1.
THE REAL SCOOP ON FAKE NEWS
KT Lowe
Indiana University East
lowekat@iu.edu

2.
What is Fake News?
Nothing new.
Image: “God’s Revenge Againgst
Murder”, May 18, 1833. Source:
http://ids.lib.harvard.edu/ids/view/478780
5?width=1612&height=2400&html=y

3.
Some things never change
 Why do people write fake news stories?
 Cash! (As in sweet, sweet advertising
pennies)
 Propaganda (either for or against a particular
nation, politician or cause)
 But mostly cash.
Source:
http://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/
outrageous-vintage-cigarette-
ads/3/

4.
Today’s fake news
 Melissa Zimdars, Assistant Professor, Merrimack College
 Four categories of fake news
 Category 1: Entirely fake
 Category 2: A mix of fake and real
 Category 3: Clickbait-y but may contain some fact
 Category 4: Satire
 Since then, she’s expanded her work, with a table of sites
and an explanation of their classifications.

5.
What makes fake news fake?
 You can’t verify it
 You don’t know who wrote it
 Or the author has no credentials
 It makes you mad! Or scared!
Or really happy!
 It comes from a fake site
 Sites that end in .lo are pretty
much universally fake
 Watch for spoof sites that are
intended to look like real news
sites, like abcnews.com.co.
Image and fake news story by KT Lowe. Dinosaur picture from
Pixabay.com

6.
Why do we care?
 We’re being played for fools!
 Fake news ruins our
credibility, even as it marks us
as members of a group
 Fake news can hurt you, and
a lot of other people
 Pizzagate
 Food Babe, Dr. Oz and the rest
Image and story source: KT Lowe. The story’s fake, but the cat is real.

7.
How to check for fake news
 Fresh or stale?
 Author or not?
 What’s the domain?
 Sources?
 How do you feel?

8.
What makes real news real?
 Source?
 Author?
 Verifiable?
 Date?
 But one more thing that isn’t
mentioned much…

9.
Journalistic ethics
How do we know we can trust
the real news sources? Look
for a code of ethics, which
should be publicly available
online.
Journalists also adhere to a
code of professional conduct.
 New York Times Standards
and Ethics
 NPR Ethics Handbook
 Tons of other ethics codes
and codes of conduct, from
the American Society of News
Editors
 Society of Professional
Journalists Code of Ethics

10.
Let’s test some news!
 Open one of the stories listed on
the right in a browser
 Second, open another tab as a
Google window. Use that as a
workspace for checking
 What to check:
 Authorship
 Domain name
 Any and all claims made in the
content of the article
 Date and location (where
appropriate)
 Eat This Not That: Shocking
Facts About Farmed Salmon
 Best Health: Is Chocolate
Healthy?
 Counter Current News: Water
Defender Gunned Down

11.
What does fake news look like?

12.
So what do we do?
 Know there’s a lot of sites that have
our backs
 Empower our patrons
 Encourage, then instruct
 Practice good media hygiene
ourselves
 Remember that fake news comes in
lots of media, and that even the most
reliable sources will screw up
sometimes
 Constant Vigilance!
Image source: Pottermore

13.
Questions?
Stay in touch with me:
 The IU East Fake News
LibGuide
 If questions come to mind
later, you can reach me at
lowekat@iu.edu