Finding Credible Sources in These Wild Times We're Living In
 |
| C'mon, you know you'd click. |
*Sigh* where do I even begin? My lecture on credible sources
used to be so succinct and cute. I had a little acronym (courtesy of some awesome
librarians) that helped explain how to tell in an online source was credible.
CRAP. Currency, Relevance/Reliability, Authority/Audience, Purpose/Point of
View. (link for those who want to know more). Sure, the acronym really should’ve
been CRRAAPP, but it was a simpler time.
It can be easy to roll our eyes as our Aunt Kimothy shares yet
another clickbait article about scientists secretly plotting to a coup so that
killer whales can finally take their rightful place as our overlords.
But there
are real, important issues at play here. Fake news, biased articles, and flat-out
propaganda are harder and harder to distinguish from good, fact-based
journalism. Part of this is because of how the internet has evolved. Very few
people get their news from print anymore, so the internet is the place to go.
But the internet doesn’t have to go through fact-checkers, editors, etc.
(although many sites certainly do have stringent editing mechanisms in place).
Also, there is a huge financial incentive for content creators to write
clickbait articles. Some are accurate with clickbait titles like “You’ll Never
Believe What This Ghost Said to Tom Cruise” but some are purposefully inaccurate
in an attempt to get people like Aunt Kimothy to hit the “share” button and spread
that puppy around, generating advertising revenue with each sucker who clicks.
The people behind these types of articles like these Macedonian teens who are
in the game to pay for their guitar equipment or this liberal dude who built a
fake news empire with fake pro-Trump/anti-Hillary content.
We
know that fake news (as in journalism based in falsehoods, not
journalism a certain someone disagrees with) and extreme bias is
everywhere. How do
we sniff out that putrid, stinking rat? (What a gross expression. My
bad!)
Here are four types of sites/articles to keep an eye out for
(courtesy of Dr. Melissa Zimdars):
- “Fake, false, regularly misleading sites” which rely on “outrage” using distorted headlines and decontextualized or dubious information in order to generate likes, shares, and profits” (examples: Politicalo, AmericanNews.com)
- Websites that may circulate misleading and/or potentially unreliable information (examples: ConsciousLifeNews.com, CountdownToZeroTime.com)
- These websites sometimes use clickbait-y headlines and social media descriptions (examples: BipartisanReport.com, TheFreeThoughtProject.com
- Purposefully fake satire/comedy sites that can offer critical commentary on politics and society, but have the potential to be shared as actual/literal news (examples: Christwire.org, TheOnion.com)
 |
| Give them their Pulitzer! |
Here are some tips
for routing out bad info (also courtesy of Dr. Melissa Zimdars):
- Avoid websites that end in “lo” ex: Newslo (above). These sites specialize in taking a piece of accurate information and then packaging that information with other false or misleading “facts.”
- Watch out for websites that end in “.com.co” as they are often fake versions of real news sources.
- Watch out if known/reputable news sites are not also reporting on the story. Sometimes lack of coverage is the result of corporate media bias and other factors, but there should typically be more than one source reporting on a topic or event.
- Odd domain names generally equal odd and rarely truthful news.
- Lack of author attribution may, but not always, signify that the news story is suspect and requires verification.
- Check the “About Us” tab on websites or look up the website on Snopes or Wikipedia for more information about the source.
- If the story makes you REALLY ANGRY it’s probably a good idea to keep reading about the topic via other sources to make sure the story you read wasn’t purposefully trying to make you angry (with potentially misleading or false information) in order to generate shares and ad revenue.
- It’s always best to read multiple sources of information to get a variety of viewpoints and media frames. Some sources not specifically included in this list (although their practices at times may qualify them for addition), such as The Daily Kos and Fox News, vacillate between providing legitimate, problematic, and/or hyperbolic news coverage, requiring readers and viewers to verify and contextualize information with other sources
 |
| Uh oh, she needs step #7! |
So here’s your assignment for this post—copy and paste the
link to a fake news article. It can be as blatant or as camouflaged as you’d
like. Along with the link, I’d like you to provide a paragraph response
explaining how you could tell this source wasn’t legitimate. What about it made
you question its veracity? When you’ve done this, also respond to one other
classmate’s post, adding your take on the linked article they provided. Did you
think it was not credible? Were you fooled?
https://www.clickhole.com/overstepping-her-bounds-j-k-rowling-has-announced-tha-1828826710
ReplyDeleteI read an article from The Onion titled "Overstepping Her Bounds: J.K. Rowling Has Announced That Daenerys From ‘Game Of Thrones’ Has Crohn’s Disease". This article included pictures of tweets from J.K. Rowling's Twitter account. Even though I knew The Onion is a well-known fake news website, this type of headline was not completely unrealistic to me, especially if I didn't know who J.K. Rowling or what Game of Thrones (unlikely as it seems). The tweets in the article made it seem almost believable, but after checking J.K. Rowling's Twitter, I discovered that the tweets were not there. However, considering how tweets can be deleted, the credibility was still up in the air until I searched online and find nothing related to this headline. I ultimately decided that the article was not legitimate.
From first glance I did not consider it credible at all. This is because of a few things, firstly Clickhole is run by the Onion, they have released another article in which they said that JK Rowling revealed that Daniel Radcliff is Chinese, and JK Rowling did not write Game Of Thrones, George RR Martin did which is stated in the article. A combination of these three facts immediately convinced me that this was a fake article.
Deletehaha, that's a funny one.
