Think about the following aspects. If you can't figure out any of these, that's a sign to dig deeper into the source, and maybe open a tab to use a search engine and find out more about the publisher, author, or topic. See the box below about fact-checking for more info.
Fact checkers work in journalism to correct errors in nonfiction writing. They are usually hard at work behind the scenes in mainstream media, particularly newspapers and magazines, investigating the work of journalists to make sure an article accurately reflects the facts before it is published. In recent years, online fact-checking organizations have popped up to counter the spread of misinformation facilitated by the internet.
When you are reading a document and want to make sure it's credible, do as a fact checker does and read laterally. That is, open a new tab and do a search for the publisher/website, the author, the facts of the story. How is the issue described elsewhere? What kind of reputation does the publisher or website have? What else has the author written or created?
The Duke University Reporters' Lab tracks fact-checking organizations across the world and collects news about fact-checking.
Reference
Wineburg, S. & McGrew, S. (2017, October 6). Lateral reading: Reading less and learning more when evaluating digital information. Stanford History Education Group Working Paper No. 2017-A1. dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3048994
Definitions adapted from First Draft News, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to countering harmful misinformation.
Disinformation is content that is intentionally false and designed to cause harm. It is motivated by three factors: to make money; to have political influence, either foreign or domestic; or to cause trouble for the sake of it.
When disinformation is shared it often turns into misinformation. Misinformation also describes false content, but the person sharing doesn’t realize that it is false or misleading. Often a piece of disinformation is picked up by someone who doesn’t realize it’s false and that person shares it with their networks, believing that they are helping.
Genuine (that is, not false) information that is shared with an intent to cause harm is known as Malinformation.
Source: "Understanding Information Disorder," First Draft News (2020)
Information Disorder is a term coined by First Draft (2015-2022). It is a broad term that encompasses all of the terms for the misinformation we contend with, such as propaganda, lies, conspiracies, rumors, hoaxes, hyperpartisan content, falsehoods, and manipulated media.
