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Today: Fake news and how to spot it and what you should do about it.
Five Minute Friday is a quick tip to help you stay safe in today’s modern world.
Fake news is everywhere in our life. Everyone is talking about it. But how do we define fake news? Is it only outright lies that are fake news? Or, as the big media outlets seem to be saying, anyone that isn’t them?
Personally, I think the major news outlets are more guilty of Fake News then anyone else.
Here is a small checklist of 4 things that are fake news. If one or more of the following is present, you are probably looking at fake news:
1 – Is the news relevant today? When was the news piece produced and does it still matter today? An article that talks about the world ending next month that was written 2 years ago isn’t relevant anymore and has become fake news.
2 – “Sources Say” Are links provided so you can vet those sources and what the source was saying and talking about? If the source for the news piece is “sources say”, it’s common sense, or (my favorite) high ranking government officials say, it’s fake news. Stop watching it.
3 – Is there relevance and context to what is being said? If there is a single quote from someone and the entire piece is about that quote, without giving context and why it is relevant to the discussion or information at hand, then it is fake news.
4 – Giving numbers and charts without links to where the numbers and charts came from, what could be wrong about those numbers, and how those numbers where obtained, then it is fake news.
Getting the rest of the story seems to be impossible these days. Did that concept die with Paul Harvey years ago?
Why can’t we have reports and news agencies give all this information and context these days with our modern technology? Seems like it would be easy to do if that is what you got paid for.
I see part time bloggers and writers that do this better than most full-time high-paid “journalist” are today.
I think our news has come down to an entertainment source that is just there to get people to watch. And getting people to watch is how they make money. We seem to have lost the morality in reporting so that the news can make more money.
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Stay Safe,
Ben