1. THE NEWS
W H AT ' S R E A L , W H AT ' S FA K E , A N D H O W TO T E L L
T H E M A PA R T

2. FANBOY
Abraham Lincoln, a huge
social media lover,
reminds everyone that
while the internet is a
great tool, you need to
be smart when searching
for information.

3. WHAT IS FAKE NEWS?
•Fake news is created with the intention of
fooling a person. Usually (but not always), the
creator of the fake news does this by playing on
a person's BIAS. Bias is a belief that is not
based on facts.

4. FAKE NEWS ISN’T A NEW PROBLEM

5. TRUTH, OPINION, OR FAKE?
• Truth in news is something that can be verified by multiple sources
Ex: GMO foods currently cannot qualify for the USDA organic seal.
• Opinion is what you believe, but can't necessarily be proven.
Ex: Organic food is healthier than non-organic foods.
• Fake news is something that has no (or very little) basis in reality, but is trying to
appear factual.
Ex: GMO foods are the reason that students do poorly on standardized
testing.

6. IS MAINSTREAM MEDIA (CNN) FAKE NEWS??

7. WHAT MAKES FOR A GOOD NEWS
SITE?
• Is the site (or magazine, book, etc.) trying to convince you of something?
• Do they list their sources as more than just "a study shows"? Who did the
study? Where? How was the poll/experiment/research conducted?
• Who published the site? Is it a .gov, .org, .edu, .net, or .com? Do they have links to
where they obtained their information? And do the links go to the site that's
mentioned or is it faked?
• REMEMBER, LOTS OF THINGS CAN BE FAKED – PICTURES, WEBSITES, STUDIES, AND
VIDEOS INCLUDED!

8. WHAT DO THE ENDINGS ON WEBSITES
MEAN?
• .COM or .NET = ANYONE CAN PUBLISH ON THESE SITES
• .ORG = ANY ORGANIZATION, THESE CAN BE FOR PROFIT OR NON-PROFIT.
• .EDU = ANY EDUCATIONAL GROUP (SCHOOL DISTRICTS, UNIVERSITIES, ETC)
• .GOV = GOVERNMENT SITE
• ** ANY OTHER ENDING MEANS THAT THE SITE IS FROM A DIFFERENT COUNTRY
(amazon.com vs amazon.co.uk - American Amazon vs UK Amazon)

9. NEWS SOURCE COMPARISON
TRY THESE
VOX
The New York Times
The Guardian
USA Today
Wall Street Journal
NPR
Associated Press
NOT THESE
Breitbart
The Blaze
Info Wars
Addicting Info
The Onion
McSweenys
Natural News

10. CHECK YOUR INFORMATION

11. LET’S LOOK AT AN EXAMPLE…
• Compare The National Report and Slate. One of these has a bias, and one of these is
fake news. Can you spot the difference? Here are some of their article titles.
– Why did Mar-a-Lago disappear from Trip Advisor?
– Punxsutawney Phil predicts four more years of snowflakes
– Trump to limit all intelligence briefings to 140 characters or less
– Nick Cannon quits America’s Got Talent over accused censorship
– Chuck Norris, Scott Baio turned down Trump administration roles, insiders say

12. EXAMPLE ARTICLES
• From Slate (bias, not fake)
– Why did Mar-a-Lago disappear from
Trip Advisor?
– Nick Cannon quits America’s Got
Talent over accused censorship
• From National Report (fake)
– Punxsutawney Phil predicts four more
years of snowflakes
– Trump to limit all intelligence briefings
to 140 characters or less
– Chuck Norris, Scott Baio turned down
Trump administration roles, insiders
say

13. HOW DO YOU VERIFY?
• Your mission, if you choose to accept it (and you do), is to pick one of the REAL stories
that was listed on the previous slide, and research it to determine how much is
accurate and how the bias may affect the wording. Try using some websites including
well-known news outlets, FactCheck.org, and Snopes.
The Times of London

14. SOCIAL MEDIA
REMEMBER: GETTING
INFORMATION FROM
SOCIAL MEDIA (TWITTER,
FACEBOOK, ETC) IS OK IF
YOU READ THE ARTICLE
CRITICALLY AND/OR
FOLLOW REPUTABLE
SOURCES!!
JUST BECAUSE IT’S ON
FACEBOOK THOUGH
DOESN’T MAKE IT TRUE!