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Fake News vs. Real News: Check your own claim!

This guide will provide resources and lessons on how to identify fake news and how to look for credible news sites.

Practice makes perfect

Use the tips throughout this guide to check your own claim, or use one of the claims listed below for practice.  Remember, fake news articles may fall under multiple categories and might even mix in a few facts amid their falsehoods.

Things to think about

 

Other tips for fact checking and avoiding fake news

  1. When you open up a news article in your browser, open a second, empty tab.  Use that second window to look up claims, author credentials and organizations that you come across in the article.
  2. Fake news spans across all kinds of media - printed and online articles, podcasts, YouTube videos, radio shows, even still images. 
  3. As Mad-Eye Moody said in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, "Constant Vigilance!"  Always be ready to fact check.
  4. Even the best researchers will be fooled once in a while.  If you find yourself fooled by a fake news story, use your experience as a learning tool.