Deletehttps://politics.theonion.com/trump-regrets-choosing-kavanaugh-after-supreme-court-no-1829335851
ReplyDeleteThe article I read was from The Onion and was titled "Trump Regrets Choosing Kavanaugh After Supreme Court Nominee Keeps Talking About How Much He Respects Women". This article was obviously fake as it is from the Onion which is a known satire site, unless you're one of those people featured on r/atetheonion. Although it is possible that people could view this as a real article as our current president is privy to saying off the cuff thing like this in all seriousness. Also based on his past actions and respect towards women it wouldn't be completely out of left field for him to say something like this. As they do not list their sources as to who quoted Trump a person could also be fooled into believing that he did say that even though that is a hallmark for something being false and made up. Also a person could believe this is true because throughout his hearing for sexual assault Brett Kavanaugh has attested multiple times that he does in fact respect women. Although there are many details that would lead some people to believe that this was a credible article the fact that it was an Onion article and the lack of sources was enough to convince me that it was fake.
I knew this was a fake article from the beginning since it's from The Onion, but I was also able to determine the article's credibility in other ways. There was no source to the "quotes", and there were no other headlines relating to this article (which would be big news if Trump openly stated that he regretted his nomination).
DeleteI know this article is fake because it comes from The Onion, but since I'm not very familiar with politics, I cannot figure out whether this piece of news is partly true or totally fake. For another perspective, I find that I did not hear anything related to this TOPIC from else where , so I believe this is just fake.
DeleteLike others said, I know what type of website The Onion is so I know that the article is fake. However, I agree with what you said about its potential to be a true story, since Trump has said crazy things before. But the article's lack of sources proves that it is definitely fake news.
DeleteThe main reason I know this article is fake, is because it was published by The Onion. This site is known for false stories. Based on the topic it is written on, I am unsure whether I would be able to identify it as a fake news article.
DeleteLike everyone else has said, I knew this was fake because it was handed out by The Onion. The article itself is meant to take a punch at Trump for his supposed support of women; however, he has done little to support women in this country. Instead of listening to what women have to say about potential cases of sexual misconduct, he immediately discredits them as false, especially if they are against him or somebody close to him.
Deletehttps://www.theonion.com/marine-biologists-reveal-that-majority-of-world-s-ocean-1829116291
ReplyDeleteThis is the article I read from The Onion and it is titled "Marine Biologists Reveal That Majority Of World's Oceans Remain Boring As Shit". I think there're two main perspectives to ensure that it's not legitimate. Firstly, We can just tell the article is fake through its title. The title mentions the marine biologists and their opinions toward the ocean, but the attitude of the marine biologists from this title is totally ridiculous, because the ocean and marine lives are the ones that like so much, it's impossible for them to think this way. Secondly, the photo along with the article shows a woman giving some speech. So, it's impossible for any speaker or spokesman to express so many informal and negative words to the public. Then, we can be sure that this is a piece of fake news.
I knew this was a fake article because the negative words in this article were too many. And, to marine biologists, they have ridiculous reviews. This articles had no statistics data to be the proof of the opinions in it. Then, I think this was a fake article.
DeleteI knew this was completely fake because the title of the article is served to make viewers laugh with the negative word. Also by reading through the article, there was no statistical analysis to prove that the water was just wet and dark with just few species. It was more of a way to make fun of those who study the ocean.
DeleteI knew this was a fake one because it is from The Onion with bad title. In addition, there are no solid evidence to prove what author pointed out about ocean organisms.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThe main giveaway that the article is most likely fake (other than being from The Onion) is that is states that marine biologists, i.e. scientists, publicly gave an opinionated and vulgar take on the ocean instead of an objective and empirical take on it. Also, the satire throughout the article is evident and in contrast with any other reports of scientific discoveries by authentic news outlets.
DeleteI knew this was fake because first a serious new article would never be so crass with wording, and it was obviously satire for its short length and sarcastic undertones.
DeleteI believe this article is fake and its contents are not trustworthy. There is no author name and further information about the author. There is also no strong evidence, such as reference and bibliography, to support the claims in the article. Finally, the overall website environment is too bad to believe the contents in it. Besides the article there is advertisement or link to other fake articles. All these three reasons prove that this article is fake.
DeleteI agree with your opinion. This article is probably not credible because of the title and negative words in the paragraphs. Usually academic article are more likely to let readers believe it is true. However many fake information just post to attract readers’ attention.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletehttps://patriothole.clickhole.com/blammo-when-the-bad-man-came-into-the-house-the-gun-w-1828638408
ReplyDeleteI read the article from the Clickhole titled “BLAMMO! When The BAD MAN Came Into The House, The Gun Was Use And It KILL: His Body” The writer showed that the man came into other’s house and kill himself. This article wasn’t legitimate. First, the headline of this article was too “outrage” to attract others and had many words in capitals which showed deliberately. As I knew the Clickhole was a fake news website, and this title was ridiculous to me. In addition, the progress of murder was not easy to know to the public. How the writer in this article could tell us the detailed information about this case? So, I thought this was a fake article.
I agree that this article is very obviously fake. Like you said, the title was very outraged and emotional, more so than an article that is biased but still credible. I was also tipped off by the fact that there was no author, the overuse of capitalization, and the multiple grammatical/spelling errors. Lastly, the website that the article came from is know for its lack of credibility.
