Verifying Online News

Most of us turn to online sources for news, whether it’s reading a newspaper online or sharing a news story with our friends and family. But news stories are one of the hardest things to verify: sometimes early reports that turn out not to be true still circulate on social media and people may spread false reports for political or commercial reasons, or just for “fun.”

If a news consumer reads a headline from The Globe and Mail while searching Google News, is the story from Google or The Globe? What about if a friend posts the story on Facebook; is the story from the friend, Facebook or The Globe? How can the complexities of what is meant by “source” in a converged news environment be accounted for?

The changes in how news is consumed (and produced) described above have also made it harder to verify if a particular news item is accurate – and made it easier for misinformation to be spread, either intentionally or unintentionally.

“Be skeptical, not cynical.” Lori Robertson, managing editor of Factcheck.org