It’s pretty overwhelming how fake news can instantly proliferate and deceive people all over the globe nowadays.
We can all become victims of fake news.
There must be some means to distinguish a real news from a fake one. We need to be more discerning and careful, especially if what we read has a huge impact on us and in our society.
So how can we know if it’s a fake news or not?
Well, here are some tips on how to determine a real news from a not-at-all real news.
Find out its author or check the website if it’s reliable.
If the author is a blogger who belongs to let’s say, a particular political party, then we can be sure that it’s fake news. This is most especially true when the article is meant to promote the blogger’s political party. What’s more, it intends to tarnish the reputation of another political party.
Also, check the information on its website. Check who or what the site is all about, its purpose or its nature. Through this, we’ll have an idea if the author has some motives. Determine also if the motives are malicious or in bad taste.
The issue is not being featured by reliable journalists or sources.
First and foremost, make sure that we only follow reliable and long-standing news media or online sites. If the author is the only one publishing about it, yet the news is so big, then we can be sure it’s fake news.
The story is meant to cause public outrage, sadness, disturbance, amazement or divisiveness.
It can be that the author has really written a story that’s meant to affect millions or even billions of people all over the world. The problem with this type of news is that it triggers us to emotionally react to the issue without thinking of the consequences.
Determine first if the news deserves an emotional response from us. Make sure that it isn’t just wishing to get reactions that will make us decide in haste and be sorry later for that reaction.
There are no solid bases or facts to support that the story is true.
Bloggers and authors can just write whatever they want to blog and write. So a fake news can be easily written and published. But we can make our own research and ask these questions: Does the issue has solid information or facts that can be immediately seen by the readers? Are the data being presented reliable? Have they included a source for the data which we could review or analyze?
The last thing we want is to be deceived by misleading news, especially on the internet. So always find the time to check if the author, the website and the story itself is real or not.
