News
With the advent of social media and the
wider access to the internet in Nigeria and other countries of the world, the
news is no longer what it is. Unlike in the past when we all depended on the
traditional for informative, educative and entertaining content, it is not so
now. This is because the World Wide Web is free and anyone can post or share
anything, including fake news, all in the name of driving traffic to their
website. Consequently, whatever content you read on blogs or social media
should not be taken as the truth. A very
recent example is the fake news that President Muhammadu Buhari is dead. The
Presidency had to debunk the news. So, how do you identify fake news? Jumia
Travel gathers 5 ways to identify fake news.
Check the URL
There are some news websites you can
never doubt their credibility. However, to spread fake news, the fake news
peddlers usually clone these reliable websites. The original website is
www.johndoe.com but when you check the
URL, it is www.johndoe.com.co which is fake.
Use other
sources to verify
When you are unsure of the
trustworthiness of any news on a particular website, you should use other
sources to confirm. Oftentimes, a breaking news will be reported by leading
news platforms. If these is not the case, you should tarry a while before
reporting or you should just ignore it.
Verify with
fact-checking websites
As fake news becomes a reality we
cannot overlook, there are now websites where you can verify any news. You can
use factcheck.org.
The date
Some individuals just want to be
mischievous. They share backdated news that may not be presently relevant. So,
you may think the news is true. Hence, you may want to check the date before
believing such a story.
The story is too
flamboyant
The news story may be too terrifying,
humorous, flamboyant, sympathetic and frustrating. If it features these
metrics, you should verify the news from other sources and if you don’t find it
from others, it may be a fake news.
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