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Fake News, Alternative Facts, and Misinformation

Classifying Websites for Credibility: Definitions

Definitions used by Melissa Zimdar's Open Sources project that classifies websites for credibility.

  • Fake News: Sources that entirely fabricate information, disseminate deceptive content, or grossly distort actual news reports
  • Satire: Sources that use humor, irony, exaggeration, ridicule, and false information to comment on current events.
  • Extreme Bias: Sources that come from a particular point of view and may rely on propaganda, decontextualized information, and opinions distorted as facts.
  • Conspiracy Theory: Sources that are well-known promoters of kooky conspiracy theories.
  • Rumor Mills: Sources that traffic in rumors, gossip, innuendo, and unverified claims.
  • State-sponsored News: Sources in repressive states operating under government sanction. Propaganda.
  • Junk Science: Sources that promote pseudoscience, metaphysics, naturalistic fallacies, and other scientifically dubious claims.
  • Hate News: Sources that actively promote racism, misogyny, homophobia, and other forms of discrimination.
  • Clickbait: Sources that provide generally credible content, but use exaggerated, misleading, or questionable headlines, social media descriptions, and/or images.
  • Proceed With Caution: Sources that may be reliable but whose contents require further verification.
  • Political: Sources that provide generally verifiable information in support of certain points of view or political orientations.
  • Credible: Sources that circulate news and information in a manner consistent with traditional and ethical practices in journalism (Remember: even credible sources sometimes rely on clickbait-style headlines or occasionally make mistakes. No news organization is perfect, which is why a healthy news diet consists of multiple sources of information).