Spot Fake News Research Articles

Analyzing Machine Learning Enabled Fake News Detection Techniques for Diversified Datasets

Fake news, or fabric which appeared to be untrue with point of deceiving the open, has developed in ubiquity in current a long time. Spreading this kind of data undermines societal cohesiveness and well by cultivating political division and doubt in government. Since of the sheer volume of news being disseminated through social media, human confirmation has ended up incomprehensible, driving to the improvement and arrangement of robotized strategies for the recognizable proof of wrong news. Fake news publishers use a variety of stylistic techniques to boost the popularity of their works, one of which is to arouse the readers’ emotions. Due to this, text analytics’ sentiment analysis, which determines the polarity and intensity of feelings conveyed in a text, is now being utilized in false news detection methods, as either the system’s foundation or as a supplementary component. This assessment analyzes the full explanation of false news identification. The study also emphasizes characteristics, features, taxonomy, different sorts of data in the news, categories of false news, and detection approaches for spotting fake news. This research recognized fake news using the probabilistic latent semantic analysis approach. In particular, the research describes the fundamental theory of the related work to provide a deep comparative analysis of various literature works that has contributed to this topic. Besides this, a comparison of different machine learning and deep learning techniques is done to assess the performance for fake news detection. For this purpose, three datasets have been used.

Curbing Fake News: A Qualitative Study of the Readiness of Academic Librarians in Ghana

While fake news has been a common problem for well over a century, the emergence of social media and smartphones has escalated its spread. This study adopts a qualitative approach to explore the readiness of academic librarians in curbing fake news. Data was drawn from interviews with reference library staff and head librarians who were purposively selected from 12 academic libraries and evaluated through the lens of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions [IFLA] guide on ‘how to spot fake news’. The study revealed that although academic librarians were aware of fake news, they do not grasp the complexity and intricacies of the phenomenon. Therefore, the study recommends regular on-the-job training for academic librarians in identifying fake news. The Library and Information Science departments of universities in Ghana should review their curriculum to include training and education on problematic information. There should be collaboration between libraries and social media organization on curbing fake news. We support the call for information literacy, critical thinking and media literacy instructions to be embedded in all subjects with academic librarians as co-instructors.

Libraries Fight Disinformation: An Analysis of Online Practices to Help Users’ Generations in Spotting Fake News

The work of libraries during the COVID-19 pandemic, as facilitators of reliable information on health issues, has shown that these entities can play an active role as verification agents in the fight against disinformation (false information that is intended to mislead), focusing on media and informational literacy. To help citizens, these entities have developed a wide range of actions that range from online seminars, to learning how to evaluate the quality of a source, to video tutorials or the creation of repositories with resources of various natures. To identify the most common media literacy practices in the face of fake news (news that conveys or incorporates false, fabricated, or deliberately misleading information), this exploratory study designed an ad hoc analysis sheet, validated by the inter-judge method, which allowed one to classify the practices of N = 216 libraries from all over the world. The results reveal that the libraries most involved in this task are those belonging to public universities. Among the actions carried out to counteract misinformation, open-access materials that favor self-learning stand out. These resources, aimed primarily at university students and adults in general, are aimed at acquiring skills related to fact-checking and critical thinking. Therefore, libraries vindicate their role as components of the literacy triad, together with professors and communication professionals.

Using Mobile Apps to Combat Fake News

Librarians and library professionals should challenge themselves to seek the most unbiased and truthful health news and information during a pandemic that has many patrons misled by fake news, disinformation, and misinformation. Through the use of mobile apps users can start to discern truth from lies, and users can learn how to more readily spot fake news. Mobile news apps also have advanced in their features, allowing users to share credible stories to stop the spread of fake news and disinformation and become part of the story by aiding in fact-checking, up-voting, and reporting false, misleading and biased news articles.

Information literacy competence in curtailing fake news about the COVID-19 pandemic among undergraduates in Nigeria

