What Is Fake News?

We are in a new dark age of intellectual dishonesty where people seek out opinions they agree with rather than hard truths. I went to college for Communication, News writing and Broadcasting and journalistic integrity has always been of tantamount importance to me as anything when reporting a story. Some people don't know the difference between opinion and fact, sure. But, what's even more horrifying is the amount of people who get fake news from the deepest recesses of the Internet and share them multiple times with no backing or source information. I saw a woman post today a 4chan meme and present it as fact about Black Lives Matter. I saw another that I traced back to a Russian Troll Twitter account. If you don't know the source.. Ask yourself why?! Here're some rules I came up with to help you identify whether or not you are being misled.

#1 Take Care Before you hit Share.

Make sure this is a trusted site and the person that created the news item is properly identified. If it seems to outrageous or "too good" to be true. It probably is. If it's an image (like the rape victim you've been besmirching and claiming she was a victim of George Floyd) do a google image search or check out tineye.com and do a reverse image search. I'm the case of the rape victim, it took 35 seconds to identify the picture as a fake from a Spanish news article from 2018.

If you've never heard of a website or person reporting, you're not "digging deep" to "find the truth" you're looking for any narrative that will confirm your biases. You are scouring the Internet to confirm your conspiracy theories. Do you really think that you have this incredible ability to find "The truth" that others in your peer group don't have or are you just gullible? If you're so adept at "finding the truth" why can't you take 2 minutes to confirm the story by searching for corroborating evidence?

Does it make sense or does it incense?

I want you to vet your news sites. Fox news has been caught in the last 2 days doctoring images to make the Seattle occupation seem violent. If you think that 'only one news agency is telling the truth" do you maybe think the reason for that is they're the ones doing is misleading? OANN has been caught interviewing people with fake names, making up details and one of OAN's reporters, Kristian Brunovich Rouz, simultaneously works for the Russian propaganda outlet and news agency Sputnik, which is state-owned; when Rouz runs favorable segments on OAN that relate to Russia, OAN does not disclose that he also works for Sputnik. Where are you really getting your information? The Kremlin?

For God's sakes, check your dates.

This is an easy one. Check the date and byline of the story you are sharing. If there is no date or byline, why? If it's unsourced, why? If it's 'something you found by digging', why is it not a bigger story if its true? Many stories and images are published from years ago with false details and fake pictures. The story about George Floyd "pointing a gun at a pregnant woman" not only is her name made up in those stories, there's never been any information that she was pregnant, but this forwards your racist brute caricature for African American men 'coming for your women' this has been being used for hundreds of years to dehumanize African Americans and your unwittingly forwarding this bias that is so deeply ingrained in culture that you don't even realize you buy into it. Fox News posted an image from the May 30 Minneapolis protest and said it happened a few days ago in Seattle. Why? Because the truth wasn't juicy enough. A bunch of hippies hanging out bbqing vegan burgers isn't scary enough.

Take note, who wrote?

Is this story anonymous? Is it from a private website? Is it from Facebook or Twitter? What is the source? If there is no author or the author is a random Facebook page, why are you allowing them to control your narrative? Who are they? I mentioned before the BLM post I debunked. When I found the author, it came from a 4Chan uses that was trying to troll and trick people. Chain of evidence. It went from 4Chan, to a probably Russian troll on Twitter, then shared by these 'deep digging Conservative "news" sites' then you shared it. A lot of these fake posts are complicit in inciting violence and should be held accountable for the equivalent of shouting FIRE in a crowded theater.

Is it contradiction or Fiction?

The Fox news pic of the man with an assault weapon at the Seattle protest that was doctored comes to mind. If what the story is saying contradicts their views, what is the purpose of the story? For example, they gleefully showed armed anti-maskers at the state capitol, yet they show an armed protester at the Seattle protests and its something to fear. It's obvious that the agenda is clear. Us against Them where truth doesn't matter. To make matters worse, the Seattle protest was photoshopped and Fox lied about it twice. How can you trust a news source when this is how they behave? How do you excuse that? Because it's comfortable for you. But news isn't supposed to make you feel comfortable or at peace. It's supposed to be information. What you do with it is up to you.

At last, Is it in all caps?

is the post IN ALL CAPITALS? This is one surefire sign that the person posting is either unhinged or trying to incite. All CAPS is the internet version of yelling. Why do you YELL everything you say? Why can't you have a conversation without getting red-faced angry?