How to spot fake news

Howdy y'all, or as the MSM would say 'man arrested for violent greeting.'

We all know of the latest mass shooting, not good news, but it's made worse by the rapant speculation. All over The media spectrum the death toll kept rising because "sources" say three dead then their rivals up the ante with "reports" that at least five are dead.

The inverted commas should be a giveaway.

What sources? whose report? The MSM likes to think we are stupid-sure that may be applicable to some, but for us we ask ourselves where this information came from, when it comes from the horses mouth that's where the truth lies, not the guesstimation of people trying to lure in viewers.

Natural disasters come into play as well. All the Time it's 'the damage Bill will cost over five billion dollars' so how do they manage to estimate the cost of the rebuilding of vital infrastructure in the space of a day?what contractors are used, what property owners will or will not be covered by their insurance, electrical damage etc.

If I were a mechanic and you came in with a flat tire, I could say that say you have a faulty cylinder that requires hundreds of dollars, you could a) be an idiot and give me your money or b) get a second opinion from another mechanic.

This is the problem with certain folk when it comes to the MSM-their 'shut up and listen for I speak the truth'
mentality has warped minds, and I have the solution.

Any news article you read, forget the broad spectrum. Don't fall for the 'scientists say' unless they provide actual scientists to prove the claims provided, when some MSM Wall Street journalist gazes into their crystal Ball, don't listen, even a dummy like me knows the markets fluctuate all the time.

My point is if you want the real news, wait for the dust to settle. Ratings come before facts these days, but if you are patient the truth will come out eventually, and make these MSM fools look like...fools.

a reply to: Thecakeisalie

This breaks my journalism heart but every stinkin' word is true.

a reply to: Thecakeisalie

My dad argued the other day Lawrence Odonnel didn't report fake news about Trump because he qualified it with 'if true'.

Unfortunately liberals do not care about the fake news.

Or just ignore the MSM all together and just wait for Trumps tweet... He'll point all those easily manipulated sensitive little minds in the right direction.

originally posted by: Subaeruginosa
Or just ignore the MSM all together and just wait for Trumps tweet... He'll point all those easily manipulated sensitive little minds in the right direction.

I don't do twitter. Ignoring the MSM is a great idea though.

a reply to: Thecakeisalie

Funny how I only heard one dead when the story broke... until the police chief of Odessa, one who would know, changed it to five.
Two others died overnight.
The numbers have not been speculated by anyone and no one was trying to "up the ante".
That is sick.

As far as estimating damage costs, those are estimates because they cannot say for sure where the storm will go.
But they know the damage possible from each category of storm, they know the possible costs of rebuilding and they certainly can estimate the cost of damage should the storm strike a specific area. Why is that such a mystery?

News agencies do specials for ratings. They do not manufacture the news to get them.

But you know here in conspiracy land the man is always out to get you.

a reply to: Thecakeisalie

wait for the dust to settle.

Bravo.

But daddy, if I wait until the dust settles, then no one will listen to me, no one will shove a microphone in my face and no one will read my post reply if it is lost in the third or fourth page of a thread where few stars ever show up.

a reply to: Thecakeisalie

ever since the social media started to be number one news source and add WhatsApp to it, i started double checking them before i passed them to others, thats when i concluded that these sources were full of it ( including news media ), i even left all my friends groups and just kept my family's, now it feels so great without fake news shower every day.

Critical thinking is a key skill in media and information literacy, and the mission of libraries is to educate and advocate its importance.

www.ifla.org...
Eight steps to spot fake news.
There actually are steps you can take to help you spot fake news.

That have nothing to do with news agencies wanting to get ratings.

a reply to: OccamsRazor04

Unfortunately liberals do not care about the fake news.

Oh Pluuullllleeese. Let's just stick with wildly generalized assumptions about '' the other side''.. That's really going to get us somewhere, huh?

All aboard the train to somewhere, first stop is '' no, you conservatives don't care about fake news''. End of the line, there IS no end of that line, it follows the rails of jargon off into infinity.

a reply to: OccamsRazor04

Horselover fat.

I am as classically liberal as you can get, or close enough to it that it doesn't even matter and I have worked as a journalist. I hate fake news, particularly "unnamed sources" and resent its dominance in our money-fueled media landscape.

Unnamed sources should only be used in the direst of circumstances and must be reinforced as inherently suspect throughout the reporting.

