Approach the Content Objectively

The News Literacy Project offers insight into how we can better recognize fake news. This involves three steps that help guide us toward a critical evaluation of the material.

Be aware of your emotions. Do you immediately want to share, or amplify the story?
Pause before sharing.
Decide if the material is one of the following:
1. User-generated content
2. An unfamiliar organization or source
3. A recognized standards-based news source

Check with the Fact-Checkers

Harness the power, reputation, journalism, investigation, and collections of daily fact-checking organizations. These sites are powered by, sometimes, nonpartisan organizations and are often affiliated with universities and non-profit organizations. While there are partisan and for-profit fact-check organizations, we will only list those that are largely nonpartisan and nonprofit to help provide you with objective fact check options.

PolitiFact
- “PolitiFact is a nonpartisan fact-checking website to sort out the truth in American politics. PolitiFact was created by the Tampa Bay Times, a Florida newspaper, in 2007. In 2018, PolitiFact was acquired by the Poynter Institute, a nonprofit school for journalists” (Politifact.com, 2020)
Snopes
- “When misinformation obscures the truth and readers do not know what to trust, Snopes.com’s fact checking and original, investigative reporting lights the way to evidence-based and contextualized analysis. We always document our sources, so readers are empowered to do independent research and make up their own minds. Snopes got its start in 1994, investigating urban legends, hoaxes, and folklore. Snopes.com is an independent publication owned by Snopes Media Group” (Snopes.com, 2020)
Washington Post's Fact Checker
- "The purpose of this Web site, and an accompanying column in the Sunday print edition of The Washington Post, is to “truth squad” the statements of political figures regarding issues of great importance, be they national, international or local" (Kessler, 2017)
org
- “We are a nonpartisan, nonprofit “consumer advocate” for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. We monitor the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews, and news releases. Our goal is to apply the best practices of both journalism and scholarship, and to increase public knowledge and understanding” (FactCheck.org, 2020).
org
- “Our OpenSecrets News features news breaking original reporting about money-in-politics, including the sort of investigative work that won the Society of Professional Journalists' 2013 award for Public Service in Online Journalism. As a 501(c)3 tax-exempt, charitable organization, the Center relies on financial support from a combination of institutional grants, individual contributions and income earned from custom research and licensing data for commercial use” (OpenSecrets.org, 2020)
Duke Reporters' Lab: Fact Checking
- “The Reporters’ Lab is a center for journalism research in the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University. Our core projects focus on fact-checking, but we also do occasional research about trust in the news media and other topics” (Duke Report's Lab, 2014)
AllSides’ Headline Roundups
- Finally, keep your eye on the headlines of the day, which AllSides features from the left, right, and center. Keeping your pulse on the going-ons in the world can prepare you to spot ridiculous headlines, outlandish updates, and incendiary Facebook and Twitter posts that might prey on the les-informed for an audience (AllSides, 2020).