How to Spot Fake News

The term fake news usually captures a variety of problems such as lies, misrepresentations, and distortions. Fake news is typically associated with non-factual basis or claims and mostly appears publicly. Some fake news has been associated with realism while others do not. For one to have the capability of spotting fake news, one must have rhetorical skills. In rhetorical skills, fake news can be spotted by determining whether the storyteller’s way of arranging details is true or false and seen or unseen.

            Delivery of fake news can be of hindrance to citizens both socially and psychologically. Social and psychological problems can lead to citizens having problems interpreting the news (Ramage et al. 431). Since traditional times, the primary sources of news such as television and radio have been tampered with as new sites have evolved. Sites such as Twitter and Facebook have information that is misinterprete. Following news from such sites and other developing sites can be a hoax and prevent citizens from being informed of the latest news (van der Linden et al. 2). People have an excellent preference for technology and entertainment, which probes them from differentiating fake news from accurate news in the name of entertainment and technology. Without their knowledge, people transmit fake news by retweeting information and clicking and posting meme sites, among other ways (Ramage et al. 432). Sometimes, people believe in what they want to believe instead of knowing what is true or false concerning news. Such beliefs make people live in a hoax of fake news rather than finding real news from accurate, updated sources.

            An example of a fake news claim is the Nevada County Scooper. The Nevada County Scooper is a site that had news that Mike Pence, who was the vice president-elect, had given credit to gay therapy for saving his marriage The Nevada County Scooper is a site that had news that Mike Pence who was the vice president-elect had given credit to gay therapy for saving his marriage (Ramage et al. 439). Such information might have caused and aroused many suspicions concerning the vice president’s elected sexuality. Some citizens might have misjudged the vice president-elect due to some fake news developed on some websites. County Scooper has been accredited to delivering fake news as it has no evidence supporting the allegations against the vice president-elect Mike Pence.

            The fake news developed by County Scooper on the vice president-elect Mike Spence is satirical news. Part of the fake news can be said to have been true because Mike Spence once supported the federal funding of the LGBTQ people who wanted to change their sexual behavior. However, the information on the County Scooper site was somewhat distorted and misinterpreted the vice president’s elect to stand on sexual behavior concerning conversion therapy.

            Fake news can be spotted in different ways to avoid problematic issues. One of the methods of spotting fake news is by checking the date. In some cases, fake news can be real only because it might be distorted and look like it happened long ago. A site might also use information that happened a long time ago and relate it to recent events, thus making it look and seem genuine. Another way of spotting fake news is through consulting experts. Various consultant experts include FastCheck.org, Snopes.com, the Washington Post Fast Checker, among others (Ramage et al. 441). The consultant experts have accurate information concerning any claims. Therefore, one should report any claim that pops up their gadget as news to the experts who guide and clears the benefit of the doubt that one may be having concerning a particular claim. Another way of spotting fake news is by reading beyond the headline. Some headlines tend to be very captivating to one’s interests, and therefore failing to read beyond the headline can be misleading at times. By reading through the complete information, one can determine whether the text has fake news as it will be revealing.

            Through checking biases, one can also spot fake news. Checking biases implies checking information based on its validity and evidence supporting it rather than being content with information based on one’s beliefs and attitudes (Ramage et al. 441). When one checks bias, one can investigate and check the information before labeling it true or false. By checking bias, one who has investigated the validity of certain information can also educate others on spotting fake news.

            The effect of fake news can affect a vast mass of people as information is shared on a massive scale. Some developing sites only give information based on their thoughts; then, people perceive it as valid without further investigation. However, information from such sites should not be entirely ignored as part of the information might be true. The accuracy of news depends on the source, as some sources are accredited for delivering the good news. Therefore, it is necessary to understand that news can be fake or accurate depending on the level of distortion of the real news.

Work Cited

Ramage, John D et al. Writing Arguments: A Rhetoric With Readings. 11th ed., Pearson, 2015.

van der Linden, Sander et al. “Inoculating Against Fake News About COVID-19”. Frontiers In Psychology, vol 11, 2020. Frontiers Media SA, doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.566790. Accessed 23 Sept 2021.