This selected (alphabetical) list is adapted from Stony Brook University's Digital Resources Center Glossary: The Language of News Literacy
Advertising: the act of disseminating information (usually visual) for the purpose of selling products and/or services
Bias: in favor (or against) a particular idea, person, or thing, based on one's personal feelings.
Clickbait: a form of false advertisement whose main purpose is to encourage users to follow a link to a web page. Clickbait often provides links that misrepresent itself and take users to links that generate advertising revenue for the number of clicks received.
Confirmation Bias: The tendency to confirm information based on one's preexisting beliefs.
Fake News: the intentional falsification and fabrication of news-based information with the purpose to harm and deceive people.
Hoax: something intended to deceive or defraud
Parody: any humorous, satirical, or burlesque imitation, as of a person, event, etc.
Propaganda: information deliberately spread to influence or raise awareness to a particular political cause or value position. Propaganda may resemble advertisements since both are highly visual, but propaganda does not engage in selling products or services.
Satire: the use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or humor, in the spread of information.
Melissa Zimdars, an assistant professor of communications and media at Merrimack College, has divided questionable news sources into 4 categories.
The list is in an ever-growing Google doc found here. She makes it clear that her document and list are; based on her opinion, made for educational purposes, not definitive, and not all sources are considered 'fake'.
1. Fake, false, or regularly misleading websites. Some of these websites may rely on “outrage” by using distorted headlines and decontextualized or dubious information in order to generate likes, shares, and profits.
2. Some websites may circulate misleading and/or potentially unreliable information, or present opinion pieces as news.
3. Other websites on this list sometimes use hyperbolic or clickbait-y headlines and/or social media descriptions, but may otherwise circulate reliable and/or verifiable information.
4. Other sources are purposefully fake with the intent of satire/comedy, which can offer important critical commentary on politics and society, but have the potential to be shared as actual/literal news.
Fake news is information posing as news, which has not been verified and is not true. It could be clickbait, rumours, hoaxes, propaganda, or satire. Today fake news is overwhelmingly web-driven, but fake news is nothing new.
Check out this explainer on Fake News and the Spread of Disinformation from Journalist's Resource, from the Harvard Shorenstein Center on Media Politics and Public Policy.
Timeline of Key moments in the latest fake news debate from Claire Wardle at FirstDraftNews. FirstDraftNews works with it's media partners to improve online news verification, reporting and sharing.
2016's top fake news stories were collected by C|net from the fact-checking sites Snopes, Factcheck,org and Politifact.
Who's reading fake news? According to the Jumpshot Tech Blog:
Data on Facebook’s fake news problem, The Jumpshot Tech Blog, Nov. 29, 2016
|
Facebook Twitter Instagram