DeleteI believe this article is not credible as well. The words are too emotional that meets the number seven criteria. And for title “BLAMMO! When The BAD MAN Came Into The House, The Gun Was Use And It KILL: His Body” it is attracting attention for sure. Lastly, I google the website and it appears that the website is know for incredibility.
DeleteI also agree with you that the article is fake. First, as you say, it is from Clickhole, a well-known fake news website. Also, the title is deliberately to attract readers by using some capitals to stress as well as those words in the article. I also feel the article is written too emotionally, so it is difficult to convince me that is true. All sounds like a fictional story.
DeleteI was fooled by the title because first I did not know the Clickhole is a fake news website, and secondly, I tended to be easily attracted by those outraged and emotional title and description. It would give me a desire to click on. However, after I saw the whole report of this news, I realized it was not a reliable news since it was biased and lacked the author information and was full of capitalization.
DeleteFirst of all, the Clickhole is a famous fake news website. My fake new is also from this website. And for the title of this article, it starts with many Caps letter to attract the attention of the audience. Also, the wording is not quiet formal compared with the real news. It alludes lots of personal perspectives and emotion, which is not trustful.
Deletehttps://www.clickhole.com/end-of-an-era-the-6th-grader-who-wore-the-same-green-d-1829299035
ReplyDeleteI read the article "End Of An Era: The 6th-Grader Who Wore The Same Green Day Shirt From Kohl’s For The First 18 Days Of School Is Finally Wearing Other Clothes Now" and it was clearly fake news. At first I thought that it could be legitimate, but as I kept reading I realized that there is no reason why this article would be written. The first clue was that it was published to The Onion, which we know is not a reliable source to get news from. Secondly, there was no author provided. I also looked up schools in Powell, OH where the article claims the middle school that the sixth grader attended was and did not find the name "Holland Middle School" anywhere. The last thing that helped me identify this article as fake news was the use of profanity. Sometimes profanity is appropriate, but in the case of writing about a sixth grader's choice of clothing at school, it is not fitting at all.
This article is definitely satirical. It is possible that some middle school kid somewhere wore the same shirt to school every day, but that doesn't deserve a whole article about it. Anything from clickhole is definitely meant as a joke. It's cool that you were able to verify that they made up the details with your research.
Deletehttps://sports.theonion.com/matthew-berry-admits-he-just-drafts-fantasy-players-who-1828974061
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, the most obvious evidence why it is not credible is the website itself. I have google the website and it is listed as one of the eye drawing website that use incredible source to attract attention. The other thing is how dramatic the expression which is another signal of questionable source. And there was no evidence or logical analysis, just words which I find not trust worthy at all.
I do not think this article is credible as well. This is because no author attribution list. In addition, there is a lack of evidence. This news provided some speaking sentences of Berry, but no more analysis. Also, it is not credible to believe the speaking really come from Berry himself.
Deletehttps://local.theonion.com/toddlers-debate-whether-dora-s-explorer-girls-canon-o-1829301702
ReplyDeleteThis article clearly is not legitimate for a few reasons. First of all, the Onion is one of the more well-known "fake news" websites, so I'm familiar with their type of news. Second, the article itself was pretty hard to believe, since the quotes from the toddlers contained words that a toddler would definitely not know. Also, the quote had some profanity in it, which stuck out to me since the article was focused on toddlers.
https://www.clickhole.com/champion-of-animal-rights-peta-s-new-ad-campaign-featu-1828826566
ReplyDeleteThe article I read from Clickhole is titled “Champion Of Animal Rights: PETA’s New Ad Campaign Features A Naked Bill Gates Begging People Not To Wear A Trench Coat Made Out Of Worms.” There are several evidences to identify that it is not legitimate. First, this news is on the Onion, a well-known fake news website, even though it has potentially to be the real news. Second, if an ad borrows the picture of naked Bill Gates, it will definitely be a big news and will be spread on every news website. However, I have only found similar news on this website and another website using the link of this one. It is very strange if this news is true. Also, the content is doubtful. There is no credible evidence to say Bill Gates having a standing against “animal cruelty.” Therefore, I feel it is a fake news.
I think so. They borrowed pictures of Bill Gates naked in order to get more attention then more people will click on their links. And they didn't provide any more evidence about the story, all the information was being reported in a way that was very compelling.
Deletehttps://politics.theonion.com/white-house-raises-official-hurricane-florence-death-to-1829114814
ReplyDeleteThe article I read was from The Onion website and was titled "White House Raises Official Hurricane Florence Death Toll To -17." In fact, the title itself was not convincing at all and the onion is a well-known fake fake news website. The articles on that website critic the news and government action. The article mentioned "Thanks to President Trump’s incredible hurricane response team, the population of North and South Carolina is actually skyrocketing, with over a dozen people being born, spontaneously generating, or being resurrected,” said White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders," which is a little bit funny and people could easily know this news was not true. After checking the real situation of the hurricane which caused severe damage and tens of death, consider the information was not reliable at all.
It is funny. Also, it doesn't have author's name in the article this is another factor to see that it is a false news.
DeleteThis article is clearly fake. The first way to tell (ignoring the obvious) is that when you google statistics on Hurricane Maria, over 3,000 people were killed. Assuming this hurricane was just as bad more than 17 people would have been killed. It is obvious that this article is making fun of the trump administration by saying they have helped to resurrect people.
