TELLTALE SIGNS OF

DAN CENTINELLO

FAKE NEWS

F A K E N E W S I S E V E R Y W H E R E .

 These days , i t can be d i f f i cu l t to te l l fact f rom f ic t ion when i t

comes to the ar t ic les c i rcu lat ing on soc ia l media . In our

current hot -button media c l imate , we need to know which

"news" ar t ic les can be t rusted , and which are bet ter le f t

unc l i cked. Check for the fo l lowing red f lags before you t rust a

quest ionable post !

S E N S A T I O N A L H E A D L I N E S

Odds are , the rea l s tory i sn ' t as exc i t ing as the t i t le suggests . I f you come across a s tory wi th over - the- top wr i t ing or quest ionable conc lus ions , proceed wi th caut ion. Avoid ar t ic les wi th c l i ckbai t t i t les that inc lude vague but exc i t ing phrases such as You Won' t Be l ieve . . .  or You ' l l Never Guess . . .  Exerc ise a hea l thy degree of caut ion.  

I f i t looks too sensational to be true, i t probably is .

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G R A M M A T I C A L E R R O R S

Fake news wr i ters tend to pr ize c l i ckable ( i .e . , lucrat ive )

headl ines over wr i t ing qual i ty - so watch for grammat ica l errors

or unusual s ty les ! A l l - caps headl ines or shoddi ly ed i ted copy are

 good ind icators that a s tory i s poor ly wr i t ten at best and

ut ter ly fa lse at worst .  

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Q U E S T I O N A B L E S O U R C E S

Never t rust an ar t ic le that makes c la ims wi thout reputable sources to back them. Some p ieces wi l l pu l l in format ion f rom other posts wi th in the i r contro l led s i te , rather than l ink to a th i rd-party author i tat ive news source ; th is creates the mis leading appearance of factua l report ing . Fo l low those l inks !

Make sure that the stat ist ics or statements that the publ icat ion uses are real before you take them as fact .  

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H I D D E N P U B L I C A T I O N I N F O R M A T I O N

Legi t imate publ icat ions aren ' t a f ra id to share informat ion

about the i r backers and af f i l ia t ions . I f an onl ine source forces

you to hunt for the i r "About" sect ion or requires you to s ign

up before prov id ing you background informat ion, you should

cons ider why they fee l the need to conceal themselves .

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