MODULE 3, UNIT 4

Identifying and Analyzing Fake News
How to Know Fake News By Knowing Real Journalism

Goal: Learn to decipher between real news (quality journalism) and fake news.

As we noted earlier in this module, the media people access are awash in misinformation and disinformation. We distinguished between two different kinds of fake news:

1. “Fake news” as an allegation: This is created by a person (usually a politician) who alleges that some real news story, created by a professionally trained journalist and published in a reliable news source, is “fake,” as in “that’s fake news!” They allege it is fake because the truth of the story could be damaging to their reputation or political ideology.
   
2. Fake news as misleading information by design: This kind is created by satirists, hoaxers, opinion entrepreneurs, propagandists, or information anarchists. Falling along a spectrum from “helpful to democracy” to “harmful to democracy,” these creators might just be having fun (satirists) or fooling society to prove a point or make money (hoaxers). They may advance certain ideas not based on academic, scientific, or journalistic methods of verification (opinion entrepreneurs). They may also be circulating disinformation from one-sided “news” outlets to either harm a political opponent or boost the politician or government they are backing (propagandists). The most egregious form of fake news creators, however, strategically creates and disseminates fake news stories to foment social chaos and undermine the public’s ability to trust anything (information anarchists). They may be sowing unrest from inside the country or outside; both have the goal of undermining democracy dependent on a free press and trustworthy information.      

People may add to the problem of fake news by posting or re-posting memes or information whose truthfulness they have not confirmed, or calling something fake and again not knowing for certain. In fact, social media rewards people who post misinformation and disinformation with “likes,” encouraging them to post more messages that seem to resonate, regardless of the truthfulness of the message.^[1]

The only way to stop the cycle of mis- and disinformation is being able to determine what is authentic news or not.  

Questions We Need to Ask to Trust Real News

The goal of this unit is to address the massive amounts of disinformation in our midst by underscoring the work of professional journalists and their process of verification. For each piece of news or “news” (e.g., satire, hoax, information entrepreneurialism, propaganda, or information anarchy) you come across, we invite you to evaluate it by asking the following questions:

1. Does this news article come from a legitimate news source?  Determine whether an article on a given media platform (print, audio, video, or digital) practices a journalism of verification that serves the public interest. 

1. Identify the reporter as professionally trained in journalism (not a propagandist working for a one-sided company, government, or partisan site).

1. Is there a byline of the author(s) identified somewhere near or within the story with an identifiable first and last name?
2. Does/do the journalist(s) have a professional biography that you can determine is legitimate?
3. Is there a list of articles the journalist(s) has/have posted so you can assess the range of topics they cover?
4. Does the story, connected to a verified journalist, have a date?

In the example above, you can see the date of the story, the byline of the reporters, a link to their other stories, and brief bios of each.

The goal here is to determine a journalist’s track record as a trained professional.

B. Identify the news site as an outlet for professional journalism.

1. Does the news outlet have a legitimate address and an email address? (This information may be located in an “About” or a “Contact Us” link.)
2. Does the news outlet headquarters have an address locatable on a Google map? 
3. Is there information about the company’s ownership and funding sources?
4. Is there an accessible code of ethics or a standards and procedures document connected to the news organization?

The goal here is to determine how established and professional the news organization is that publishes the story.

In the images above, you can find answers to all of our queries about the news organization behind the journalism.

C. Identify proof of citizen loyalty: a means for citizens to report errors or leave a public comment.

1. Does the site provide a form or an email address to report corrections or errors? If there is no option for dialogue, the news platform does not likely serve the public interest.

2. Are the public comments meaningful and edited or moderated so the most well-argued positions rise to the top?

The goal here is to determine how committed this publishing outlet is to multiple points of view and to fostering legitimate public discourse.

2.  Does the story hold up to professional journalism standards? Determine the extent that the story follows the journalistic method of verification.

1. Identify the kinds of sources used in the article and how they are presented.

1. Does the story demonstrate original reporting, with original sources?
   NOTE: Sometimes stories rely too heavily on secondary sources, which include social media posts or stories from other news outlets that may not be trustworthy.
2. Are there multiple sources representing a variety of points of view?
3. Do the sources come from beyond the media organization?
   NOTE: Sometimes fake stories rely solely on other stories from the same outlet.

