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Media Literacy Guide

Determining what is fake news is necessary and can be difficult. This research guide's purpose is to explain steps for finding the facts, how to use one's judgment and give examples for clarification.

What is this page for?

This page provides some checklists and tips for evaluating news articles.

SMART Check

The SMART Check is particularly helpful when evaluating news stories.  Determine if your news source is SMART before believing what is reported.  

S     Source:

  • Where did the story come from? 
  • Is it a reputable news source?

M    Motive  

  • Why do they say so?  Do they have a special interest or bias that may cause them to slant information

A   Authority

  • Who is the author of the story?
  • What are their credentials?

R   Review

  • Go over the story carefully
  • Does it make sense?

T   Two-source test

  • Check for other sources about the story.
  • Does the two-source test confirm or contradict the story? 

SMART comes from the University of Washington Libraries

What Makes a News Story Fake?

  1. It can't be verified   A fake news article may or may not have links in it tracing its sources; if it does, these links may not lead to articles outside of the site's domain or many not contain information pertinent to the article topic.

  2. Appeals to emotion: Inaccurate news tries to manipulate your feelings - makes you angry or happy or scared. This is to ensure you'll react and reshare instead of checking anywhere else for accuracy.

  3. Authors usually aren't experts: Usually authors aren't even journalists but paid trolls or just bots.

  4. It can't be found anywhere else: If you look up the main idea of a false news article, you are likely not find any other news outlet (real or not) reporting on the issue.

  5. Fake news comes from fake sites: Did your article come from abcnews.co? or mercola.com? Realnewsrightnow.com? These and a host of other URLs are fake news sites.

SIFT

Use the SIFT method for evaluating digital sources. (More about SIFT)

SIFT

STOP
  • Check your emotions - if your first response to information is emotional or reactive, take a moment and pause before you act.
  • What do you know about the source?
  • What do you know about the information?
  • Try the other steps before you commit, share, or repost.
Investigate
  • Who wrote it and why?
  • Who is the speaker, author, or publisher? What is the purpose or the agenda for supplying the information? Who supports them? Where does the financial support come from? What is the expertise, education, experience behind the information?
  • If you don't know or can't find out, try a quick Google or Wikipedia search for the person or organization.
Find better coverage
  • Look for the information in other trusted sources.
  • Check in at least three other places to verify accuracy and coverage.
  • Is there more reliable or in-depth information elsewhere? Use that instead!
Trace to original source
  • Dig deeper to find the original source for the claim and verify how the information is used or reused.
  • Check for expert consensus or historical context.

 

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