The document discusses how the online world allows anyone to publish anything without traditional gatekeepers, making it harder to distinguish quality news from poor information sources. It notes the rise of "fact-checking sites" to help consumers identify what is real and fake. The document advocates for strategies to carefully evaluate online information sources and content, such as checking sources, comparing across multiple outlets, considering language used, and being wary of shared social media content without verification.

2. TODAY’S ONLINE WORLD ALLOWS ANYONE TO PUBLISH ANYTHING.
BEYOND THIS, SOCIAL MEDIA ALSO ALLOWS INDIVIDUALS TO
CIRCUMVENT TRADITIONAL NEWS MEDIA AND PROVIDE
READERS/VIEWERS WITH THEIR OWN VERSION OF EVENTS AND
PEOPLE.
THIS HAS RESULTED NOT ONLY IN A NEED TO RECOGNISE POOR
QUALITY OR INACCURATE INFORMATION BUT ALSO A NEED TO
RECOGNISE AND DEFEND HIGH QUALITY AND ‘ACCURATE’ ONLINE
INFORMATION SOURCES.

3. ONLINE CONSUMERS OF NEWS INFORMATION ARE NOW LIVING IN
A POST-TRUMP/ POST-TRUTH WORLD WHERE IT IS HARDER THAN
EVER TO ACCESS QUALITY NEWS REPORTING OF PEOPLE AND
EVENTS. (I.E. WE NEED MUCH BETTER SKILLS THAN BEFORE TO
KNOW WHAT TO BELIEVE AND WHAT TO REJECT)
 TO HELP CONSUMERS MAKE SENSE OUT OF WHAT IS REAL AND
WHAT IS ‘FAKE’, NEW WEBSITES KNOWN AS ‘FACT-CHECKING SITES’
HAVE BEEN CREATED.
 THE TERMS ‘FAKE NEWS’, ‘POST-TRUTH’, ‘ALTERNATE FACTS’ ARE
RECENT INVENTIONS WHICH HELP TO DESCRIBE WHAT IS
ESSENTIALLY FALSE INFORMATION OR ‘MISINFORMATION’ IN THE
MAINSTREAM MEDIA, INCLUDING ONLINE SOURCES.

5. ‘GOOD’ JOURNALISM NEEDS TO HELP
EXPOSE ‘BAD’ JOURNALISM
FOR E.G.
TIME MAGAZINE IS A RESPECTED MEDIA PUBLICATION THAT
HAS TAKEN SOME STEPS TOWARDS ‘OUTING’ SOME OF THE
FALSE CLAIMS MADE BY THE CURRENT US PRESIDENT DONALD
TRUMP.

6. FACTS VS ‘ALTERNATIVE’ FACTS

7. WHAT ABOUT ONLINE IMAGES?
THE WASHINGTON POST CREATED A SIMPLE TEST WHICH
FOUND THAT ONLY ABOUT 60% OF DOCTORED IMAGES ARE
RECOGNISED BY VIEWERS AS ‘FAKE’.
TAKE THIS QUICK TEST TO SEE HOW YOU GO!

8. SOCIAL MEDIA NEWS?
 There is no single test that will tell you
everything about an image
 You need to play detective and search for
a range of clues about where the image
came from and what ‘version’ of a person
or event it is presenting
 Make sure that you corroborate
(compare) with other information sources
 If you know about image editing software
then look for traces or signs that suggest
the image was doctored or is being mis-
represented
 Sometimes the image is genuine but the
caption describing it is false!

9. WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS
IMAGE?
IS IT BELIEVABLE?
WHY/WHY NOT?

10. HERE IS THE ORIGINAL
IMAGE IN CONTEXT!
HOW HAS THE MEANING OF
THE IMAGE CHANGED?

11. AN EXAMPLE OF A ‘FAKE NEWS’ ARTICLE
WHICH CIRCULATED ON FACEBOOK DURING
THE 2017 U.S. ELECTION.

12. SOME POSITIVE CHANGES TO FACEBOOK:

14. WHAT STRATEGIES WILL YOU USE TO
QUESTION INFORMATION ONLINE?
 CHECK THE SOURCE OF INFORMATION (I.E. LOOK THEM UP
TO SEE WHO THEY ARE AND WHAT THEIR PURPOSE IS)
 COMPARE INFORMATION ACROSS SOURCES AND MEDIA
TYPES (THIS IS CALLED ‘CORROBORATING’ SOURCES)
 JUDGE THE LANGUAGE USED: IS IT NEUTRAL, EXTREMELY
POSITIVE OR EXTREMELY NEGATIVE??? (IS IT REASONABLE?)
 BEWARE OF ‘SHARED’ CONTENT ON SOCIAL MEDIA SITES

15. REFLECTION:
WHAT HAVE I LEARNED ABOUT EVALUATING
INFORMATION ONLINE?
 WRITE A 300 WORD+ REFLECTION ON WHAT YOU THINK
ABOUT THE INFORMATION YOU READ ONLINE.
 WHAT WILL YOU DO DIFFERENTLY IN THE FUTURE?
 HOW WILL THIS BENEFIT YOUR LEARNING?