Misinformation, Disinformation and Fake News
With the rise in social media and digital communications, educating and informing yourself on how to detect misinformation, disinformation, and fake news, ensures your decisions and behaviours are based on correct and credible information.
The International Federation of Library Associations has put together some tips to help:
Source: International Federation of Library Associations
Considering the source
To help you assess reliable online news and information, Yarra Plenty Regional Library uses the NewsGuard browser extension on all public computers in our branches.
The NewsGuard tool uses a team of trained journalists that rate thousands of news and information sites using basic, apolitical journalistic standards. NewsGuard writes Nutrition Label reviews that display to users browsing websites, explaining how each website is rated. Nutrition Labels also include information about site owners, funding, editorial practices, and history. Examples of the icons used in the Nutrition Label are included below:
Read Beyond
ABC Education has created interactive quizzes to help you hone your media literacy skills and learn how to detect fake news:
The Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House has some fantastic resources on media literacy and how to be an empowered citizen.
Australia’s eSafety commissioner has put together information on fake news and how to spot it.
Kanopy offers a course Fighting Misinformation: Digital Media Literacy to provide you tools on how to become a more savvy media consumer.
Ask the experts
Some library staff are training in media literacy and can help you to navigate the complexities of online information and distinguish between reliable and unreliable sources. If in doubt, ask us!
You can also use fact checking websites like these ones:
Charles Sturt University also provides guidance an evaluating online content and recognising bias.