Deletehttps://sports.theonion.com/shohei-ohtani-regrets-not-researching-which-teams-were-1828835846
ReplyDeleteThe article I read from the onion is that Shohei Ohtani Regrets Not Researching Which Teams Were Good Before Signing With Angels. I'm a huge fan of Baseball. When I read this article, I was wondering that the player in the team disregard his team when he was a player in the team? So, I searched other credible source at MLB official home page. There are no result about it. So, I think that this article is not credible.
https://www.theonion.com/coca-cola-may-move-into-marijuana-products-1829466912
ReplyDeleteIt said that Coca-Cola may move into marijuana products. This is a fake news. It's not legitimate. Firstly, the article is from the Onion that is one of the most well-known "fake news" websites. Secondly, Coca-Cola is a famous company in the world.It is impossible for it to sell illegal things like marijuana products.
I think it might be true since I've heard this news from many different media. Meanwhile, marijuana is legal in some states such as Califorlia
Deletehttps://www.clickhole.com/stunning-revelation-a-10-year-sleep-study-at-princeton-1826974121
ReplyDeleteThe article that I read from the clickhole is titled that "Stunning Revelation: A 10-Year Sleep Study At Princeton Has Revealed That Dreaming Is Your Brain’s Way Of Thinking About Weird Stuff". Following the several points of fake news, there is a lack of author's attribution. Secondly, I cannot find other articles or data to prove the stuff in this article. The actual result is very complex, and depend on the mental conditions of different people. There is no evidence that is provided in the article as well. Thus, I do not think it is a credible news.
The title was what first cued me that this was not a credible source. This is because they used the term "weird stuff" in reference to a science paper's reason that we sleep. This term didn't seem very scientific to me. When reading the article they made many claims about sleep that I knew to be false which makes me think that this article is purposefully false as a joke.
Deletehttp://christwire.org/2017/06/poor-people-dont-need-blue-cross-insurance-they-only-need-true-cross-insurance/
ReplyDeleteI read a article called “poor people do not need blue cross insurance, they only need true cross insurance”. it mention that the "senate prepares to repeal ObamaCara and prayer is more powerful and affordable health insurance for poor people than any commercial insurance plans” when I saw this sentence, I make sure that is incredible. A country cannot change its policies because the poor afford it and I do not believe that prayer is more useful than insurance. Even the poor may not be able to afford insurance, but I believe the government will solve the problem for them. After all, when you get sick, health care will probably save you a lot of money. I was surprised at this fake article.
https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/111642/trump-donates-400000-military-cemeteries/
ReplyDeleteThis article is about how President Trump donated his entire annual salary of $400,000 to repair military cemeteries. This seemed very far-fetched and ridiculous, and I hadn't heard about anything like that before (if it were true it would be really big news). The article was also very short, not backed up by any credible sites, and proven to be fake by snopes.com. In reality President Trump did donate some money to the Department of Veteran's Affairs, but not his whole salary.
Thanks for not picking an Onion/Clickhole article!
Deletehttps://worldtruth.tv/7-inspirational-stories-of-people-who-beat-their-cancer-with-cannabis-oil/
ReplyDeleteThe article is talking about a product called cannabis oil which can heal the cancer. And there are seven people who 'recover' from the cancers thanks to this oil. The whole article only uses several paragraphs talking about how the oil is speaded by the inventer. There's no infomation about the ingredients of the oil, how it works and even no bibligraphys.
I was not fooled by this article. The idea that canabis oil cures cancer is ridiculous, and if it was true it would definitely be covered more in the news. I am also suspicious that the authors of this article did not cite any sources. If it was true, the active ingredient that combated cancer would be discussed more.
DeleteBrandon Harroff
https://www.theonion.com/paper-towels-on-amazon-surge-to-2-000-a-roll-after-cri-1829471349
ReplyDeleteThis article is about the increase of amazon workers' pay and the repercussions of it. Because Amazon workers are now required to get paid a living wage, the price of amazon items has increased. The article at one point talks about how sponges are only as cheap as they are because of the low pay. This article is clearly fake as paper towels would never be $2,000. If more proof is needed, then it is easily able to look up on Amazon and see.
Alicia Cox
I believe this is a fake news since it is from the Onion news website. It is ridiculous that the price of the items would increased to 2000 dollars because of raising the worker's salary.
Deletehttps://sports.theonion.com/emotional-le-veon-bell-reveals-holdout-a-result-of-forg-1829143303
ReplyDeleteThis article is talking about the reason why Pittsburgh Steelers RB, Leveon Bell, is absent from his team. The whole article was definitely fake because they said the reason for this was that he "forgot how to run", which does not make absolute sense. The whole article just makes up quotes of his reasoning such as "everytime I run, I end up tripping...", etc which does not make sense. Also, it said that he was committed to meeting with a movement specialist. All these statements weren't cited with sources and in reality, his holdout was due to the contract issues with him and the Steelers organization.
I also agree that this article seems completely fake. Like you said, there are no sources that are supporting these claims. If a doctor was quoted, this would make the article seem slightly more believable. Also, this is a big controversy on why he hasn't been playing, so it would be easy to look around at other websites and see if this same story was posted several times by other sources that seemed credible. The story also doesn't make much sense at all for someone who has been an athlete their whole life and in professional sports to just become scared and forget how to run.
