What’s the News on the Fake News?

Online fake news sites have become a topic of considerable discussion in recent weeks.  We at the d’Alzon Library have been following the details closely.  Here’s what you need to know:

“Fake News” Can be Spread Intentionally or Unintentionally

There are individuals and businesses that deliberately create false news stories for the purposes of making money through advertising.  One fake-news writer told the Washington Post last month that he earns approximately $10,000 per month.  However, there are many more people that unintentionally spread false news because they are unable to distinguish these fake news sites from legitimate journalism.

Research Shows that Students Have Difficulty Evaluating News Sources

A recently released study conducted by Stanford University shows that American students, from middle school through college level, are largely unable to properly evaluate online information sources.  Students were given basic information literacy tasks, such as to determine whether a website is trustworthy or to identify the strengths and weaknesses of an online video.  Researchers concluded that “young people’s ability to reason about the information on the Internet can be summed up in one word: bleak”.

Google and Facebook Try to Address the Problem

Executives at both Google and Facebook have come forward with updated policies to try to reduce the proliferation of false news stories online. Google announced that it would ban websites that peddle fake news from using its online advertising service. Facebook, only hours later, made a similar declaration. While these actions may help in making fake news sites less prominent, they do not address the lack of evaluation skills we are seeing in our students.

How Librarians Can Help

Librarians are trained to evaluate information sources and assist others in learning those skills.  We strive to move beyond the simple differentiation between true and false news, or legitimate and fake journalism websites.  

Our goal is to provide tips and tools that allow our users to examine an entire source from a variety of angles.  Relevancy, authority, currency, appearance, and bias are some of the topics we try to convey to our students during research appointments and classroom sessions.  Our RADAR Source Evaluation Guidelines is just one example of a helpful tool we might provide our students. 

How Faculty Can Help  

There are many ways in which a faculty member can incorporate information evaluation into his or her classroom. Here are a few suggestions:

• Have students brainstorm evaluative criteria for websites and then use their criteria to evaluate different selected sites
• Have students create a bibliography of sources they have used for their projects and explain why they chose each source and how each is relevant to their needs
• Utilize one of the videos or learning activities provided in the "Teaching Information Literacy for Faculty Research Guide"
• Require students to schedule a Research Appointment with a librarian
• Invite a librarian to speak to the class about information evaluation within the context of your course assignment or field of study

Want to Learn More?  Contact Us!