Unit 3: The Rapid Spread of Fake News (1ère AMC)

Unit 3: The Rapid Spread of Fake News

To what extent can we belive the news we get?

Theme 2: Representations

Topic 2: Breaking the news and Getting Informed

How to Spot Fake News

The document under study is a video about how to spot fake news. We have learned that a piece of news is suspicious when it had not been reported anywhere else (on the radio; or the TV or in the newspaper…). Moreover, when a post has too many shares, likes and comments it can also be a hoax. Besides, to check if a website is credible/trustworthy/reliable, the Url must finish with “.com”, “.co”, “.fr”, “.uk” or .”us”.

In this video, one example was used to illustrate the notion of fake news: Trump was accused of saying bad things on the Republican Party. Actually, it was fake news. However, it was widely spread, it went viral.

The strategies to spot fake news are first, trust our feelings, if we feel the content is weird or dodgy, it might be misinformation. The web address should be checked, the source and the organization as well. It is important to double check to see if the news was reported on other media. Finally, we should not hesitate to zoom in and analyze a suspicious picture that might be modified or Photoshopped.

To conclude, the goal of this video is to warn us about dangers of misinformation. On top of that, it is also a way to teach us how to spot fake news in our daily lives.

Homework: Learn the lesson.