“Fake news!” is the frequent frustrating chant we, in my business, hear too often.
Often, the allegation comes from people who disagree with or choose not to believe verified news reports. Sometimes, cries of “fake news” come from people actually in the news story who, for obvious reasons, might be attempting to discredit news reports about them.
Other times, journalists are accused of fake news because we’ve made honest mistakes that could be construed as “fake” because, well, it is. That is, incorrect information has been reported unintentionally. When that happens reputable news organizations, like this one, admit the mistake and publish a correction immediately.
But in the world we live in, “fake news” perhaps most often shows up on social media posts. It spreads swiftly, not because people are intentionally attempting to disseminate untruths, but because the story is usually so outrageous or sensational that people, who accept it as accurate, just want to share it.
The Associated Press provides a weekly “AP Fact Check” item examining false news claims widely reported, mostly on social media, and debunking them.
Fake news stories spread incredibly fast across social media, but please, don’t believe everything you read — especially on social media. The best way to verify accuracy of what you read is to go to reputable news sources, look for attribution to reliable sources in the story and seek out balance from both sides of an issue.
But what if information on social...
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