How do you sort out the fake news from the real?

I guess a good start would be http://www.snopes.com/

Their search machine is comprehensively intuitive.

Snopes is the one, has been for over 20 years.

Use reputable news organisation eg BBC, CNN, established newspapers etc. Does the report sound plausible? Does it quote sources for the information it provides so the story can be cross checked? Is detail supplied that indicates the story was properly researched? What is the track record for this news organisation? Who are the reporters that wrote the story, are they professionals and believable characters? What is the tone of the report, is it calm and sober or over emotional and excitable. Is the story covered elsewhere and how is it reported. Does the report cite first hand witnesses to what occurred and do these witnesses sound reliable. If you are suspicious try Googling the story to see if it has been debunked elsewhere.

Myth busters was a good show on discovery which featured science related myths.

http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters/

If it doesn’t make sense, it likely isn’t true.

A couple of weeks ago, a man fired one or more shots at Comet Ping Pong, a Washington DC pizzeria, because he’d read that the place is a front (ooh!) for a pedophilia sex ring (ahh!) headed by Hillary Clinton (eek!). Comet was allegedly equipped with underground tunnels for transporting its underage victims (wow!).

Does any of this story ring true? Is it plausible and logical? No, of course not.

When you read or hear something absurd, your first reaction should be, “Huh?” Then, proceed to, “What?!?!”

By the way, my hubby and I had lunch, last week, at Comet Ping Pong. Fortunately, the restaurant’s packed by people who object to victimization.

There is an old adage in the newspaper business:

If your mother tells you she loves you, check the source.

If it looks weird, I run down the original sources.Go to where the article says they got the story. Often I will simply check the background of the media outlet where I got the story if it is at all suspicious. Works almost every time.

The definition of weird to me is anything suspicious or a bit too enticing that I wouldn’t be caught dead repeating if it could be found to be untrue. My personal credibility is at stake.

I love a really good, strange, off-the-wall story and when I find one that passes muster, I am delighted. Checking sources are very easy now that we have the net.

But there is nothing more embarrassing than to be taken for a fool in public or on the net, IMO.

Read or watch all news stories on the subjects of interest then weed out the BS.

Here is a great chart, but I disagree with the Guardian. The Guardian sometimes comes dangerously close to The Huffington Post in it’s liberal bias. NPR is also another that is also slantd news.
If you want just direct actual new. I like BBC but Rueters is the best of them all in my opinion. They just deliver the facts as they know them and cover international news, so no time for a lot of opinion based news offered as News. I think them and the BBC are the closest thing to real journalism.

@flutherother CNN reputable?? Seriously?

@Cruiser The first thing to look at when deciding if a story is fake is where did it originate? If it comes from an organisation with the ability to check stories first hand and with a lot to lose if they get it wrong it is likely that the story is genuine. If the story comes from someone’s Facebook page you should be more cautious.

Don’t have practical experience using that. But interested. I will check it out.

Years ago now I was being sent link after link to articles on why vaccines were dangerous. I ignored them but then I noticed that many of my friends were not vaccinating their children. So I started to read the articles. And then I clicked on their source material at the bottom of the article. And down the rabbit hole I went. Ultimately I traced all the articles back to one research paper out of Australia that was later debunked. This was before that doctor in England was defrocked.

Largely what I do is search and read. See what the major newspapers are saying. See what everyone is saying. But most importantly view the source information.

Sadly, most people don’t do that. Too many people take memes to equal facts.

@tranquilsea You are so right…our recent Presidential election should demand each and every voter to be accountable for what source of information swayed their vote.