions rather than facts.

When reading articles on social media that are news, it is very important to know the difference between real and fake considering fake news is spread widely and easily without people looking at sources. Make sure to look at the facts give and how they are supported. It is also important that it is not opinion based.

Throughout this story I will share examples of what kinds of fake news is out there so it is easily identifiable when you are looking at news stories and headlines.

In the following tweet, the article gives a lot of factual information but never states sources and is more of an opinion rather than facts. This is news with a point of view, it is biased and there is a strong political viewpoint.

The Onion is a satirical website that puts out only fake news stories. It is completely made up, fabricated, and intended to mislead people. Just off of the quote and picture of this tweet it is obvious it is fake.

These tweets all show fake news in a different light and in a different way. There are many different sources but some of these sources are obviously fake and some are believable. It is important to know that there are many different news sources and stations that may be fabricating news.

Next through a series of images I will also demonstrate how you can tell these are demonstrating fake news.

The following image is visual propaganda aimed at white supremacists and how all people should be equal.

Instead of two political parties helping build a nation and build each other up, they beat each other down. This image show satire, as it is a funny way to portray what is going on. Satire is considered fake news however.

This video demonstrates satire and propaganda. This shows how President Trump is portrayed behind closed doors and that is not necessarily true how he is. This is obviously fake news and not true of how Trump acts. This is an opinion and a view point rather than the truth.

All of these visual elements involve propaganda and politics. These are the most common examples of visual elements. There are tons of other visual elements that portray fake news, however these are easily identifiable and they help show common factors in images that can be fake.

The last piece of evidence is an article from buzzfeednews. Buzzfeed is very recognizable source that many people believe to be true, however their news stories are not always true or accurate.

This article is propaganda. It shows only the good parts about North Korea and portrays it in a positive light and shows everyone is happy and enjoying life. I think that it is also showing good faith error as the journalist may have only been focusing on the good things to show that North Korea is not really so bad.

Overall there are many different types of fake news and news sources. Throughout my story I have share a few common types of fake news and how to identify them. Look for satire, propaganda, false facts, or facts that do not have sources, or sources that are telling a story only based on opinions. Fake news is very prominent on social media these days and it is important to watch out for fake news. It is good for a school purpose when looking for supporting facts or when trying to share news on social media so you do not make a fool out of yourself.

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