PurposeThe continuous spread of the corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has generated public health concern with avalanche of information accompanied by series of fake news. Thus, this study examined the effect of Information Literacy Competency (ILC) in curtailing the spread of fake news among Library and Information Science (LIS) undergraduates in Nigeria.Design/methodology/approachSurvey research design of the descriptive type was used to generate data from a group of LIS undergraduates online. The population of the study consisted of 138 LIS undergraduate students who participated in the survey (thus, n = 138). The data retrieved was subjected to descriptive analysis.FindingsThe study revealed that the students had high level of ILC (x ¯ = 3.42), and there was low prevalence level of COVID-19 pandemic fake news (x ¯ = 2.35) among them. The major causes of COVID-19 fake news were too much information in circulation concerning COVID-19 (x ¯ = 3.44) and the resultant inability to discern or spot fake news from verified and authentic news (x ¯ = 3.28). The study also revealed that ILC had a significant effect in curtailing the spread of COVID-19 fake news with a grand mean of 3.28 against the criterion mean of 2.5. It is implied that LIS undergraduates are educationally position to acquire ILC which is crucial to their identification of fake news and helps to curtail its spread.Research limitations/implicationsThe study is limited in its use of online group for data elicitation within a limited period of three weeks. Also, in its adoption of self-evaluation scale to measure ILC instead of standard information literacy test. Also, the high chances of social desirability bias in sections C and E serve as a limitation to the study.Practical implicationsThe study reinforces the need to enhance structures that flags fake news on social media platforms and integrating IL into schools’ curriculum at all levels.Originality/valueThis study seeks to pioneer a new area of focus on the relevance of ILC to different global issues that concern the health and well-being.

Challenges Kenyan Television Journalists Face in Spotting Fake News

A fake news story can travel half way across the world as the truth puts on its socks. There are myriads of challenges facing journalists in spotting fake news hence its wide proliferation. Fake news has become a prominent subject of enquiry especially following its alleged influence of the 2016 general elections in US. Unfortunately, research on fake news has focused on social media, politics, elections, and economies. Few studies have focused on the challenges that TV journalists face in spotting fake news prompting this study. The specific research question was; what are the challenges facing television journalists in spotting fake news in Kenya? The study adapted a relativist-constructivist/interpretivist ontology and epistemology, qualitative approach and multiple case study methodology. Data was generated through in-depth interviews, direct observation and documents review. The study used purposive sampling to generate data from 16 journalists. Data was then analysed in themes and presented in narrative form. Key findings were that in spotting fake news, journalists faced challenges like; loss of viewers, lack of authoritative contacts, sources who gave fake news for personal, business, political, and economic benefits, ability of fake news to camouflage real news, speed of fake news, typologies of fake news, live reporting, inexperienced correspondents and interns, and social media. The study concludes that the challenges facing journalists in spotting fake news were majorly based on sources, technology, education, skills and training, and its typology. The study therefore recommends that editorial boards invest in experts to train journalists on styles, architecture, propagation and use of fake news, inoculation of journalists and audiences, raising fake news literacy levels, and use of technology based approaches like reverse search and fact checking sites.
 Key words: Fake news, journalists, spotting, challenges, television, Kenya

‘They can’t fool me, but they can fool the others!’ Third person effect and fake news detection

The aftermath of the 2016 US Presidential Elections and the Brexit campaign in Europe have opened the floor to heated debates about fake news and the dangers that these phenomena pose to elections and to democracy, in general. Despite a growing body of scholarly literature on fake news and its close relatives misinformation, disinformation or, more encompassing, communication and information disorders, few studies have so far attempted to empirically account for the effects that fake news might have, especially with respect to what communication scholars call the third person effect. This study aims to provide empirical evidence for the third person effect in the case of people’s self-perceived ability to detect fake news and of their perception of others’ ability to detect it. Based on a survey run in August 2018 and comprising a national, diverse sample of Romanian adults ( N = 813), this research reveals that there is a significant third person effect regarding people’s self-reported ability to spot fake news and that this effect is stronger when people compare their fake news detection literacy to that of distant others than to that close others. Furthermore, this study shows that the most important predictors of third person effect related to fake news detection are education, income, interest in politics, Facebook dependency and confirmation bias, with age being a non-significant predictor.

FAKE, I KNOW YOU: LINGUISTIC TOOLS TO DISTINGUISH MENDACIOUS INFORMATION

The paper analyses fake news which function in the framework of different types of discourse: advertising, political, scientific, etc. On the basis of some definitions of fake news, the authors single out the specific features of a hoax message: media-space as the sphere of the fake news’ existence and the juxtaposition of the true and false information. It is pointed out that one of the peculiarities of fake news is that it imitates genuine news and is built on the same principles as “hard” news. The main thing here is the ability to distinguish between false and true news based on certain linguistic mechanisms: insertion into the text of events which didn’t exist or evaluation of which is determined by the axiological priorities of the political communication actors; anonymous attribution, i.e. the absence of concrete names of the people who have provided information; biased citation of a third party’s opinion without indicating the name and the title of the quotation author; labeling, when a political leader or their activity is characterized via evaluative nominations; extrapolation of conclusions on a topic on a broader geopolitical situation; using speculations and suppositions to estimate the current situation; discussing current event on the broad historical background; suppositions and the desire to present the situation to the opponents’ advantage; whipping up tension and forecasting the possible development of events according to a destructive scenario. The article describes the factors influencing fake news dissemination and gives advice how to spot fake news in mass media.