But modern TV journalism has never heard of the SPJ or journalism ethics and can go straight to hell for manufacturing false realities, IMO.

a reply to: Sillyolme

you shouldn't need a website to tell you how to spot fake news, if you do, then its too late for you because you're already brainwashed.

you should figure it out by your self.

a reply to: TerryMcGuire

How many steps is there to identify an alcoholic? Not many but I'm guessing at least 5 steps. What's the difference in identifying a person who should be labeled a criminal to the state? I just have questions no answers really, so don't label me.

originally posted by: OccamsRazor04
a reply to: Thecakeisalie

My dad argued the other day Lawrence Odonnel didn't report fake news about Trump because he qualified it with 'if true'.

Unfortunately liberals do not care about the fake news.

Your dad sounds like a wise man.

First, O'Donnel and the vast majority of programs on MSNBC, Fox, and CNN are all editoriall shows, and not "news" in the traditional sense. That's one of the primary reasons cries of "fake news" have taken hold so easily.

Second, I do recall O'Donnel openly stating such a story the other day. He let viewers know that a story had "one source", and prefaced heavily with "if true". He made it quite clear that what he was saying was uncorroborated, but that it was a source he trusted (unlike many stories on Fox, CNN, and other primary MSM sources who won't disclose such at all, and yet still try to pass things off as verified by multiple credible sources under the guise of being "news" when they're really just editorial infotainment shows).

The real problem is that all of the 24 "news" networks mostly play programming that is editorial in nature, and isn't held to the same journalistic standard as actual "news" programming would be. When people see these shows on what's billed as a "24 hr news network" far to many make the assumption that what they're watching is actual news.

a reply to: redmage

O'Donnel himself said it never should have aired. So anyone saying it was fine and that anything is fine to air as long as it is prefaced by 'if true' is not wise on the subject.

There is no actual news anymore. There is political propaganda.

a reply to: 0zzymand0s

TV journalists are part of the problem, but the Boston Globe, NYT, Time, they are all equally bad and simply lie non stop to fit their political agendas.

Of course not EVERY liberal fits into the group and I absolutely made a generalization, but it far more often than not fits.

a reply to: 0zzymand0s

Just because the source is unnamed does not mean that the information received is not verified.
Even with anonymous sources trying to protect themselves the information is almost always verified before being published.

However when that doesn't happen the agency will issue a retraction if there is a question about the information or if it was not verified.
Just this past week we witnessed a case where the producers of The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell issued a retraction when the information they reported was not verified before air time. The very next night O'Donnell made an announcement at the opening of his show.

The information has not been proven wrong btw, it was just not verified because its sealed by the courts while the case is under appeal.
I am betting that Deutsche Bank does indeed have trumps taxes. ( thats the info that they reported but could not verify)

a reply to: Dr UAE

Oh well you can lead a horse to water.

It was an educational FYI.

Of course if you already know everything never mind.
This thread was started with the promise of how to identify fake news.


I guess we dont need a website when we have ATS.

originally posted by: OccamsRazor04
a reply to: redmage

O'Donnel himself said it never should have aired. So anyone saying it was fine and that anything is fine to air as long as it is prefaced by 'if true' is not wise on the subject.

Your assumption about others' wisdom is off base, and your father was right.

That said, O"Donnel is correct as well. Single source stories are highly dubious. If O'Donnel wants to keep up the guise of being a "news anchor" by association (aka: airing on of the the top three "24 hr news stations"), then it hurts his credibility to report such, but it sounds like your dad is wise enough to know that what he was watching was an editorial "infotainment" show.

originally posted by: OccamsRazor04
There is no actual news anymore. There is political propaganda.

There is actual news, but one usually has to catch it on one of the very few time slots dedicated to actual news hiding among the vast sea of political spin "infotainment" shows on such networks.

a reply to: 0zzymand0s

The Simpsons nailed it when Paul Anka and Lisa did a duet 'just don't look.'

When the MSM says that they know a Guru with the secret of immortality, I want to see said Guru instead of some snake oil salesmen telling me about the healing powers of Apricot juice.

The MSM presume we are idiots, like Tom DeLonge trying to convince us that UFO's are alien without realising the U in UFO stands for unidentified.

Methinks the MSM is grasping at straws, they know people are aware of their shenanigans.