Fake Or Real? How To Self-Check The News And Get The Facts

Fake news and information spreads and is embraced so easily is because many people do not have the time or inclination to run through all the steps necessary to vet 'news'. The average person hears what he wants to hear and if it feeds his inner beliefs, buys into it, and so it spreads. Many whacko sources are cut and pasted even here on our own RP because they feed the personal beliefs and feelings of individuals involved. Do we vet our own posts? No one knows.

There are so many streams of media it is hard to keep up with whats real and whats fake. This is great advice where and how to start sifting through the BS. I just go to the new networks personally. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the post, Maj Kim Patterson. It reminded me of Italian author Umberto Eco, who died earlier this year. Mr. Eco wrote a (relatively) short book about this very topic..."Numero Zero". First US edition translated by Richard Dixon was published in 2015. Highly recommended, especially if (spoiler alert) the fake news phenomenon interests you in any way. It apparently is not a unique problem.