Never before have we had such choice and freedom of where to get our news, our information. In years gone by there were the tabloids and the broadsheets. More recently your choice of TV network decided your news. These sources segregated the news for the working class and the white collar workers.
A brave new world
You can now choose what news you hear like never before. You can make your own news aggregators using Google News feeds or by simply choosing who you follow on social networks like Twitter. With this great choice comes more responsibility. Its not enough to just follow celebrities or your friends or people you agree with. You will only hear one side of the story. Be open minded, you can now hear both sides and judge for yourself. This takes a bit of effort and you need be wary of fake news.
Many pieces posted on digital media and social media are opinion pieces. It takes a lot more to fully research facts and deliver well researched articles. Learn to be discerning in what you read and recognise the difference. Only place your faith in "Real News".
Steemit as an Information Source
Since I have come across Steemit I have generally been blown away by the quality of the content here. People go to great lengths to research topics and to write and edit great stories. This amazing platform has a diverse array of articles; fiction, news, science, politics, art. There is so much posted on Steemit that you would never imagine being posted on Facebook or the like. Its building to be an exciting platform with potential to be a trustworthy source of news and a place where you also can come and learn. Just check out some of @sirwincherters posts @sirwinchester. Amazing stuff!
Real News
So what separates good articles from just good stories or click-bait? How can you trust what you are reading? Is it real or fake news? or worse just propaganda?
What to look out for
As reader these are some of the things you should on the lookout for
- Sources
Most pieces can be broken down to facts and opinions. Where is the source of the facts for the piece, are they reputable? People will have different opinions about which sources are reputable but you should learn to judge this for yourself. - Citation
Has the source of facts been cited or linked. If they have you can easily check if they have been quoted correctly. - Multiple Sources
Is there only one independent source or confirmation of the facts. The more verifications the better just like on a Blockchain. - Comments
Has the author gotten comments from experts in the field. If so it lends weight to his/her opinions and is further confirmation that the articles facts are likely correct. - Reputation of Author
This is an obvious one, how reputable is the author? - Past Posting Experience of Author
How many posts has the author written in the past and to what standard.
Tip
- Use Storyfuls free addon for Chrome Storyful Chrome Addon to check the facts.
Traditional News Agencies taking Fake News Seriously
The BBC
Even mainstream news agencies have begun to try to tackle fake news. The BBC are seting up a team to tackle fake news, "to fact check and debunk deliberately misleading and false stories masquerading as real news".
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/jan/12/bbc-sets-up-team-to-debunk-fake-news
Storyful
Storyful is one company which many news agencies are using to validate news to "to try to keep those operations from embarrassing themselves online".
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-01-12/a-digital-fact-checker-fights-fake-news
Thank you for reading this. I write on Steemit about Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, Travel and lots of random topics.
Images have been sourced from https://pixabay.com, Steemit logo from @stino-san