Dep of State: How to Identify Misinformation

Full strategy guide on US Department of State site


How can a journalist or a news consumer tell if a story is true or false? There are no exact rules, but the following clues can help indicate if a story or allegation is true.

* Does the story fit the pattern of a conspiracy theory?
* Does the story fit the pattern of an “urban legend?”
* Does the story contain a shocking revelation about a highly controversial issue?
* Is the source trustworthy?
* What does further research tell you?

''The U.S. military or intelligence community is a favorite villain in many conspiracy theories.''

Irrelevant is the question whether a missile or jet hit the Pentagon, look how objective this source is:

In his book 9/11: The Big Lie, French author Thierry Meyssan falsely claimed that no plane hit the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. Instead, he claimed that the building had been struck by a cruise missile fired by elements within the U.S. government. No such vast conspiracy existed and many eyewitness accounts and evidence gathered on the scene confirmed that the hijacked airliner had struck the building. But, nevertheless, the book was a best-seller in France and has been translated into 19 languages, demonstrating the power that even the most groundless conspiracy theories can have. (More details on 9/11: The Big Lie.)

What would be the reason to state this on their site? The sheeps for who this information is intended dont visit sites like ATS anyway.

[edit on 27-6-2007 by Mdv2]

Just about everything put out by a Government department should be taken with a big pinch of salt, scrutinised very carefully and supported by independent sources and data.
I think there's a lot of conspiracy fact that is relegated to the status of conspiracy theory by those it would ultimately harm. It helps to have the power to gag the corporate press into spiking stories that they would prefer not to see the light of day.

Does the story fit the pattern of a conspiracy theory?

what pattern would that be, one that names a politician, or a ceo?