Help your youngsters spot fake news

Clickbait, extremist and misleading opinion, and completely false information are running wild as fake news. It includes false claims about coronavirus, public safety, political issues and even natural disasters. Most kids and teens get daily news from feeds and social media posts instead of media websites or newspapers. This only makes it more important to make them media literate.   

How to get kids started with spotting fake news?

Here are a few basic questions to consider whenever your kid encounters a piece of media: 

Who has posted this? 

Who is the probable target audience? Does it seem positioned to please someone? 

Who is getting paid when they click on it? Are there pop-ups and videos? 

Who might benefit or be harmed by what the news is saying? 

What seems to be important but is missing, i.e., is it silent on something?

Is it believable, and what makes it so? 

Teens might actually enjoy learning tricks to spot fake news.  

What are some common fake news tricks? 

Here are a few things to watch out for. 

URL: Does the URL or site name look unusual or like a copy of a renowned media house? A site called LOL India would not be a good source of political news, and a site called The Economic Times of Hindustan is fake.  

Bad editing: Low quality editing, such as words in all caps, headlines with grammatical errors, bold claims without sources, sensationalist images, claims on behalf of government bodies and a very personal tone are all indications of fake news created by troublemakers. 

About us and contact: Do these sections exist on the news site, and do they actually work? A site with no information on people associated with it is probably fake.  

Reporting in other sources: Are other credible, mainstream news outlets reporting the same news? If it’s just one house and lots of social media, things are fishy.   

Tone: Does the news seem more of an emotional piece aimed at instigating? Reactions reveal the intent of the news producer.  

Marketing: Is the news trying to sell a cure or invite votes for a particular politician or visits to a celeb profile? It’s probably fake then.