Deletehttps://www.theonion.com/cure-for-cancer-only-10-years-away-announce-scientists-1829469200
ReplyDeleteThis article is called, "Cure for Cancer Only 10 Years Away, Announce Scientists Who Work Better Under a Deadline." This short article is about an announcement made by scientists stating that they will find a cure for cancer in 10 years, and that setting this deadline will push them to make sure that it is done. They state that they need to be reminded in 5 years to be sure to be on track to finding the cure. This article stands out as fake to me because it is not probable that scientists will be able to find a cure to cancer just because they have stated a deadline for themselves when this has been a major issue for years and years. These scientists are clearly not credible and this source would not be something that could be used to state to anyone that cancer will most definitely have a cure in 10 years. They said that as soon as the press conference was over, they would be purely focused on this task, as if this deadline is the only thing pushing them to do so.
I believe it is total fake news to catch our eyes. First of all, these scientist cannot prove that they can find the cure in 10 years. They have no way to prove that they can cure for cancer unless they already did. They may just want to catch people's eyes or attract attention to get investment.
Deleteeverything posted on the onion is fake news, but that is the point of the website. They make headlines so outrageous that it makes you laugh. the only way people get tricked into believing anything written by the onion, is if they only read head lines. the sad truth is that a lot of people do that and they take everything they see on the internet as truth if it is written by a new company.
Deletehttps://www.theonion.com/paper-towels-on-amazon-surge-to-2-000-a-roll-after-cri-1829471349
ReplyDeleteThe title of article is Paper Towels On Amazon Surge To $2,000 A Roll After Crippling Cost Increase Of Paying Workers A Living Wage. Obviously, it is a totally fake article. First of all, the article is from the onion where is full of fake articles. Secondly, the article just mentioned the cost of workers living wage is increasing but there is no solid evidence that why the price of paper towels should increase to compensate this cost. In addition, if you search paper towels on Amazon, 12 rolls sell for 27 dollars. XD
I could tell right away that this article was fake because it comes across as being very sarcastic. This is one of the first major increases in pay at such a large company, it would make sense for the article to focus on the impact that this would have on the workers and their families. Additionally, all of the quotes about the increases in prices of everyday household objects were not cited, so the reader was unable to go and check the facts behind the article.
DeleteActually, I know it's fake news once I saw the url you posted. The website "The onion" is full of fake news, and I am wondering do the ever posted some real news? I think we'd better not read articles in this website.
Deletehttps://politics.theonion.com/white-house-raises-official-hurricane-florence-death-to-1829114814
ReplyDeleteThis article is about the hurricane relief efforts in North and South Carolina. The article is called "White House Raises Official Hurricane Florence Death Toll To -17". You can tell that this article is fake just from the title because a hurricane cannot actually bring people back to life. Additionally, other news stations have reported fatalities due to the hurricane, so other sources can confirm that this information is not correct. The article goes on to mock President Trump's comments about how great of an effort the relief teams have made in the effective states.
I don't think this is a fake news because the article says that there are a dozen of new born and makes the population of North and South Carolina increase. There is no evidence shows that the article says that the hurricane bring people back to life.
Deletehttps://www.theonion.com/elon-musk-forced-to-step-down-as-tesla-chairman-1829448486
ReplyDeleteI read a article from the onion and it says that Elon Musk, the chairman of the Tesla was forced to step down. However, though he got pressure from many people, there is no judgement that has has to abdicate from the chairman of Tesla been made. This is a fake news and it may appear because of Elon Musk indeed were faced with the threaten of being fired by the board of directors.
Actually, Elon Musk WAS forced to step down as chairman of Tesla and pay a $20 million fine for securities fraud. That part is not fake news, and it was widely reported by reputable sites like the Washington Post and the NY Times. The part of the Onion article that was fake was the "comments" on the announcement.
Deletehttps://politics.theonion.com/white-house-corrects-transcript-to-add-few-more-insults-1829471451
ReplyDeleteThis article reported that the white house had to correct their official transcript to add more insults pertaining to one of ABC's news reporters. The initial headline seems reasonable but after a couple sentences I quickly realized that this was not a true news story. What initially made me questions the articles validity was when it stated that the revision was made because the President's comments about the reporters appearance and physical figure weren't accurately reflected, I found this to an absurd thing for the white house to say.
I’m fooled lol actually. i read the article for the first time and don’t find anything not correct. However you are correct, the White House can never say hose foolish words to public.
Deletehttps://www.vice.com/en_us/article/5g988q/could-we-all-soon-be-taking-the-limitless-pill-modafinil-study-drug-britain-universities-working-culture
ReplyDeleteThis article talks about a limitless pill that works better than Adderall and Ritalin. First off, when I saw the article was on vice, I got suspicious. Also, the fact that the pill in the article is named after a tv show/movie shows that this might not be a legitimate article. A legitimate scientific article would not refer to the drug as "the limitless pill." Finally, the article used quotes and statistics that seemed absolutely ridiculous. At one point the article claimed that 1 in 4 students had tried this drug, and that is definitely not true. Overall, this article is obviously fake.
Brandon Harroff
Actually this article is not fake. The drug it refers to is modafinil, which is a real prescription drug. Calling it a "limitless pill" may be hyperbole, but the drug is real and the Vice article links to more information about it in the Telegraph, which is a reputable, mainstream UK newspaper. A quick google of the names of the experts quoted in the article shows that they really are professors/researchers at Oxford and Cambridge Universities, and the quote about "1 in 4" students having tried modafinil comes from a study at Oxford, where students can apparently buy the pills for about $3 each.
DeleteYeah, Vice is a legit publication (Elle Reeve did pretty groundbreaking work for them at the Charlottesville riot).
