How to Detect a Fake News Story from American Council of Science and Health
This seems to be a valuable guide.
How to Spot a Fake Science News Story by Alex Berezow
Here are some red flags:
1) The article is very similar to the press release on which it was based. This indicates whether the article is science journalism or just public relations.
2) The article makes no attempt to explain methodology or avoids using any technical terminology. (This indicates the author may be incapable of understanding the original paper.)
3) The article does not indicate any limitations on the conclusions of the research. (For example, a study conducted entirely in mice cannot be used to draw firm conclusions about humans.)
4) The article treats established scientific facts and fringe ideas on equal terms.
5) The article is sensationalized; i.e., it draws huge, sweeping conclusions from a single study. (This is particularly common in stories on scary chemicals and miracle vegetables.)
6) The article fails to separate scientific evidence from science policy. Reasonable people should be able to agree on the former while debating the latter. (This arises from the fact that people ascribe to different values and priorities.)
7) The article ties the research to something only tangentially related. (For example, stories on infectious disease often try to highlight the application to bioterrorism.)
8) The article is based on research from a journal that nobody has heard of.
9) The article is about evolutionary psychology.
10) The article is from the Daily Mail, Huffington Post, Mother Jones, Natural News, or any number of environmentalist, health activist, or food fad websites.
Separating real news from fake news is one of the bigger challenges facing our society in 2017. A recent poll reveals that 84% of Americans think fake news may be hurting the country. We must figure out a solution before it gets any worse.
Re: How to Detect a Fake News Story from American Council of Science and Health
Personally I am sick of the phrase fake news.
What happened to people that sought out facts?
Society is so gullible parroting information someone injects into society.
The saying "you can fool some of the people all of the time, you can even fool some of the people most of the time but you can even fool enough to run a large country" applies to those parroting the phrase "fake news".
Alex
Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by Shandi:
This seems to be a valuable guide.
How to Spot a Fake Science News Story by Alex Berezow
Here are some red flags:
1) The article is very similar to the press release on which it was based. This indicates whether the article is science journalism or just public relations.
2) The article makes no attempt to explain methodology or avoids using any technical terminology. (This indicates the author may be incapable of understanding the original paper.)
3) The article does not indicate any limitations on the conclusions of the research. (For example, a study conducted entirely in mice cannot be used to draw firm conclusions about humans.)
4) The article treats established scientific facts and fringe ideas on equal terms.
5) The article is sensationalized; i.e., it draws huge, sweeping conclusions from a single study. (This is particularly common in stories on scary chemicals and miracle vegetables.)
6) The article fails to separate scientific evidence from science policy. Reasonable people should be able to agree on the former while debating the latter. (This arises from the fact that people ascribe to different values and priorities.)
7) The article ties the research to something only tangentially related. (For example, stories on infectious disease often try to highlight the application to bioterrorism.)
8) The article is based on research from a journal that nobody has heard of.
9) The article is about evolutionary psychology.
10) The article is from the Daily Mail, Huffington Post, Mother Jones, Natural News, or any number of environmentalist, health activist, or food fad websites.
Separating real news from fake news is one of the bigger challenges facing our society in 2017. A recent poll reveals that 84% of Americans think fake news may be hurting the country. We must figure out a solution before it gets any worse.
Re: How to Detect a Fake News Story from American Council of Science and Health
Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by Alexmarin2013:
Personally I am sick of the phrase fake news.
What happened to people that sought out facts?
Society is so gullible parroting information someone injects into society.
The saying "you can fool some of the people all of the time, you can even fool some of the people most of the time but you can even fool enough to run a large country" applies to those parroting the phrase "fake news".
Alex
most people, actually all people when talking about anything outside their expertise, are gullibly parroting information. It's the 'someone' who injected it that matters, when separating fake from real news. Well, that's oversimplified; simply parroting is pretty weak. It's better when you synthesize from several sources - but you are just increasing the number of 'someone's who you trust. That's basically what being educated means. You've got enough information to synthesize reasonably well and be better at understanding what to trust.
As to the points in the OP, most are pretty accurate but kind of naive. First, few people deeply understand statistics enough to use statistical information correctly. There's usually a highly technical debate around the measurements people use when they develop any particular theory that's wildly uninteresting to almost everyone else. Clickbait may be a new term, but it's an old idea taken to the extreme. People with relatively casual interest want a summary. They want a clear conclusion. So that's what you're going to get. If you don't like that, don't believe anything scientific you read in the popular press. Or any number-based political analysis. It's going to be dumbed down. As it should be - you don't have time to become an expert in most things you should be passingly familiar with. You just need to learn to take into account the biases and limitations of the medium where you get our information.
Re: How to Detect a Fake News Story from American Council of Science and Health
I'm struggling to understand why you're commenting when you don't trust you're own understanding. Why are you here? As far as fake news, i had a chuckle today when i heard on kpfa that russian blame for 2016 election results is a clear definition of fake news. Hey, do you think that current powers ever put out conspiracy theories?
Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by podfish:
most people, actually all people when talking about anything outside their expertise, are gullibly parroting information. It's the 'someone' who injected it that matters, when separating fake from real news. Well, that's oversimplified; simply parroting is pretty weak. ...
Re: How to Detect a Fake News Story from American Council of Science and Health
Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by rossmen:
I'm struggling to understand why you're commenting when you don't trust you're own understanding. Why are you here? As far as fake news, i had a chuckle today when i heard on kpfa that russian blame for 2016 election results is a clear definition of fake news. Hey, do you think that current powers ever put out conspiracy theories?
Dunning-Kruger. Who's more self-assured than Trump, for example?
also, there's a big difference between "putting out conspiracy theories" and believing them. To reiterate my point below, taking biases of your sources into account is kind of important. Much more important than choosing a side and sticking to it.
Re: How to Detect a Fake News Story from American Council of Science and Health
I try everyday to more deeply understand my own bias. Chosen assumption, i have one, experience, so does everyone else. This does not stop me from making decisions beyond what to do next. I trust my continuously developing understanding which includes questioning my chosen assumptions.
Conspiracy theories are interesting, i rank them according to my knowledge. With time and learning, sometimes they become part of my knowing. The ruski trump connection is weak. Right now i class it as a conspiracy to produce propaganda, aka fake news.
Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by podfish:
Dunning-Kruger. Who's more self-assured than Trump, for example?
also, there's a big difference between "putting out conspiracy theories" and believing them. To reiterate my point below, taking biases of your sources into account is kind of important. Much more important than choosing a side and sticking to it.
Re: How to Detect a Fake News Story from American Council of Science and Health
I try everyday to more deeply understand my own bias. Chosen assumption, i have one, experience, so does everyone else. This does not stop me from making decisions beyond what to do next. I trust my continuously developing understanding which includes questioning my chosen assumptions.
Conspiracy theories are interesting, i rank them according to my knowledge. With time and learning, sometimes they become part of my knowing. The ruski trump connection is weak. Right now i class it as a conspiracy to produce propaganda, aka fake news.
Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by podfish:
Dunning-Kruger. Who's more self-assured than Trump, for example?
also, there's a big difference between "putting out conspiracy theories" and believing them. To reiterate my point below, taking biases of your sources into account is kind of important. Much more important than choosing a side and sticking to it.
Re: How to Detect a Fake News Story from American Council of Science and Health
Re: How to Detect a Fake News Story from American Council of Science and Health
I studied Psychological Operations at Ft. Bragg N.C. in 1963. We learned to differentiate between Black, White, and Gray and Propaganda. Fake News falls in the Gray area. Many do not realize that Fake News is "Propaganda"!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_propaganda
