The Difference Between Unbiased, Biased and Fake News

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A recent study showed that 82 percent of middle school kids in the U.S. do not know how to tell the difference between unbiased, biased and fake news. Based on my personal experience, it appears that many adults have the same problem. Because of that, I thought I would publish a guide to help people learn how to tell the difference. Not every possible source of fake news can be included here. People will also have to use their common sense and personal judgement. However, this guide should get you started. Unbiased News: While at one time most of the news we saw on television or read in the paper was unbiased, it is much more difficult to find completely unbiased news today. Associated Press usually publishes unbiased news, since they tend to publish the bare minimum facts about any incident. For example, they might write: "Jane Doe was found deceased in Hometown, USA." They don't speculate on how she died unless the local coroner or police chief gives more details ... which they quote directly. If the AP produces something that is incorrect, it is usually because they were given incorrect information by an authority figure, not because they made something up. If they need to, they will correct their article as soon as they find out. Another site where you can get unbiased news is the Breaking News app for your phone. They simply list brief reports, only a sentence or two long, so there is very little, if any, bias in their news. PBS also has a reputation for news which has a low level of bias. The Wall Street Journal also insists that their news is carefully curated and confirmed by their own staff prior to publication. Biased News: Biased news is what most of us see when we watch television, read magazines, or listen to all-news radio stations. This would include Fox, ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, Time, Huffington Post, etc. These example of mainstream media were vilified in the last election because of their bias. However, they report real information, but they choose to report it in a way that promotes their different political agendas. Example of biased news: Fox and other conservative news sources have reported that the cities with the highest rate of gun violence also are the cities with the strictest gun laws. (true) ABC and other progressive news sources will tell you that the states with the lowest rate of gun violence are the states with the strictest gun laws. (true) Both statements are true, according to FBI statistics. Apparently, an entire state has to have strict gun laws in order to reduce gun violence. Just doing it in a city doesn't help. Most people do not know the full truth, however, because they only hear part of it from a biased news source. In general, you will not hear all the statistics about a topic on a biased news station ... only the statistics which promote their political agenda. Because of this, it is important for people to watch news stations with more than one political bias in order to get a full picture of the truth. Most of us have become accustomed to accepting biased news, because it is so common. As a result, it makes us even more susceptible to eventually accepting completely fake news. As soon as we lose our natural skepticism, it is easy for us to become gullible ... which leads us to fake news. Fake News: Fake news has become a serious problem. In the case of fake news, the stories are usually written and promoted on online websites or on YouTube and they have absolutely NO basis in fact. They make up names and situations. They may accuse well-known people, such as politicians, of murder, theft or other criminal activities that NEVER happened. They may invent scandals about famous people, involving made-up people who don't exist. Even their "evidence" is complete fiction. Fake news can be used to manipulate people in a variety of ways. It can cause people to vote a certain way (which may have influenced people in the last presidential election). Fake news could also be used to manipulate the stock market or to hurt your business competitors, for example, by claiming that a nearby restaurant has roaches. Fake news can also be used to promote products which are defective. These writers will promote anything or write glowing reviews of any product, even if the product is dangerous or harmful. They get paid by advertisers to write articles, so they don't care if it is accurate or not. Fake news can be vicious and destroy lives and businesses. There are a few tricks to help you avoid falling for fake news: Be suspicious of news stories from sites you have never heard of. Sometimes they mix fake news stories in with real ones to lower your suspicions and hook you in. According to the website Snopes (see my note at the end of this article about Snopes), examples of fake news sites are: National Report, the Onion, News Examiner, World News Daily Report, Huzlers, Empire News, Stuppid, NewsWatch28, NewsWatch33, Naha Daily, The Stately Harold, Empire Harold, NewsBuzzDaily, Now8News, The Reporterz, Satira Tribune, NC Scooper, Nevada County Scooper, Associated Media Coverage, and React 365. New ones pop up almost daily with different names, so this list will never be complete. Be suspicious of news mentioned on small websites, but not mentioned on any of the mainstream media sites. Mainstream media may be biased, but they do usually have an actual basis for the news they report; Be especially skeptical if the story seems "too good to be true" or wildly extreme in either a good or bad way; Check out the story on Snopes, a website dedicated to exposing fake news stories (see note at end of this article); Just because an article has a photo, that does not make the story real ... I've seen photos of aliens shaking presidents' hands, flying saucers, Big Foot and lots of other altered photographs; On Facebook, report any fake news stories you discover; You can also block fake news sites from your feed on Facebook by using the little gray error in the top right-hand corner of the post. Choose the option "Show Fewer Posts Like This" or "Block XYZ site" (whatever site it came from). If you find even one fake news story from a site, block that site from your Facebook news feed immediately. Take the philosophy "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me." MOST IMPORTANT ... realize that some of the news you see, especially on sites like Facebook and Twitter, are fake. Don't simply believe a story because you read it on the internet. That does not necessarily make it true. REGARDING SNOPES: It has been reported by some sources that the verification website, Snopes, is a fake site. There have also been articles which have claimed it is a liberal biased site. Sadly, the stories you may have read, saying that Snopes was fake or biased, were actually examples of fake news stories, planted by the people who want to be able to write fake news and not be held accountable. Snopes is widely regarded as a site which works very hard to verify stories and I have seen them pick apart news stories in great detail, identifying which parts are true, which parts are rumor, and which parts are unverified. They also pick on both conservative and liberal politicians, equally. They deal in other types of news, as well, such as news stories about crimes, etc., and they help clarify which parts of a story are verified, which parts are not verified, and which parts are absolutely not supported by factual information. People turn to Snopes for all kinds of news stories. While it is possible they have made mistakes from time to time, or been deceived themselves, they do try to verify everything they possibly can or identify the things they have not been able to verify.