The proliferation and flourishing of ?Äúfake news?Äù in recent months has been a social media phenomenon never seen before to this extent.
Anyone using Facebook, in particular, has seen stories with an eye-grabbing photo and wild headline that was shared by a friend. A quick skim of the story and it seems to be something worth sharing: either people need to know this, or you like what you think it says. So you click ?ÄúShare?Äù and all your friends see it. They do the same thing: see, skim, share.
There?Äôs one major problem with that, though: often times the story itself is fake, totally made-up. Anyone can create a real-looking news website in an hour or less. Photos can be ?Äúborrowed?Äù and used at will (illegally, but who checks?). Get it out on Facebook and leave the rest of us gullibles to spread it like wildfire.
Sometimes, it?Äôs just a stupid story that seems too strange to be true, but we share it anyway.
Too often, though, it?Äôs something hurtful, harmful, intentionally malevolent. Celebrities are falsely proclaimed dead, politicians falsely accused of crimes, neighbors ?Äúindicted by social media?Äù of things they never did.
A quick check of CNN or BBC or your favorite ?Äúreal?Äù news site can quickly confirm. If the Pope really was assassinated this morning by a drug lord on the streets of Rome, it would be top and center of every legitimate news site.
Sadly, there?Äôs been a bumper crop of fake news stories spreading like a plague on social media in the past year.
Bring on the most controversial and high-stakes election in recent history, and hundreds of new fake news sites have popped up. Each site creating and spreading stories that are intentionally false and often hurtful. Because they can. They make money on every click, every reader who falls for the wild headline and feels an obligation to click and read the story. Advertisers pay money to reach their audience, for more readers?Äô eyes to see their ads. Motivation is pure greed or, even worse, muckracking and spreading malicious lies.
And what did readers do? Some checked snopes.com and commented that the story was a hoax or fake. Then people started responding that snopes.com was part of the conspiracy. (sigh)
Conspiracy theories are everywhere. I don?Äôt remember any other era in my lifetime when there seemed to be a conspiracy behind just about everything. (Granted, I don?Äôt remember much at the time of John F. Kennedy?Äôs assassination, but I don?Äôt think even that compares to today.)
Everybody has an ?Äúagenda,?Äù it seems. There are the expected conservative and liberal agendas, but throw in some others: every religion, nationality, skin color, gender, and profession seems to have an agenda, and there?Äôs a conspiracy behind each agenda.
Come on, let?Äôs get real. Do ?Äúthey?Äù (whoever ?Äúthey?Äù are) really think we are that gullible and easily manipulated? Apparently yes.
Topping the whole list these days is the ?Äúmedia agenda.?Äù First off, there is no ?Äúmedia?Äù as a body, acting in unison. But somehow, we ?Äúthe media?Äù are controlling everything; every thing. But that?Äôs another story for another day.
This weekend, someone didn?Äôt just ?Äúshare?Äù a fake news story; he acted on it. Believing the totally false and unfounded ?Äúpizzagate?Äù conspiracy floating around on the Internet, he drove six hours and walked into a business with an assault rifle. Fortunately, no one was injured when he shot inside the restaurant, and he was arrested. This time.
So please, before you share some story that you think your friends ?Äúneed to see,?Äù check it out first. I?Äôve shared some tips on how to do that in the cut-out at left. Failing any one of these seven tips could mean that the story is a hoax, and at the least it shouldn?Äôt be shared. Let it stop with you.
To paraphrase Smokey the Bear, ?ÄúOnly YOU can prevent a media fire.?Äù
We here at the Tri-County News (and so many other community newspapers) work very hard to do our jobs ethically, and to earn your trust. We truly appreciate your support, each and every day. After all, we are here for YOU.
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Tips to recognize ?Äúfake news?Äù when you see it
(or How to fact-check what you read online)
1. Know the source. Check the URL. Legitimate news sources will have recognizable URL addresses, like cnn.com or abcnews.com or wcco.com (and not cnn.com.co or some other weird name). A quick search at whois.net will tell you when the domain was purchased originally; if it?Äôs a site that just popped up recently, beware!
2. Read the ?ÄúAbout?Äù tab at the news site (often at the top or bottom of each page). This should state who owns it, who the staff are, what their mission is, a physical address for their office, and how to contact them. If this is missing or hidden, beware! They are not taking responsibility for what they put out there.
3. Who wrote the story? If it?Äôs good enough to put their name on it, it can be checked. Google their name and see what other stories are attributed to them (and how ?Äúnewsworthy?Äù they may be). If there?Äôs no author?Äôs name, it doesn?Äôt have a lot of credibility now, does it?
4. What sources do they use? If it?Äôs truly a ground-breaking, heavy piece, they should use several different sources, and quote them. Any quotes can easily be checked with Google, and the higher the source the easier to verify. Does this story name names and quote quotes? These can be verified.
5. Check the image in the news story. Does it state who took the photo (and where and when)? From the Chrome browser, right-click on the image and choose ?ÄúSearch Google for Image.?Äù Where did it originate? Where else is it being used (and are they legitimate sites)? Google will try to identify the photo, too.
6. Is it a parody news site? Onion.com and others only do parody news stories, and their websites state such. Look at the other stories on the site and if they?Äôre all off-the-wall, then so is the one you?Äôre reading, most likely.
7. Read the comments below the story. If some cry ?Äúfake,?Äù then beware! A glance at the fans of the story (what they say and how they say it) can sometimes give you more insight than the story itself.