Media Literacy is a skill that you can develop with the help of UCC Library. Critical thinking is essential as you can't believe everything you read. By its nature, news is "in the moment" and there is often no time to verify the information.
"Fake news" is even more sinister as it is deliberate misinformation. Social Media ensures the rapid spread of misinformation so be wary of relying on posts and always verify with the original source.
In an academic environment, you must always use reliable information. You must assess the person who is producing the information - who are they? do they have a vested interest in this information? are they being paid to say something?
UCC Library provides access to "vetted" information so always use our resources.
Explains the Stanford Experiment which got different group of people to assess how reliable they thought some websites were. The group of professional fact checkers fared best with a few simple tips – detailed in the other 3 videos
Check the source of the information for reliability
Go “upstream” to the original reporting source
Look for trusted sources – fact checking sites such as Snopes.com. Rely on established media with professional journalists.
Librarians teach students how to evaluate all information and warn them to be sceptical of anything they read in a non peer-reviewed article. Newspapers are a particular problem as they have a very short turnaround time. However they are extremely useful sources as we have "instant" information. Other news sources can be less reliable as writers are not bound by the same ethical standards as journalists.