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FAKE NEWS vs. REAL NEWS: How to Determine the Reliability of Sources

Learn about the credibility of news.

LibGuide Authors

This LibGuide was created by Ann Grandmaison and Susan Leonardi, Reference Librarians, Northern Essex Community College, Haverhill and Lawrence MA, used with permission of the original authors, and adapted for Pierce College.​

FAKE NEWS vs. REAL NEWS

 

Fake Videos

Nearly all of us have been taken in by a video that was later found to have been doctored or faked. Click below to see some of the most famous faked videos that fooled millions:

These Viral Videos Were Fake?!

Some tips to help you tell if a video is fake:

The Physics of Fake Videos

Tracker: The Free Video Analysis Tool

How to Verify YouTube Videos

What is Fake News?

What actually is Fake News

Though this term has been politicized, fake news is a real problem and represents information that is completely fabricated. There may be bias in mainstream news sources, but this is not the same as intentionally presenting false information.

Image and text from Sarah Lawrence College

Quick guide to popular sources

Where information comes from is important. No news site is unbiased, but some do a better job of trying to balance facts and opinions. 

Where do you get your information? See below for Vanessa Otero's (practicing patent attorney) opinion of where news sources fell on a continuum from liberal (left side of the chart) to conservative (right side of the chart) in 2016.

How did she decide where to place each news source in this chart? Find out about her methodology on her website. See Vanessa Otero's most up to date chart.

Otero's graphic representation of news media-conservative to liberal

How to Spot Fake News

In a Huffington Post story entitled How to Recognize a Fake News Story dated Nov. 22, 2016, the author (Nick Robins-Early) lists nine critical thinking points to consider when examining news stories.

How to Recognize a Fake News Story