True or False: A CIA Analyst's Guide to Spotting Fake News by Cindy L. Otis

True or False: A CIA Analyst's Guide to Spotting Fake News by Cindy L. Otis

Deciphering Fake News: Navigating Today’s News Standards

Following the 2016 presidential election, the pervasiveness of fake news came into the national spotlight. With an increased focus on media literacy and the need to end the spread of false information, tracing the abilities of individuals to spot fake news through a series of interviews was relevant. Several research questions were used for guidance: What are the common understandings or misunderstandings of fake news and its perpetuation? What are the characteristics of individuals who are more apt to recognize fake news? Does an individual’s level of political activism or civic engagement affect their ability to recognize fake news? It was hypothesized that the interviewees’ understanding of fake news and accuracy in distinguishing real and fake news would be dependent on their news-reading habits. Interview conduction confirmed the accuracy of this hypothesis. Furthermore, those who engaged with news more often and more widely are more likely to accurately discern between what is true and false. Questions remain as to whether or not those who had more experience with political activism and civic engagement, or with educational backgrounds relating to those areas, are better at making this differentiation. The results of this study reinforce the vitality of being media literate and possessing a consistent awareness of current events.

Advancing children’s news media literacy: learning from the practices and experiences of young Australians

Social media use has redefined the production, experience and consumption of news media. These changes have made verifying and trusting news content more complicated and this has led to a number of recent flashpoints for claims and counter-claims of ‘fake news’ at critical moments during elections, natural disasters and acts of terrorism. Concerns regarding the actual and potential social impact of fake news led us to carry out the first nationally representative survey of young Australians’ news practices and experiences. Our analysis finds that while social media is one of young people’s preferred sources of news, they are not confident about spotting fake news online and many rarely or never check the source of news stories. Our findings raise important questions regarding the need for news media literacy education – both in schools and in the home. Therefore, we consider the historical development of news media literacy education and critique the relevance of dominant frameworks and pedagogies currently in use. We find that news media has become neglected in media literacy education in Australia over the past three decades, and we propose that current media literacy frameworks and pedagogies in use need to be rethought for the digital age.

A Conversation with Joyce Grant

Dear Readers,A couple of months ago I had an opportunity to sit down with children’s literacy advocate Joyce Grant and discuss her popular Gabby series of picture books (click here to watch the video). I was really pleased to have the chance to meet with Grant, especially because two of her popular books, Gabby, Drama Queen and Gabby Wonder Girl, were favourably reviewed by Deakin reviewer Leslie Aitken. I was eager to pursue some questions inspired by Aitken's thoughtful comments, especially her description of Gabby, Drama Queen's plot as “imaginative and complex.” Naturally, I was optimistic that I would enjoy reading the entire Gabby series prior to the interview. Now that I have read the series, I can assure readers that the books are delightful, and teachers will certainly appreciate the teacher’s guide that is freely available online to help elementary students to develop reading, writing, and comprehension skills. I met with Grant at the University of Alberta which was one of her stops on an ambitious tour of Alberta’s schools and libraries to celebrate books and reading during TD Canadian Children’s Book Week. She was scheduled to speak at our institution about her experience teaching kids how to spot fake news, and I was glad to hear that she actively encourages kids to read news on her website teachingkidsnews.com that publishes free daily stories for young readers. The website has lots of important stories that are worth talking about and debating, and as we can all attest, kids need to know how to differentiate between real news and stories that deliberately mislead readers for financial or political gain. Grant also publishes a blog called Getting Kids Reading (gkreading.com) that is chock-full of articles, games, crafts, and ideas to inspire kids to read.Grant was a pleasure to interview, and I hope you will take time to watch the video. Aside from answering several questions about the Gabby series, Grant also tells us about her latest projects and how to get in touch. Our new summer issue is filled with many excellent book recommendations, including some reviews of multimedia resources for kids that resulted from a student assignment in the Multimedia Literacies course offered at the University of Alberta’s School of Library and Information Studies.Wishing you all a wonderful summer!Best wishes,Robert DesmaraisManaging Editor