When you open up a news article in your browser, open a second, empty tab. Use that second window to look up claims, author credentials and organizations that you come across in the article.
Fake news spans across all kinds of media - printed and online articles, podcasts, YouTube videos, radio shows, even still images.
For images, put them into Google images and search. Verify that what you are seeing corresponds to the event in question.
Check the account history of the source. Two red flags are: the number of posts and how long the account has been active. If it claims to be a well known source(like CNN or CBS) and only has a few posts in its history that is a clue. If it's a well known source and the account has only been active a short time that is another red flag.
PolitifactPolitiFact is a project of the St. Petersburg Times to find the truth in politics.Every day, reporters and researchers from the Times examine statements by members of Congress, the president, cabinet secretaries, lobbyists, and more.
Factcheck.orgWe monitor the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews and news releases. FactCheck.org is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania.
