Fake news and Post truth

Over the years, the wordsmiths at OED look for a new word that is used that perhaps sums up the time we are living in or that has been used frequently in discourse. In previous years oxford english dictionary's words of the year have been...

• 2006 - Bovvered
• 2009 - Simples
• 2015 - Emoji
• 2016 - Post-truth

'Post truth' is defined by the dictionary as an adjective "relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief. Editors believe that the term 'post truth' had increased by around 2,000% in 2016 compared to the year before.

Collins dictionary word of the year in 2017 was 'Fake news'. It is defined as false, often sensational, information disseminated under the guise of news. The word saw an unprecedented usage increase of 365% since 2016.
Experts claim the Atlantic Ocean is 75% too wet & Pole dancing reclassified as an Olympic sport. In a year that's been so unbelievable it's hard to know what is a fact and what is fiction.

Fake news seems to come around during any major event, in Britain and in other countries. Recently, researchers at Edinburgh University found that the following tweet came from a fake account (a bot) which was traced back to St Petersburg, Russia but is presented as if it is a Republican supporter from the USA. The photo went viral and was also used  in both the Daily Mail and The Sun receiving both hateful and emotional comments such as "She probably just wanted to get of the bridge".

In order to pick out fake news from real news, start by asking there 5 questions on any news item:

1. Who wrote it?
2. What claims does it make?
3. Where was it published?
4. When was it published?
5. How does it make you feel?

If you get in the habit of asking all 5 of these questions whenever you read a news article, then your basic news literacy skills will start to grow stronger. Source - TedED.