Identify Fake News, Misinformation & Media Bias in the US
The Partisan Divide: Polarization, Fake News, and Disinformation Abound
“Ordinary Americans increasingly dislike and distrust those from the other party.
Democrats and Republicans both say that the other party’s members are hypocritical, selfish, and closed-minded, and they are unwilling to socialize across party lines. This phenomenon of animosity between the parties is known as affective polarization.”
What’s going on?
There’s so much partisan hate, disrespect, distrust, and lack of agreement about what’s true. The proliferation of “fake news”, slanted media, and disinformation partly explains our polarization. When a news item challenges their preconceptions, many people discredit the claim by calling it “fake news” or propaganda.
Even so, fake news is a real, dangerous phenomenon, as are disinformation, misinformation, and media bias.
They all lead to polarization. Fake news, disinformation, media bias and slant, and hyper-partisanship have led to what is known as “affective polarization”.
Fake news, disinformation, misinformation, bias, slant, and hyper-partisanship will only increase. We can combat fake news. But we will need to and can get smarter about the information we consume and how we analyze claims.
Check out resources that can help combat fake news. Discover the acts you can take in your own life to prevent information overload and partisan information bubbles.
We need to change the atmosphere from negativity to positivity. Learn how to be your own “digital detective” and determine what’s true. We can avoid failling victim to fake news, propaganda, misinformation, and disinformation, or slanted news reports.
FAKE NEWS AND DISINFORMATION DEFINED
FAKE NEWS
A story that mimics the form of mainstream news
Purposefully crafted to perpetrate a false impression
Sensational, emotionally charged, misleading, or totally false
Has no verifable sources, facts, or quotes
DISINFORMATION
False information
Deliberately and often secretly spread
Designed to influence public opinion
Or intended to hide the truth
It can be hard to identify fake news, propoganda, disinformation or simply wrong information (misinformation). They all destroy public trust and harmony. Notice that fake news, disinformation, and misinformation involve the spread of falsehoods, often deliberately, for a political or tactical purpose, and seem true.
Disinformation, misinformation, hyper-partisanship, and the widespread consumption of social media and podcasts all contribute to overwhelming and misleading the public. This misinformation spans the political spectrum. The first step to addressing this problem is to recognize it.
GET SOME NEWS FROM THE MOST-NEUTRAL SOURCES
Top 4 Least-Biased Mainstream Media Outlets
This measurement shows which mainstream media outlets present news with the least bias or slant.
Wall Street Journal (except for the Opinion page, which has a strong rightward slant)
GET SOME BROADCAST NEWS FROM RELIABLE SOURCES
Most to Least Reliable Major Broadcast News Outlets Ratings
This measurement shows whether and how much major broadcast outlets report verified facts.
MSNBC
Fox News
NewsMax** classified as propaganda
Least to Most Biased Major Broadcast News Outlets
This measurement shows whether the broadcast news source slants the news to fit its views, i.e. does not provide the whole story.
NewsNation bias rating 2 (skews right)
CNN bias rating 10 (skews left)
MSNBC bias rating 16.8 (skews strong left)
Fox News bias rating 18.83 (skews strong right)
NewsMax bias rating 21.33 (hyper-partisan right)
Data about reliability and bias comes from Ad Fontes media chart. This data shows that if you are getting your news from MSNBC and FOX News, you are not getting a complete and unbiased report.
Don’t get your news from one of the most reliable or least biased mainstream sources? Don’t try to verify what you hear? You’re in good company and probably the unwitting victim of fake news, disinformation, and misinformation, or at the very least a regular consumer of slant. A constant diet of slanted news in recent years has created an entrenched, angry populace, who distrusts each other, the government, and the media. That’s where all this polarization comes from.
The good news is we can eradicate polarization. Many individual and group actions can point the way to more objective understanding of facts, and reduce polarization.
“Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world.”