Deletehttps://www.clickhole.com/4-so-called-advanced-civilizations-that-couldn-t-even-f-1829297776
ReplyDeleteThis article is from the famous fake news website Clickhole, which is titled with "4 So-Called Advanced Civilizations That Couldn’t Even Fucking Invent Soda" . The title is definitely exaggerating the fact. And the author introduces four civilization that includes The Mayans, The Ancient Greeks, The Indus Valley civilization, The Han Dynasty. It is said that soda is the only way to prove whether the Dynasty is called advanced. Therefore, the article is totally fake.
http://www.abcnews.live/2018/09/30/breaking-senate-investigators-reveal-sick-contents-of-white-envelope/
ReplyDeleteThis article is on a fake news site that mimics ABC News by using the URL abcnews.live. It claims that a woman who was acting as an agent of the Deep State was caught trying to bribe a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. The article includes fabricated quotes from Sarah Sanders, "Senator Lawrence Bertinerny," and "Senator Art Tubolls." There are no Senators with those names, which are quite obviously fake: the name "Art Tubolls" shows up frequently in fake news stories (it's an anagram of Busta Troll), and "Sen. Bertinerny" is an obvious reference to Bert and Ernie. This website also includes a story claiming that left-wing protestors vandalized Kavanaugh's house, causing $11,000 in damage. Although that story is also obviously fake, it was apparently shared quite widely on social media, to the extent that Snopes had to debunk it.
I think it’s very interesting to see that such an obvious fake news artical has been circulated and shared. I think it would be even more interesting to see the demographic of people who viewed it and shared it. As a generation that has (almost) grown up with computers and the internet, we are better equipped to spot fake news articals (at least I hope). I’m assuming that most of the people that have shared this artical are older generations who are maybe not as well versed in fake news articals as we are.
DeleteTricky!
Deletehttps://sports.theonion.com/emotional-le-veon-bell-reveals-holdout-a-result-of-forg-1829143303
ReplyDeleteMy article is from the Onion, titled "Emotional Le’Veon Bell Reveals Holdout A Result Of Forgetting How To Run" . Outside of being from the Onion, a well known satirical news site, the glaring absurdism in the title is the first giveaway to this article being a false news report. Usually, when athletes have been away from a sport from a long time, they may lose some polish on the particular physical fundamentals of that sport, but to forget how to run is outlandish. The article also states that Bell, who was holding out from the Pittsburgh Steelers on returning to football, held out not because of money, but because he "forgot how to move forward rapidly." This comment was not stated in his recent press conference at all by any other sources such as ESPN and other news outlets. Also, the comment is very tongue-in-cheek as he is trying to move forward from the situation, but the Onion article presents it as he is trying to literally move forward rapidly, as in run. The tongue-in-cheek theme continues as he is falsely reported as saying “I want to be out there competing with my teammates, but every time I try to run, I end up tripping, walking backwards, or just spinning in circles." Though this is stated literally, it is meant to symbolize him "spinning in circles" on whether or not he should return to the Steelers, but is stated as if its based on him solely running. Overall, though the story in and of itself is fake, it is a form of creative writing which colorfully portrays a narrative in a humorous way.
https://jezebel.com/the-sacred-union-of-bieber-and-baldwin-is-legally-seale-1829483851
ReplyDeleteI found my article on The Onion and it is titled "The Sacred Union of Bieber and Baldwin is Legally Sealed." First I knew it was fake because is from The Onion and that in itself is known as a very non credible website. This article states all their "news" as facts and does nothing to back it up with other sources. They even say they know details of their prenup agreement which in no way has been released to the public. The use a Bieber instagram post for the main support, but if someone actually reads it the paragraph is about their wedding announcement. It was very fake.
https://www.theonion.com/cure-for-cancer-only-10-years-away-announce-scientists-1829469200
ReplyDeleteThe headline of this artical lead me to think it was real until I saw “who work better under a deadline”. This sarcasm lead to some doubt about the validity of the content. Likewise, there are other factors that lead to the knowledge that this is a fake artical. First, The Onion is a well known fake knees website. Simpling browsing the content on the page shows that there are no legitamite articals with credible sources. There is even one artical where they claimed to have interviewed God himself ( I reccomend checking it out, it’s really funny). However, even disregarding the fact that this artical came from the Onion, there is no credible sources for this artical. There is only one scientists name mentioned (Hana Ward) who when searched on google only brings up results of a famous artist. Within the artical, there are no embedded citations, and there is annotated bibliography at the end of the paper. There is also no hyperlink leading to where they found the information
Atena Baghbanian
https://consciouslifenews.com/looks-sounds-like-when-thousands-amazon-workers-learn-won-15-hour/11161439/
ReplyDeletei found the article from the conscious life news website. The main content of the article is talking about the CEO of Amazon raised the minimum wage to 15 dollars per hour, and it should be encouraged by the government. I know it’s fake because even kid knows the amazon workers’ wages are more than 15 dollar per hour. And during the Vedio it post on the website, people under are all wearing very formally, which this policy should face more likely lower rank workers. Another point which is suspected is there too many positive words to the CEO of Amazon, which makes me feel unreal for the news.
Amazon did just raise their minimum wage to $15 an hour, which was widely reported in the mainstream news, and the video included in the article really was posted by Amazon's Senior VP Dave Clark and was retweeted by Bernie Sanders. None of it is fake.
