{"id":476,"date":"2020-03-25T08:05:31","date_gmt":"2020-03-25T08:05:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.phambano.org.za\/uncategorized\/fake-news-what-is-it-why-is-it-dangerous-and-how-can-you-identify-it-online\/"},"modified":"2020-03-25T08:05:31","modified_gmt":"2020-03-25T08:05:31","slug":"fake-news-what-is-it-why-is-it-dangerous-and-how-can-you-identify-it-online","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.phambano.org.za\/staging\/fake-news-what-is-it-why-is-it-dangerous-and-how-can-you-identify-it-online\/","title":{"rendered":"Fake News: What is it, why is it dangerous and how can you identify it online?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is fake new<\/strong>s<\/strong>?<\/strong> <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Fake news\u00a0consists of misinformation or hoaxes that are\u00a0deliberately\u00a0published on newspapers, television, radio and social media sites for\u00a0the purposes of: misinforming people, humiliating, bullying and causing hurt,\u00a0financial gain\u00a0or to push a political agenda.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the time of social media, it’s all over the place and it’s obscuring the line between actuality and fictional news. Be that as it may, the question now is how can we expect children to be able to spot fake news online when we as adults are failing? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The dangers of fake news<\/strong> <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Media and the news influences\u00a0the\u00a0way we think and ultimately helps us make\u00a0decisions that impacts\u00a0our lives\u00a0and that of the world in general.\u00a0These\u00a0are some of the impact\/dangers\u00a0that fake news\u00a0cause:\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • Financial loss for a business\u00a0<\/li>
  • Affects government operations and elections\u00a0<\/li>
  • Cyberbullying – a victim of cyberbullying can experience\u00a0suicidal thoughts, they can also isolate themselves from people and can perform poorly at school or at their job\u00a0<\/li>
  • Defamation of\u00a0character\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>
  • Employment loss\u00a0<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Ways to spot fake news:<\/strong> <\/h4>\n\n\n\n
    1. It is important to look at the source of the news or content. Pay attention to the URL – if it looks suspicious then there is a high possibility that the source cannot be trusted.\u00a0<\/li>
    2. If the news source that you are reading\u00a0does not\u00a0seem familiar or secure\u00a0or you have never signed up to receive email alerts for it, it could be a clue that the news\u00a0is\u00a0not true.\u00a0<\/li>
    3. If the journalist,\u00a0blogger\u00a0or publication agency\u00a0publishing the story is notoriously known for producing fake news, then it would be best for you to research about the story from different trusted sources.\u00a0<\/li>
    4. Photoshopped\u00a0images or videos are also an indication of fake news – use a tool like Google Reverse Image Search to identify if the image is photoshopped or fake.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      Things parents can do to educate their children about fake <\/strong>news.<\/strong> <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

      The best thing that any parent can do to protect and educate their children frpm fake news is to teach them to be curious individuals who think critically\u00a0and question the things they\u00a0see.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      • Inform children that not all sources can be trusted. The best way to spot this on social media accounts is to check for verification of\u00a0blue\u00a0badges (Twitter and Instagram)\u00a0on the account. Official social accounts are more likely to cross-check facts before publishing anything.\u00a0<\/li>
      • Always inform children to fact check anything that they choose to share\u00a0online. Like any\u00a0gossip, fake news\u00a0has\u00a0the tendency for spreading more\u00a0quickly\u00a0compared to the actual\u00a0factual news.\u00a0<\/li>
      • It is no secret that we always want to believe that a story is true, however, that is not always the case. Talk with your children about bias and the force it\u00a0has to\u00a0change what individuals think, say and do. Urge them to get a reasonable viewpoint by checking multiple news sources, not simply depend on one.\u00a0<\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        What is fake news?  Fake news\u00a0consists of misinformation or hoaxes that are\u00a0deliberately\u00a0published on newspapers, television, radio and social media sites for\u00a0the purposes of: misinforming people, humiliating, bullying and causing hurt,\u00a0financial gain\u00a0or to push a political agenda.\u00a0 In the time of social media, it’s all over the place and it’s obscuring the line between actuality and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":483,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[135],"tags":[212],"class_list":["post-476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-thembasouthernafrica","tag-fake-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.phambano.org.za\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.phambano.org.za\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.phambano.org.za\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.phambano.org.za\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.phambano.org.za\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.phambano.org.za\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.phambano.org.za\/staging\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.phambano.org.za\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.phambano.org.za\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.phambano.org.za\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}