Why should you care about whether or not your news is real or fake?
You deserve the truth. You are smart enough to make up your own mind--as long as you have the real facts in front of you. You have every right to be insulted when you read fake news because you are, in essence, being treated like an idiot.
Fake news destroys your credibility. If your arguments are built on bad information, it will be much more difficult for people to believe you in the future.
Fake news can hurt you and a lot of other people. Purveyors of fake and misleading medical advice like Mercola.com and NaturalNews.com help perpetuate myths like HIV and AIDS aren't related or that vaccines cause autism. These sites are heavily visited, and their lies are dangerous.
Real news can benefit you. If you want to buy stock in a company, you want to read accurate articles about that company so you can invest wisely. If you are planning on voting in an election, you want to read as much good information on a candidate so you can vote for the person who best represents your ideas and beliefs. Fake news will not help you make money or make the world a better place, but real news can.
Mercola is a doctor of osteopathy who has frequently been targeted by the FDA for promoting false, misleading, and even dangerous medical advice. His site promotes products, and his blog includes false and/or misleading information about medical topics.
This is one of America's premier parodic news sites.
What Can I Do to Avoid Fake News?
Avoid Fake News
Check the source - is it a .com? .org? .edu or .gov? Is the source from a Google search or did you use an academic database?
Use the CRAAP test - Currency, Relevance, Accuracy, Authority and Purpose
Check the claims in the article. Can you follow up with them using reputable sources?
Question everything. Does the site have ads? Is the source from a think tank or nonprofit that has a stake in the subject of the article? What's the author's background?
Check any links in the article. Do they actually lead to information that verifies something in the article?
One of the oldest debunking sites on the Internet, Snopes.com focuses on urban legends, news stories, and memes. They also cite their sources at the end of each debunking.