The goal here is to determine whether or not the journalist behind the story has completed original research and is dedicated to representing more than one point of view.

B.  Identify the quality of quotes and data chosen in the reporting.

1. Are the quotes and other data (e.g., statistics, polls, academic or scientific studies) credible and verifiable, and provided with context?
   NOTE: Sometimes stories advance unsubstantiated or untruthful allegations or quotes from a source, accepting them at face value without questioning them.  
2. Is there recognition by other verifiable media outlets that the story is true?  Can you locate the same information from another independent source? Good journalism organizations will independently verify the facts of the story, and not just pass along what another news organization reports.  Do other reliable news organizations, working independently, verify the reported information? In other words, how well does the story check out across other respected media platforms?

C. Identify how well the story is told.

1. Is there historical context in the story? In other words, is there adequate and responsible background explanation given to understand the overall story?
2. Does the story avoid vitriol, personal attacks, or stereotypes in the headline and the story text?
3. Does the story avoid “false equivalence” or “both-sidesism” (as discussed in Unit 3)? That is, does it avoid giving equal weight to lies or unverified information in the name of “fairness?”  False balance is not good journalism.

3. What’s the purpose of this story? If this story checks out as authentic journalism, it’s there for the public good.

But, if it’s not authentic – that is, if it’s misinformation or disinformation – what do you think is the purpose for it (consider Unit 3 – The Politics of Fake News)?

• Is it a harmless satire?
• Is it a money-generating hoax?
• Is it advancing a false opinion or idea with the goal of other actors and media organizations widely spreading the fake news?
• Is it a conspiracy theory or propaganda for a particular view?
• Is it an example of information anarchy to sow social distrust?

Detecting Deepfake Photos and Videos

Image generators are rapidly improving, but this Handbook can offer a few valuable tips and tools for analyzing fake photos and videos.

How to detect fake photos

We can figure out an image’s provenance by seeing where it was “born” and where it has traveled across the Internet. Visit Google Image Search (images.google.com) and choose the  reverse image search icon (a little camera).  

You will be prompted to upload an image or paste its URL (NOTE: For Android mobile phone or tablet users: touch and hold on the image, and select “Search image with Google Lens.”).  The search will generate a grid of images showing all the websites that host it. Another website, TinEye (tineye.com) also does reverse image search. By finding where this image has circulated, and what sites are talking about it (such as credible news organizations), you can determine if it’s fake.

By taking advantage of reverse image search tools, you might learn what credible news outlets or a site such as factcheck.org can tell you about an image. You also may discover the age of the picture and be able to tell if it was manipulated.

How to detect fake videos

These instructions are adapted from the MIT Media Lab, which is doing ongoing research on AI and deepfake technology. When viewing a deepfake video, pay attention to:

1. Faces. Usually a deepfake transformation focuses on altering a face.  
2. Forehead and cheeks. Deepfake skin often appears excessively smooth or wrinkly and doesn’t match the agedness of the hair and eyes.
3. Eyebrows and Eyes. Look for shadows appearing in unexpected or unnatural spots. Deepfakes frequently misrepresent a scene’s natural physics.
4. Eye blinks: A very common feature of deepfakes is either too much or too little blinking
5. Glasses. Deepfakes often get the glare wrong–either too much or too little, or a glare that is fixed while a person is moving.
6. Facial hair. By adding beards or mustaches, sometimes deepfakes don’t make these transformations completely natural.  
7. Face moles.  It is often the badly shaped mole that is a clear giveaway.
8. Mouth movements: Especially if the deepfake is based on lip-synching, there may be unnatural facial movements.

In the end, our recommendation is to simply read more news. The more you read, view, or listen to legitimate journalism – and follow the work of seasoned journalists – the better prepared you are to weed out misinformation and disinformation. Stand out from your peers! We all wish we read more quality journalism when we were in college. Quality journalism informs our world, protects the public sphere, and makes us all better people.