The internet is home to all sorts of news. Some real… many fake. How do you know which is real and what’s false? The SIFT method can help with that. Follow these steps to determine if your news article is true or not.
The SIFT Method
- Stop
- Investigate the source
- Find other coverage
- Trace claims
Fake
One person says one thing, another person disagrees… how do you know what is real? I have used the SIFT method to dig deeper and confirm that this is in fact an example of a fake news article regarding Illinois new law. I found other articles that have confirmed that this is in fact a false claim.
Stop
I stopped to take a look at the article as a whole. I made sure not to share it with anybody until I found out if it is a factual article or not. I later found out that it is in fact fake news.
Investigate the Source
I further investigated the source that shared this article – The Natural News. According to the Natural News Wikipedia description, this article is likely to be false as it is found from an unreliable, fake news source. Therefore, The Natural News is not a reliable source.
Find Other Coverage
After, I investigated the source itself, I dove deeper into looking at other articles that are sharing the same, or similar information. I found other articles that have discussed the new Illinois law, however, more reliable sources are further explaining the new law. The Natural News does not explain the law in the way that it truly is. There are other more reliable articles that have different claims.
Trace Claims
The claims that this topic is making have been proven to be false by an article from Snopes on the Illinois safe t law. These types of articles can be debunked by other more reliable fact checking sources.
Facts
Using my knowledge of the SIFT method, I have been able to confirm that the following source is reliable and that this is an example of a factual article discussing Twitter’s new deal with Elon Musk. The BBC has been found to be a very reliable source and I was able to successfully find the same story on other websites.
Stop
Before sharing this article, it is very important to use the SIFT method in order to decide whether it is providing factual information or not.
Investigate the Source
The BBC news is a very reliable source. Wikipedia’s description of the BBC explains that it is a large broadcasting source in the UK that has a very high budge. The size and budget of a company can help us determine if that source is reliable.
Find Other Coverage
It was very easy to find other websites discussing Twitter’s new deal with Elon Musk. A few sources that has similar information include, but are not limited to, The Washington Post, Forbes, and CNN. These are all known reliable sources.
Trace Claims
This article claims that Twitter has made a $44 billion deal with Elon Musk, which is a true claim that is being made by other news sites and articles.
