News: Real or Fake? By Talia eiten

Introduction: In my social media class at school, we are learning how to determine real, fake, and opinion based news. So...how do you determine the difference? Well, real news avoids appealing emotion, covers only the facts, and will do whatever it takes to have as much facts as possible. On the other hand, fake news can be silly, but also very convincing. It's meant to deceive readers/watchers and often times succeeds by presenting their news in a way where it looks legitimate. Lastly, opinion based news can be determined by the author's choice of words. They'll usually want some sort of reaction out of the reader or watcher. They'll often present only one side of an issue. Below, I've found an example of each news type.

Factual News: Three rivers completely flooded a Colombian City located in Bogota called Mocoa. The water swept away buildings, cars, and trees on April 1, 2017 at midnight. So far it's said that 193 people have been killed and around 220 people are missing. The article covers facts including death counts and missing peoples. The author also includes multiple quotes from survivors of the disaster and associations related to the disaster. The director of the National Institute Of Legal Medicine and Forensic Science, Carlos Valdes says "They are going to work 24 hours a day" talking about his crew's duties to find all of the deceased. I searched Valdes' name on Google, and he is in fact, the director of this institute and also a doctor from Bogota. The authors of this article, The Associated Press, is a legit news agency located in New York City. Because the AP are the authors of this article proves that it must be true.

Fake News: John Cena is Dead? According to TMZ News Online, John Cena died in a severe car crash on Route 80 between Morristown and Roswell. He was found dead at the scene with his ID located on him. I knew this news was fake because I noticed that there's only a title to this article; no author seems to be mentioned. There are no resources only a statement that exclaims that updates are yet to come. The author uses incorrect spelling. If it were a real news source, editors would have caught that simple yet silly mistake. The grammar the author uses is also all over the place. Some of the sentence's structures used just don't make sense. Nice try, TMZ, John Cena is most certainly alive and healthy. In fact, on April 2, 2017 he proposed to his girlfriend Nikki Bella. The two have been dating since 2013.

Opinion Based News: Sara Mead believes that educators deserve better. They don't receive enough credit for their difficult jobs. Most people make quick conclusions that teachers have it easy compared to other occupations. According to Mead, teachers need "a deep understanding of the science of child development and practical skills to interact with children, assess and support learning, and engage diverse parents". With all these responsibilities, Mead believes that teachers should be paid and trained more. I know that this article is opinion based because the author Sara Mead, is very clear on what she believes. She also only states why teachers deserve better. She doesn't mention what they currently have or how they feel about their jobs. This article includes an overwhelming amount of links. That is another reason why I know that this article is strictly based on Mead's opinion.

Conclusion: When determining whether news is real or fake, I suggest searching for other resources. If it's real, there would most definitely be more than one news article out there. If it's fake, you probably wouldn't find much information on the topic. I also suggest that you do a quick google search on the author. Make sure he/she is a real journalist. You could even check out their social media accounts if desired. Twitter would be great for this because it almost always shares news. Be sure to look beneath the actual writing itself. This means that you should determine the emotions the author is exclaiming. Make sure the facts given are accurate. Don't get fooled by the news!

Credits:

Created with images by MDGovpics - "Governor Visits Edward G. Felegy Elementary School" • Freeimages9 - "food alphabet biscuit" • srqpix - "IMG_7280" • 378322 - "boxing gloves sport" • DoD News Photos - "160511-D-DB155-016" • hammondorganism - "Daytona Car Show" • mckaysavage - "Colombia - Cartagena 023" • Prawny - "fowey village cornwall"

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