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News Literacy: Resources for Evaluating News Sources

This guide was created by UA Librarians Mary Feeney, Yvonne Mery, and Nicole Pagowsky.

What is fake news?

“Fake news websites (also referred to as hoax news) deliberately publish hoaxes, propaganda, and disinformation — using social media to drive web traffic and amplify their effect." (Wikipedia) Fake news websites are not merely news organizations that are biased in their reporting, nor are they tabloid news or satirical news. Check out these resources for more information:

Contact

Need more help? Email News Research Specialist and Journalism Librarian Mary Feeney.

Reliable news sources

While a news source may come from a reliable database, it is still important to critically evaluate the content. Peer-review and other forms of checks and balances make it more difficult for false information to get through, but these are not perfect systems.

How to spot fake news

How to spot fake news

 

Misinformation and disinformation

First Draft News identified seven types of misinformation and disinformation shown in this image, which they also describe in "Fake news. It's complicated." Click on the image to view it enlarged.

Checking your sources

Spread of claims such as fake news and rumors