DeleteYeah, programmers/upper level admin at Amazon certainly make more than $15 an hour, but this raise refers to the workers doing the shipping and warehouse work (often in really poor working conditions).
Deletehttp://politicot.com/donald-trump-promises-stop-crazy-muslims-north-korea/
ReplyDeleteI find this article from the website, Politicalo. The name of the article is Donald Trump Promises To Stop “The Crazy Muslims From North Korea”. The Politicalo is a website that know as fake news. Like the blog mentioned above, the name, Politicalo, is end of lo, so the article from it may be fake. Also, the contend of the article is confused because some information for it is extreme and have obvious bias.
https://consciouslifenews.com/five-seemingly-ordinary-foods-incredibly-healing/11117538/
ReplyDeleteI read an article which called these “These Five Seemingly Ordinary Foods Are Incredibly Healing”. In this article, the author introduce five food such as parsley about their healing properties. It seems a scientific article, but the author do not provide any evidence about the their healing properties. For example, the author try to say parsley is good especially at pulling heavy metals out of the body. Nevertheless, the author use his personal experience and the advice of doctor as evidence which is not valid. I can tell that this article is totally fake.
This is one of the better examples I've seen posted! While most people are choosing satirical articles that are more obvious, this is one where students might actually fall into the trap of using it as a factual article. It is important to be prepared to notice the details that you mentioned to see that it doesn't have any factual evidence except for indirect advice that you can't even confirm took place.
Deletehttps://www.clickhole.com/medical-crisis-george-h-w-bush-has-been-rushed-to-the-1828715524
ReplyDeleteI read the article, “Medical Crisis: George H.W. Bush Has Been Rushed to The Hospital For Emergency Lip Gigantification Surgery”, this article is clearly fake. Even in the title it includes a fake work, gigantification, that is a hint that this article was not credible. The topic obviously leads the reader to believe it is a fake news story, since there is no credibility behind the former president, who is currently 94 years old, getting lip fillers. This article was found on the site Click Hole, which it very well known for publishing fake news stories, this article is definitely one of them. There was not a single thing about this article that could be perceived as true, I knew it was a fake news article as soon as I saw the title.
https://www.clickhole.com/7-things-to-know-before-taking-your-first-shit-1828869494
ReplyDeleteThis article is about human excretion. The topic could be a little bit disgusting, but it will not prevent me to show that it is a fake article full of wrong and ridiculous ideas. First, for this article there is no author name and link to further information about the author. Without the credibility to author there is no credibility to the article. Second, some claims in this article are totally opposite to common sense, even widely accepted facts. Moreover, there is no evidences such as reference or bibliography to support them. Finally, there is little discussion on the topic. Besides the article is full of advertisement or other trustworthy articles. The overall website environment prove itself that its articles is fake.
This article did not fool me. It was so over the top and just using common sense, did not seem legit. As Zhi said, there were no sources, no author name or bibliography. The artcile lacked credibility and intelligence.
Deletehttps://www.clickhole.com/tom-hanks-what-1829447439
ReplyDeleteThis is an article from click hole, a satire site that I would say is a little less known about than The Onion. They actually set out with the intent of fooling you until you click on the article. For instance, this article comes up as "Tom Hanks WHAT?!", with just a picture of Tom Hanks. One could assume this could contain something he actually said or did. While these sorts of sites are more obvious, I think people can still be fooled by sites where they may not be blatantly false joke articles, but are either very biased or unreliable. It is important to check the website, as well as the author and publisher.
I would say I was not fooled by this article; the title is obviously clickbait. The actual post contains a quote attributed to him, and a head shot. There are no details regarding anything else about this quote, making it pretty suspicious.
Deletehttps://politics.theonion.com/chuck-grassley-scratches-christine-blasey-s-a-slut-in-1829460008
ReplyDeleteThis title screams FAKE NEWS. It just is absurd and very fake, found on The Onion. It baffles me that people would see this article and possibly think its true. It starts with a photograph of a senator writing derogatory things about women on the bathroom stall. It is very fake because there would not be graffiti on the senate bathroom wall. It is important to check the source of information, but also, use common sense and realize when things sound crazy.
https://www.theonion.com/cure-for-cancer-only-10-years-away-announce-scientists-1829469200
ReplyDeleteThe article I choose is retrieved from the onion website. This article talks about an announcement by some scientists that they will find a way to eradicate a certain cancer in 10 years. Actually I always believe this kind of information isn’t credible since these news are more likely just a attraction news for readers. Besides, no one can exactly assume what will happen in the future especially the science development. So these are the reason why I consider this is a fake news.
If I saw this article, I would be fooled by the title because curing cancer is a very hot topic whenever new developments are made. However, the article states that Harvard researchers are prone to procrastinating and need to schedule a date as a goal so they won’t procrastinate curing cancer. This information is just too silly to be reality and also recognizing the onion website as one of the biggest satire website made it easier to realize it wasn’t real news.
DeleteBrianna Lewis
I was fooled by the title at first, because I am a chemistry and I am taking biology, I know that cure cancer is a very popular topic and there are many great scientists are working on it. However, after reading the article, I realized that it is totally a fake news. It said that researcher ar Harvard university set a deadline for themselves to force them find ways to cure cancer, that is too ridiculous and silly. But for people who don’t read the article, they may share this passage because of its title.
Deletehttps://entertainment.theonion.com/what-you-need-to-know-about-taylor-swift-1819594209
ReplyDeleteI could tell this source was fake because the answers to the questions were outrageous false and the website (theonion.com) was listed as a satire website in the blog. The title of the article is actually something you would commonly see on factual articles about Taylor Swift or other celebrities that step back into the spotlight. However the content inside the article definitely discredits it because the answers to every question about Taylor Swift are incorrect. I think this could be shared by people who didn’t read the whole article and spread around as false info or as a joke very easily.
Brianna Lewis
https://sports.theonion.com/matthew-berry-admits-he-just-drafts-fantasy-players-who-1828974061
ReplyDeleteThe title of this news is "Matthew Berry Admits He Just Drafts Fantasy Players Whose Names He Recognizes". The author tries to criticize Matthew Berry and it's completely a piece of fake news. First of all, the author try to make readers get angry and mislead the readers. Also, the article is very short, and it's not written by professional journalist. What's more, I searched Matthew Berry in Google. There's no other information like this article stated.
https://www.theonion.com/god-admits-there-was-probably-a-better-way-of-giving-hu-1829492107
ReplyDeleteI knew that this article was fake due to the fact that it came from The Onion, a known source of fake news. However, if a reader did not know that The Onion was fake, then they could read the article and also see that it is fake; in the article, God claims that he probably shouldn’t have made drugs so addictive. If God was real, then wouldn’t credible news stories all over the world would be reporting on it? Also, there are many offhandedly jokes throughout the entire article, and overall it is written to sound fake - though could potentially be deceptive depending on the person reading it.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/flat-earthers-conspire-to-change-the-world-at-convention-in-birmingham-mz0qzzjpr
ReplyDeleteI can tell this article is not credible for a number of reasons. First off, it ends in ".co". As stated above this is one of the dead giveaways that the article is not credible. Also the publisher is called "The Times". This is clearly a stunt to get people to associate it with "The New York Times". And lastly, this article is about something that has been scientifically debunked many times over, flat earth. A credible news source has not and will not publish an article trying to convince people of something that is scientifically ignorant. For those reasons, this article is not credible.
I think that the website is legit because all the commercial websites in the UK end with .co.uk you can check out amazon.co.uk is the British Amazon website. The website maintains a secure encrypted link, so it has to be legit. As far as the article goes, I don't have access to read the whole article because I have not subscribed to the times. Moreover, the Times is a reputable international print media house.
DeleteThat article is on the website of The Times, which is one of the most respected newspapers in the world, and all commercial websites in the UK end with .co.uk. Also the article is not trying to convince people the world is flat, it's reporting on a meeting of crazy people that do think it's flat.
DeleteGood catch, Yatin and Henry. I can see why the URL would look suspicious, but that's a legitimate publication with a non-US URL which is why it looks odd.
Deletehttps://beforeitsnews.com/v3/alternative/2018/3638712.html
ReplyDeleteI checked the security certificates of the website, and my internet browser is showing that the connection is not secure, this is the first hint that I got, then I checked for the cookies that the website is accessing, and the adds that the website is displaying, any legitimate website won't show an advertisement for a shady game or have a section dedicated to 'from the internet' or 'trending today'. The UX and the colour scheme also looks unprofessional and of course the title, The Event Coming Soon: They are Preparing Us for the Prince of Darkness, and the Rising Beast System (Video) is the biggest giveaway. I always approach any article on the internet with a neutral mindset and then use multiple sources to check the legitimacy of the website and the article,
https://www.theonion.com/bill-gates-offering-1-million-to-anyone-who-can-design-1829496936
ReplyDeleteI find the news titled "Bill Gates Offering $1 Million To Anyone Who Can Design Condom He Can’t Break" from the Onion news website. I believe it is absolutely a satire and very fake. I never seen this news on other website. It is talked about that Bill Gates is gonna reward one million dollars to the people who can design the condom he wants. This is ridiculous, and I don't think anyone would believe this news since they read the title.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2018/10/01/violent-video-games-tie-physical-aggression-confirmed-study/1486188002/
ReplyDeleteThis article comes from a fairly trustworthy news site (USA today), but they use click bait to spread false information. Their title states that "Study confirms link between violent video games and physical aggression", they then do and dissect the scientific article and use it to support their title. in the beginning they make it seem like there is a huge difference between playing violent video games and not playing them when it comes to aggression. near the end of the article they admit that the researcher paper concluded that there was a small difference between gamers and non gamers, but stated it was still statistically reliable. which makes it seem like a kinda of large percentage still without stating the percentage. when I went to read the article for myself I found that there was only a difference of 0.8 percent.
Good job breaking down a clickbait headline into what the information/data is actually saying.
Deletehttps://politics.theonion.com/senate-republicans-seek-to-delay-kavanaugh-vote-until-a-1829114212
ReplyDeleteOnce I saw that the source of this post was the Onion, I knew it was satirical piece. The headline, "Senate Republicans Seek To Delay Kavanaugh Vote Until Accuser Properly Smeared," while it looks like that to people, no news station would ever print that headline. Though deeper in the article, it quotes a Republican Senator saying that they plan to drag Kavanaugh's accuser through the mud. No politician would openly say that, whether their actions are perceived to be that or not. Again the last sentence shows that this article isn't factual by stating that Kavanaugh will be confirmed whether or whether not he is found to be guilty of sexual assault. This just simply wouldn't be the case. Also, another indicator that it is a fake news story is that no other news sites are using these quotes.
Well everyone, I guess I'm going to have to ban Onion/Clickhole articles next semester, haha!
ReplyDelete